The Bourne Supremacy (2004)

Average rating

(80%)

Starring:	Matt Damon \| Franka Potente \| Julia Stiles \| Karl Urban
Director:	Paul Greengrass
Studio:	UNIVERSAL PICTURES UK
Run time:	104 mins
Genres:	Action/Adventure \| Thriller
Languages:	English
Hearing-impaired:	English
Released:	January 24, 2005
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Matt Damon returns as amnesiac assassin Jason Bourne in this fast-paced follow-up to 2002's THE BOURNE IDENTITY. Forced out of hiding as the result of an attempt on his life, Bourne fulfills his earlier promise to wreak vengeance on his former CIA employers, some of whom may be in league with murderous Russians. Brian Cox and Joan Allen are both great as warring agency chiefs convinced Bourne orchestrated the murder of two of their own in a deal gone bad.

Rating of 4 stars out of 5

British film-maker Paul Greengrass (Bloody Sunday) takes over the directing duties from Doug Liman for this sequel to The Bourne Identity and manages the rare feat of improving on the original. Two years after ex-CIA operative Jason Bourne (Matt Damon) apparently escaped the attentions of his spymasters, a corrupt Russian businessman frames him for a double assassination, which drags Bourne back into the murky world of international espionage. Greengrass uses his drama documentary background to good effect, delivering consistently exciting action without ever pushing the bounds of credibility. As Bourne, Damon continues to impress in a role that goes against his wholesome, all-American image — moving slickly and almost silently through the film like a small, angry black hole. The James Bond producers should take note as Bourne may well be the future of spy thrillers.

Rating of 2 stars out of 5
Halliwell's Film Guide

Efficient thriller that does not stray far from the conventions of the genre, from disposable girlfriend to implausible car chase, but is always watchable, despite its confusing, strobe-like editing at moments of excitement.

Highest rated reviews

49 out of 53 people found the following review helpful:

Great to see an action movie without SFX!

A Customer from Yorkshire, 18th August, 2004

Not as good as the first one, but still an exciting, gritty thriller. The new director seems to be striving to put the viewer right in the centre of the action - including one of the loudest car chases you'll ever see. Just like being in the cars with them! However, the close-ups and blurriness of the action is sometimes a little too documentary - exciting, but occasionally confusing.

Matt Damon still looks like a Cabbage Patch Kid, but is excellent as Jason Bourne, a much more believable action hero than James Bond - this guy really bleeds! All the main cast from the first film returns, along with the excellent Joan Allen as the CIA Agent charged with tracking Bourne down.

An exciting, twisty-turny thriller... though it struggles to maintain the tension in the final half hour.

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23 out of 32 people found the following review helpful:

Bourne to Run

A Customer from Nottingham, England, 8th January, 2005

Something of a sleeper hit, The Bourne Identity became notable for confounding its mixed critical reception and gaining a cult audience through DVD rental and sales. This profitable return and positive word-of-mouth led Universal to swiftly extend the franchise with this follow up, The Bourne Supremacy. ?Identity? is still playing on satellite television and the extended DVD has only just been released. It?s ?The Lord of the Rings? marketing strategy, roll out successive franchise editions and DVD versions within a short timeframe, to maximize public awareness of the product. Sometimes, as with ?The Matrix Revolutions?, the quality of the film suffers greatly, but in the case of ?The Bourne Supremacy?, this is not entirely the case. Two years have passed since we last saw Jason Bourne; he still gets nightmares and he?s still trying to piece together the wreckage of his life. But people are still after Bourne, most notable trained assassin, Kirill (Karl Urban) and CIA boss Pamela Landy, played by Joan Allen. Landy assembles the team that tracked Bourne in the previous film and what ensues is a series of murders, double-crossings and chases around Europe. The movie is certainly different from ?Identity? in a number of ways: it lacks the irony, clarity, and central narrative enigma that drove the story so well. More importantly it lacks the deft touch of director Doug Liman whose off-kilter take on the espionage thriller was so refreshing. This time around Liman produces and enlists British director Paul Greengrass to helm. Liman?s father had worked for the CIA, which gave him an insider?s view on secret service organizations. Greengrass has a background in making political thrillers such as Resurrected and Bloody Sunday, and one of the most controversial aspects of both films is that they portray the U.S. secret service as essentially corrupt and unaccountable. One of the elements that made ?Idenity? such a success was the high class cast assembled and Brian Cox and Julia Stiles return with Matt Damon. Even though Jason Bourne is a trained killer, Matt Damon and writer Tony Gilroy manage to invest him with enough dignity and humanity to have the audience rooting for him throughout ? rather than the American authorities. Perhaps the only sense of irony here is that The Bourne Supremacy isn?t superior to The Bourne Identity, but that still makes it a very engrossing and at times exciting thriller.

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15 out of 19 people found the following review helpful:

Better than the original?

djamesc from from Immingham, 18th January, 2005

The first question anyone asks of a sequel is "Is it better than the original?" And the answer for The Bourne Supremacy is.. (drumroll) .... Kinda. Some of it is better, some of it is worse. The better aspect is the acting, script and story. Now, normally for a sequel they are good things, however, the direction of Paul Greengrass is so shockingly nauseating that it renders everything else pointless. Who cares that Damon does his own fighting when it is out of frame due to the hideously close up off kilter hand held style? You can't see anything, in some films this is appropriate. 'Blair Witch Project' obviously springs to mind but this is an action film where you cannot see the action, maybe that doesn't bother you but it bothers me.

The fact that I still like this film is a testament to the fantastic cast, Damon especially but I was also glad that Brian Cox was pushed to the front and as ever proves why he is one of the better actors of his generation. So yes, in many ways and with a competent director this would be one of the rare "better than the first" movies, I place the blame squarely on the shoulders of Paul Greengrass for the reason it isn't. It is just "kinda"

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