Spies aren’t martini-swilling, tuxedo-wearing, gadget-laden, lady-killing misogynists. Spies are intelligent, adaptable, fluent in foreign languages, alert, lonely, intense, capable, and able to take care of themselves. Not that I’m an expert or anything. I’m British, so I’m supposed to like James Bond, but that’s not what spies are about. The Bourne Identity brings some of the grit back to the spy genre, while retaining heart and character.
Matt Damon is a man retrieved from the sea with no memory of who he is, why he has the number of a Swiss bank account retained in a mini-torch kept in the skin under his hip, why he can speak several European languages fluently, or why he is inordinately skilled in martial arts. He realizes that he can’t turn to anyone for help when he is targeted for violence by nearly everyone he meets. The only person who helps him is Marie (Franka Potente), a German woman befriends him and drives him to Paris to help him uncover his past.
The Bourne Identity may be a mainstream film but, refreshingly, it doesn’t seem like one. Doug Liman has a fresh roughness to his nice directorial style, using foreign locations that don’t appear to be picked as travel brochures for the city. It feels like Europe, with the mix of the beauty and the dirt; I could practically smell the Paris streets (which I don’t advise). Kudos, too, for having the courage of putting a genuine European in the role of a European, a move that the studio probably did not like. Potente grounds film in a realness that a starlet doing an accent would not have reached. Damon is a revelation as an action star, and as a realistic spy; he relies on his intelligence and abilities, rather than a gadget or a gun. Damon, known more for his dramatic fare, steps up to the plate and brings the action moves when required, while retaining the heart of the character who doesn’t know who he is, but can kill a man and work out his escape route without breaking a sweat. Brian Cox and Chris Cooper support well in their roles as gruff men behind the scenes, and the film moves at a fair pace without feeling rushed. The novel on which the film is based was one in a series, and I hope to see sequels to this with Damon and Liman back for more.
Rating: DAVE
