Saturday, August 28, 2004
Bourne Suprerior But Not Supreme

I went into the screening of The Bourne Supremacy hassled and disoriented.Today had been a workday for me(potentially the last Saturday I'd work here...yippee)and I had already arrived in office late after waking up late.And then our God elected to conduct a surprise manpower audit check on the department after finding the mere mortals on his floor not around during his rounds(they were downstairs for breakfast).Despite that,I took a risk and decided to knock off early at 12:30(it's supposed to be 1)to catch the Supremacy at Jubilee...but that was,of course,after the audit was conducted.Unless they did a second one.Well,needless to say I arrived into the cinema hall late and missed the opening five minutes or so.

Having come late,I elected to sit in any seat I could find.Bad mistake.I walked up a flight of stairs and sat down quickly because I couldn't see a thing.Six rows from the front.The screen was horrendously huge.Cursing,I made a move quickly to a further row back when the screen was showing a brighter scene(the opening scene was a night ops so it was very dark).Still the screen was huge.Heck.I'm not moving anymore.

Argh,what was to follow was one of the most uncomfortable sequences I have watched in a cienma in a long time.No,there weren't any grisly scenes.It's worse.Director Paul Greengrass elected to do a Blair Witch on the audience and was using so many hand-held shots,I was having a massive headache 15 minutes into watching the movie.It didn't help of course i missed the opening scenes and didn't catch what was going on.No problems.I didn't miss much.I think Jason Bourne hasn't even appeared in his first scene yet.But the hand-held camera shooting,it was to become a familiar technique that the director employed throughout the film.The fight scenes go in a blur...as do some of the chase scenes.If you want to watch this movie,do NOT sit near the screen.If you can't get a seat near the rear,DON'T watch it.I am warning you now.Ok,back to the movie.

A CIA operation headed by Pamela Landy (Joan Allen) to purchase classified Russian documents is blown by a rival agent(Karl Urban),who kills two agents in the process and frames Jason Bourne(Matt Damon)for the job.He then shows up in the sleepy seaside village in Goa where Bourne and Marie(Franka Potente)have been living under assumed names--the pair collapse their lives and head out.Bourne,who promised retaliation should anyone from his former life attempt contact,is forced to once again take up his life as a trained assassin to survive and find out about the truth and his past.Simple storyline really.No real twists unless you count a hidden secret of Bourne's past,which he sees in short flashbacks but can't remember in its entirety.

Matt Damon is very believable as Bourne.He's gives the role an everyman appeal and he elects to not play Bourne in a flashy manner,which is correct.Bourne is trying to lie low,that's no chance he's going to do flashy stuff.And the way he goes about achieving his objectives with methodical coolness(Damon is mostly stony faced or pissed,which is fairly accurately done as well)makes him out to be a believable government sanctioned killer as well.Damon is suited for this.Ordinary yet smart and lethal.And later,upon finding out about his past,with a tinge of regret.Well-played.Potente is wasted here.Her character is bummed off very early in the film.A little more of her certainly wouldn't have hurt the film.Joan Allen is good as well.She's a two-time Oscar nominee so she didn't get nominated for no reason.Here,she's a strong character,with smarts to go.Suits her actually.

The film itself glosses over so many international locations,I didn't really keep track.Naples,Amsterdam,Berlin,Moscow and New York.It goes all over the place(but if you find out about the truth,it seems Berlin was masquerading as every place else) often.What he does is pile on the action in a fast and furious pace.Of course,there is room for talk to further the plot but the action takes centrestage.I like the action scenes,I'd concede.They are done...in a kind of,matter-of-factly manner.Not extremely flashy.Just good old-styled wham-bam car chases and fist-fights and this is good standard old-fashioned action fare that is believable,up to a certain point.I'd rather they do something like this than pile on the CGI and commit overkill.I just couldn't stand the Blair Witch shooting the director elects to use though.You'd need a bottle of aspirin and slow-mo just to get through the fury of images and to figure out what is happening.

I've to say one thing.Jason Bourne is an awesome spy.And if spies should aspire to be anyone,it should be Bourne.Forget about Jmes Bond.This Bourne is ordinary looking(so he doesn't attract attention),lethal(he dispatches people like they are blown-up dolls),technologically savvy(look at the way he cloned a contact list from a phone...God,he is GOOD),observant(he spots someone wearing the "wrong" attire and knows somethign is wrong immediately)and clever(look at the way he improvises on a toaster for his own purpose).He is also a good stunt driver to boot.Although he doesn't have luck with his ladies,which is what James Bond has.What does Bond know anyway?He can't fight,doesn't know how to operate gadgets(it's Q,not him)and the only skills he has is how to make mighty love.Of course that might actually make him more believable...after all,just being good in bed is a lot easier than all the stuff Bourne does.But one thing though,both are superd athletes.Bourne illustrates this by the amount of running and jumping he does.Bond demonstrates this by the amount of time he spends between the sheets.Marathon runners.Both.

The Bourne Supremacy is a competent action thriller and affords a good time to its audience.Watch it for a reasonable good time.Or you might watch it for a headache.3 out of 5.