Bourne Identity, The [Explosive Extended Edition]

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Universal released a DVD of 2002´s "The Bourne Identity" during the spring that followed the movie´s summer theatrical run. It is now releasing an Explosive Extended Edition as a promotional tie-in with 2004´s "The Bourne Supremacy". This is a phenomena that has gotten out of hand, with Sony (Columbia Tri-Star) and Universal flooding the market with haphazardly-assembled and incomplete special editions. Sometimes, in order to get all the important extras, you have to buy more than one copy of a movie. (For example, the SuperBit edition of "Spider-Man" is the only DVD with star Tobey Maguire´s audio commentary--which really goes against the SuperBit philosophy of not devoting space to extras in order to maximize Video/Audio presentation.) Frankly, I´m pissed. I´d much rather that studios release bare-bones discs and then carefully-considered deluxe editions rather than offering two special editions that both feel gimpy in some way because they're missing one thing or another. Ugh.

Anyway...

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 (the attacks on the World Trade Center in New York City and the Pentagon in Washington, D.C.) 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, however. I rated "The Sum of All Fears" an "8", and I´m rating "The Bourne Identity" an "8", too. However, the two movies are very different creatures. "The Sum of All Fears" was made in the 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 a guy (Doug Liman) who made his name making 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, so the audience gets the chance to feel as if it is getting to know Bourne and his companion, Marie (Franka Potente of "Run Lola Run" fame).

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 ("Manhunter", "Troy") 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 seems to be continued with Cox and Stiles reappearing in the series and with Joan Allen ("The Ice Storm", "Face/Off") 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.

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