Universal (USA)

2.35:1 1080p

119 minutes

Audio: DD Plus 5.1 English, DD Plus 5.1 French

Subtitles: Optional English SDH, French

Extras: “U Control: Picture in Picture”; “U Control: The Treadstone” Files; “The Ludlum Identity”; “The Ludlum Supremacy”; “The Ludlum Ultimatum”; audio commentary by Doug Liman; “The Birth of The Bourne Identity”; “The Bourne Mastermind: Robert Ludlum”; “Access Granted: An Interview With Screenwriter Tony Gilroy”; “From Identity to Supremacy: Jason and Marie”; “The Bourne Diagnosis”; “Cloak and Dagger: Covert Ops”; “The Speed of Sound”; “Inside a Fight Sequence”; alternate opening  and ending; deleted/extended scenes; Moby’s “Extreme Ways” music video; theatrical trailer; My Scenes

Released: 24 July 2007

HD-DVD case

20 chapters

During the summer of 2002, Good Will Hunting co-writers and co-stars Matt Damon and Ben Affleck went head-to-head with rival spy movies.  There were fears that the events of 11 September 2001 would put a damper on violent action pics, so Hollywood carefully scrutinized how well The Bourne Identity and The Sum of All Fears would do at the box office.  Affleck seemed to have the upper hand since he had starred in movies that made more money than Damon’s, was appearing in an established franchise, had more media visibility than his childhood friend, and enjoyed a bigger opening weekend with The Sum of All Fears than Damon did with The Bourne Identity.  However, The Bourne Identity had longer legs than The Sum of All Fears, and Damon´s movie wound up grossing more than Affleck´s.

I´m not using box-office success as a gauge of quality.  I feel that the two movies are about equally good.  However, they are very different creatures.  The Sum of All Fears was made in the classical Hollywood tradition, with slick production values, worldwide locations, and overwhelming logistics to depict a world going to war.  On the other hand, The Bourne Identity was directed by Doug Liman, a guy who made his name with quirky indie productions like Swingers and Go.  Bourne takes place in a couple of European locations, so it feels low-key and claustrophobic at times.  There´s an emphasis on character development despite the fast pacing of the narrative, and the audience gets the chance to feel as if it is getting to know Bourne and his companion, Marie (Franka Potente).

In the movie, Jason Bourne (Damon) is an amnesiac who´s running from his CIA handlers after he botches an assassination.  In order to avoid being detected on airplanes or trains, Bourne solicits Marie´s help with an offer to pay her $10,000 if she drives him from Zurich, Switzerland to Paris, France.  Bourne´s old boss (Chris Cooper) dispatches several other assassins to eliminate Bourne, which leads to a car chase in the narrow streets of Paris, a brutal showdown between Damon and Clive Owen (he of those BMW mini-movies) in the French countryside, and a “fuck-off” confrontation between Bourne and CIA spymasters.

The casting adds an extra layer of “authenticity”.  Roles big and small are filled by cackling character actors and people who could carry their own movies.  In addition to Cooper and Owen as CIA guys, there´s Brian Cox as Chris Cooper´s supervisor, and there´s Julia Stiles in a grace-note of a part as a communications operative.  This approach to casting was continued with Cox and Stiles reappearing in the series and with Joan Allen joining the mix in The Bourne Supremacy.

I remember some reviewers saying that they would like the movie a lot more than they did had it been “about something”.  Okay, it´s true that The Bourne Identity is little more than an extended chase, but you know what?  That´s fine.  It´s a superior example of how to make an extended chase, from the quiet acting and subtle writing to the crisp editing and aggressive cinematography.  In this case, it´s not what you´re saying but how you say it that counts.

Unlike the usual spy-movie extravaganzas that you see in multiplexes, The Bourne Identity strives for realism and achieves it to the best of its summer-tentpole abilities.  There aren´t a lot of complicated set pieces because--let´s face it--real spies try to avoid causing disasters while they go about their jobs. Spies evade rather than attract attention.  Also, unlike in a lot of unbelievable thrillers, the police actually show up when there are explosions in The Bourne Identity.  What really impresses me, though, is the fighting style that Jason Bourne uses to end fights quickly.  I dislike most action movies because fights go on for too long.  Good fighters don´t take forever to dispatch each other; because of their skill, good fighters dispatch each other quickly.  Only lousy fighters take ten, fifteen minutes to kill opponents.  In The Bourne Identity, the protagonist breaks several people´s bones without sweating, and he goes on the run immediately rather than stupidly standing around, basking in his skill.

The funny thing about Doug Liman infusing the movie with an indie sensibility is that The Bourne Identity is a more realistic spy thriller than stuff like the Bond movies.  In the real world, spies maintain low profiles while diffusing problems.  James Bond, on the other hand, struts around as if being a secret agent means being a celebrity and creating problems.  Because The Bourne Identity feels so real, it also feels very alive.  The movie plays like a human-interest drama as much as it plays like an action extravaganza.