The Bourne Supremacy

by Bill Henry on Jul.23, 2004, under Bill Henry's Movie Reviews

Bill’s Review
While the return of Jason Bourne in The Bourne Supremacy may be adequate summer movie fare, it is sad to see that the second time into the breach is such a comedown from the smart entertainment that was The Bourne Identity. Worse, some strategic errors made fairly early on combined with a change in the directors (as well as direction) do not give much hope that this series will ever ascend to its previous heights.
There is little of novelist Robert Ludlum left in The Bourne Supremacy. Although the first movie substantially changed the character to accommodate star Matt Damon (still great, but with far too little to do), it was still in the realm of the likely as a wounded amnesiac is nursed back to health, but as he tries to uncover the truth of his life turns out to have been a member of a secret squad of government-run assassins. A leftover element from the second book is the set-up in which a faux Jason Bourne has re-emerged and now the real Jason Bourne (who is not even really Jason Bourne) has to come out of retirement to solve the mystery. Jason (Damon) and his lady rescuer from the first movie, Marie (Franka Potente), have retired to seaside India (not my first choice, but hey, it is his retirement). Meanwhile, a CIA info buy is going bad and a fingerprint left at the scene points to Bourne. Coincidentally, an assassin tries to kill Bourne, but only gets the girl. Now this whole scenario only works if the CIA is really stupid or if they are just relieved to get Bourne out of the way. What the audience and the movie spooks have to believe is that somebody who does not make mistakes makes an elementary one and at almost the same time nearly dies thousands of miles away. That our spy group (led by Joan Allen) does not immediately think frame job makes the viewer think that they are as dumb as screenwriter Tony Gilroy (whose work was so much cleaner and smoother on The Bourne Identity). The Bourne-again Gilroy we get here is the guy who wrote Armageddon and Bait rather than the fellow who adapted Identity and Dolores Claiborne (or is that Dolores Clai-bourne?).
This J.B. is not the fractured fellow that we met two years ago. Though still troubled by nightmares (most ominously a mission he cannot quite remember), he is more on top of things and if he is not exactly enthusiastic to be back in the saddle, it does not show in the results. The rather lame set-up is just an excuse to propel Jason back into the life and much of the movie is little more than a cycle of action sequence, miraculous escape, and filler chatter. The movie further blunders by taking a previously dispatched character (and an Oscar winner, no less) and turning him from zealous in his misguided patriotism (perfect given what has already been established) and making him corrupt (makes little sense in light of the earlier movie). More likely than a character change is that this is just poor plotting.
Getting rid of Potente so early is bad on a number of levels. In Ludlumâ€™s version, the abduction of Marie is needed to get Jason Bourne back in the game and give him a prize worth playing for (rather than just killing everyone). Her elimination here means that Jason is fighting only for vengeance (a movie staple, but essentially pointless). Further, it also strips this movie of something that had worked so well in the firstâ€”allowing Damon to develop the character and uncover the truth to his background in scenes and dialogue with Marie. Diminished though he is, Damon is a more than capable enough actor to provide this movie with a substantial bit of zip, but he is as undercut by his director and screenwriter when they assisted him in the previous chapter.
Replacing Doug Liman at the helm is Paul Greengrass, best known as the director of the mock documentary Bloody Sunday. Unfortunately, he has brought over some of the hand-held camera work used on that movie. In that movie, it aided the illusion that what we were seeing was from the point of view of telejournalists following the story. Used in The Bourne Supremacy, the shaky cameras only serve to let me know that the cameraman is chasing Matt Damon or Joan Allen.
Worse are Greengrassâ€™ compositions during the action sequences. The movie is at its least impressive during a standard issue car chase (and much less exciting than the one in Ronin which this one tries to duplicate). The quick edits and claustrophobic set-ups only leave the viewers confused rather than excited.
The Bourne Supremacy is not horrible, it is just disappointing, especially in light of what a solid thriller was produced the first time. As for the future, they ought to just leave Jason Bourne alone and let him stay retired.