The Bourne Identity

Reviewed by:
Eric Alt

Sometimes, we really want to dislike a movie. Not because we’re rabid Robert Ludlum fans who hate the thought of another adaptation of his spy novels. Not because we have anything against Matt Damon. Nope, sometimes we just think of those funny title-plays that other critics always come up with and we really want to use them (because, um, it’s cool, we guess). C’mon—how about The Bored Identity? Or The Bourne Indignity? Those are gold!

As it turns out, though, we enjoyed this slick (if not particularly smart) spy flick. When a highly-trained assassin loses his memory, he is forced to piece together his life with the help of a badly-dressed Samuel L. Jackson—oops, sorry, that was The Long Kiss Goodnight. Anyway, The Bourne Identity is a good summer movie, full of snow-covered exotic locales (what better way to get your mind off the humidity?) and surprising bursts of bone-snapping action. Damon acquits himself nicely, bringing a sense of humanity to what is basically a stock role, but Blow’s Franka Potente is not able to escape her character’s implausibility (one minute she digs this mysterious stranger, the next she’s scared of him), so she ends up just being a walking excuse for Bourne to kick ass. Which we’re not complaining about, by the way. With cool government agents played by Brian Cox (Supertroopers) and Chris Cooper (The Patriot, American Beauty) and a cartoonish African potentate played by Oz’s Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, you’ve got an unchallenging movie worth coming in from the heat for.