The Bourne Supremacy

Preview Screening

I saw this at a preview via Empire magazine - the greatest film magazine in the world - so much gratitude to them. Even though this was a Sunday morning in Fulham in a small screen, it was still very full, which shows how enthusiastic about film Empire readers are.

Ironically for a preview promoted by an excellent film periodical, the film itself started out badly - the projectionist had it at the wrong dimensions, so everyone looked a little distorted, we missed out on the log lines indicating telling us where the action was taking place, and you couldn't see the English translation of the Russian dialogue in one scene. This only lasted 10 minutes but, a testament to the quality of the film itself, nobody seemed to mind. (That, or we couldn't complain because we hadn't paid.)

The Bourne Supremacy is an almost direct continuation of The Bourne Identity. This isn't a cut-and-paste sequel; this is a thematic continuation of the story in the first film. This is helped by keeping the same writer, which I think helps; themes and ideas can be explored and re-examined. The first film saw Jason Bourne (Matt Damon) rescued from the sea with amnesia, slowly regaining his knowledge of himself and his place in the world of espionage. It was a taut little thriller which relied on the human being rather than gadgets, used real world locations in a believable manner (rather than the travelogue that the Bond films can turn into) and was directed in a non-mainstream manner by Doug Liman.

The Bourne Supremacy is directed by Paul Greengrass, who gives the film a very grainy, non-flashy feel, in keeping with the non-Bond approach to spies. The camera catches bits and pieces of moments, flowing and following the action, instead of dictating it. The fight scenes are brutal and intense, matched by the camera movement, and the simply incredible car chase through Moscow is full of close-ups and speed and jolts, putting the viewer into the action itself.

The story gets under way when Bourne is targeted for assassination by someone he thinks represents the people he once worked for, which brings him back into the game he had hoped he had left behind. The only failing in the film for me is the reason for his return - instead of killing him, they kill Marie (Franke Potenta), which I think was an unnecessary and perhaps clichéd way in which to get the hero into the action, but perhaps is somehow in keeping with the nature of the world in which Bourne once inhabited. Bourne takes the fight back to the people involved in the Treadstone project, which is now examined by Pamela Landy (Joan Allen), as Bourne has been framed for the murder of some of her agents in another operation.

Keeping the consistency of the film, Brian Cox and Julia Stiles return to fill their roles from the first movie, and Joan Allen is good as a CIA field commander trying to do her job. Damon slips back into Bourne's skin easily, as he has that sort of face that can put on a mask that hides, even during stressful scenes. Greengrass does a cracking job on his second film, the car chase going into the top ten of cinematic car chases. The story is involving, thrilling, twisty, exciting and has a heart - the end is about a meeting between two people, rather than guns blazing. A rare feat - a sequel that is as good as the first was.

Rating: DAVE