The Bourne Identity review

 Number 399 on the top 1000 films of all time is the 2002 action-thriller 'the Bourne Identity.'

Jason Bourne (Matt Damon) is found drifting in the Mediterranean Sea with amnesia and two bullets in his back. As he tries to rediscover who he is, he finds that he is at the heart of a secretive CIA training programme.

This was a soulless thriller that was missing some heart. I guess the heart was supposed to come from Bourne and his relationship with the German Marie (Franke Potente) who he meets at the US embassy in Switzerland where he starts his journey of rediscovery.

First starting out as distrustful acquaintances, the two quickly become lovers. My problem isn't with the predictable instant-lover cliche, but rather its execution. There was a severe lack of chemistry between Damon and Potente. Things are initially awkward between them, as they naturally would for two strangers thrown together by fate, but their relationship never becomes more convincing.

Perhaps that's because Marie was largely insipid/useless. The Bourne Identity came out in 2002, long before Black Widow and Katniss Everdeen entered the scene, so I wasn't expecting Marie to be a crime-fighting badass, but I was expecting her to have some pep.

The Bourne Identity was also suffering from a lack of interesting, fully-fleshed out villains. Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje plays a generic African warlord who is more of a plot device than an actual character. Agbaje was also completely over-the-top.

Chris Cooper and Brian Cox play shady CIA chiefs, but they were too un-developed to have any real impact. As for Clive Owen, who plays a hitman sent to kill Bourne, he looked about as threatening as a bank manager.

You take away all these elements and you're left with a bland, generic action-triller that like its eponymous character struggled to find its identity.

The Bourne Ultimatum review

 Number 225 on the top 1000 films of all time is Paul Greengrass' action thriller 'The Bourne Ultimatum.'

The third in the Jason Bourne series, the Bourne Ultimatum follows former CIA assassin Jason Bourne (Matt Damon) as he aims to find out more about his past. Suffering from amnesia, he is desperate to find out more about how he became the man he is today. His journey takes him across the world from Russia to London to New York as he investigates the mysterious Operation Blackbriar. And he is aided by former CIA operative Nicky Parsons (Julia Styles.)

The very nature of this list means that I watch lots of film series in the wrong order. Despite being the third film in the series, this is the first Jason Bourne film that I've watched. Please forgive me if I made any ignorant comments about the film's content. 

But as far as films go, The Bourne Ultimatum is a pretty generic thriller. It has all of your favourite action movie tropes: gun fights, car chases, explosions and a ridiculous amount of plot armour. Jason Bourne survives things that would kill non-action heroes such as myself. But that's what we would expect from our favourite action stars. And the action sequences were good. They were tense and thrilling if a little unbelievable or frenetic at times.

However, the biggest thing missing from this film was a central villain. Sure, there were plenty of villainous characters, but I don't think any of them really took an Ernst Bloefiled role. Noah Vasen (David Straithairn) the CIA deputy director is little more than hapless bureaucrat, constantly outwitted by Bourne at every occasion, He didn't pose any real threat. Paz (Edgar Ramirez) a CIA assassin was too generic to be memorable. I guess the scientist Dr Hirsch (Albert Finney) who orchestrated the mind control program that turned Bourne into a ruthless killer was supposed to be the big bad. But he really only appears at the end of the film. Up until then, he is only seen in shadowy phone calls. Too vague and enigmatic to be scary.

I also thought that a love story was missing from this film. In action films, there is usually a love story; a bit of heart to off-set all the high-octane action. But that was missing here. It's implied that Jason Bourne's last girlfriend has been killed, but I thought that something might happen between him and Nicky Parsons. But, apparently not. To be honest, Nicky Parsons didn't do very much at all. I think Julia Styles was wasted. It's a shame as he is a great actress.

The Bourne Ultimatum is good as far as it goes. It's exciting, gripping and thrilling, but it could have gone a hell of a lot further.