The Bourne Supremacy
-Based on the novel by Robert Ludlum
-Directed by: Paul Greengrass
Jason Bourne: Matt Damon
Marie: Franka Potente
Nicci: Julia Stiles
Pamela Landry: Joan Allen
Matt Damon has been accused of not being able to pull off an action movie. If that's true, then I'm hard pressed to wonder exactly WHAT movie that might be. It was most certainly not the 2002 blockbuster "The Bourne Identity", and it is not this movie. Based on the work of author Robert Ludlum, Matt Damon returns as the amnesiac spy Jason Bourne in a movie that picks up two years after the first one ended. Hiding out in India with his girlfriend Marie, the movie opens with fragments of broken memories from his past and rockets you into a non-stop action ride that was just made for summer movie viewing.
Damon has said on many occasions that he had been reluctant to do a sequel to such a well made and well liked movie. The reason? He didn't want it to be a disappointment. He's said that he remembers one too many sequels that let the audience down, so he wanted no part of something that might be exactly that. It's apparent that he liked what he saw in this movie, and that Damon likes himself in that character. He embraces the physical nature of this role with a passion, and adds to it his stunning presence as an actor. Jason Bourne is likeable despite his deadliness, and as an audience member you want things to work out for him.
Director Paul Greengrass has changed the overall look of the movie with a different type of camera use. When Jason is in a thrilling car chase, you feel like you're sitting in the back seat with him. I'll admit it was a little bit dizzying but I found that I liked it. You could understand Bourne's anger and desperation and his sheer will to survive. Also, I felt that Greengrass handled the issue of violence in the film with admirable taste. This is an action movie. Make no doubt about it. But there is no occasion where you're subjected to senseless gore. You see blood, you know characters are hurt or dying, but you only see a flailing arm or the reaction of another character. The focus in on the action and not the end result.
-Jenn Untch
Liberty, Missouri
indigojenn@earthlink.net
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After a run on the popular sitcom "The Fresh Prince of Bel Air", Smith found himself with possibilities galore. Starting in 1992, he's taken on some ambitious roles with "Where the Day Takes You" and "Six Degrees of Seperation." But he is best known for his ability to helm a summer blockbuster. Starting out with "Bad Boys" with Martin Lawrence, he became a household name with a little film called "Independence Day". That was the movie that proved Will Smith was here to stay. Also? It showed that extraterrestrial life forms did his career a world of good. After all? Who can honestly say they don't know what "Men in Black" are?