The Bourne Supremacy (2006, HD DVD)

And just when you thought everything was going to be okay for Jason Bourne.

Last we saw, Jason (Matt Damon) had hightailed it to the beaches with his girl Marie (Franka Potente). But, Jason has been having some of those nasty little dreams, which he has tried and tried to interpret without success. Apparently, though, it's got something to do with who he is.

It's not going to come easy, for Jason nor for the audience. Probably a good idea if you reacquaint yourself with the first movie before leaping into this one. And even then, you've got to pay some serious attention if you hope to grasp everything.

The story leaps into action right there in Paradise, with a narrow escape and an underwater scene (for the love of God, don't hold your breath along with him!). Later, we're on to the killing of two agents who were attempting some kind of sale. But then we find that somehow, Jason Bourne's fingerprint ended up at the scene. Before you know it everyone's on his tail, most importantly a group of agents headed by the illustrious Joan Allen as Pamela Landy. Slowly, Jason starts to make sense of those dreams... and that, as they say, is that.

The Bourne Supremacy is a good movie, but not without a few annoyances. First, as many others have been saying, the handheld hysteria of the camera angles is enough to make The Blair Witch Project look like the Nature Channel. It's next to impossible to follow the fight scenes. Fortunately, the car chases and pretty much any scene involving a gun came out quite a bit better. The car chase through Moscow is devastating to the point of being almost numbing, but a real piece of eye salt if I've ever seen one.

Second annoyance, that would be the direction they took with the character of Marie. There is no way I can be specific about it, but as I understand, it's not true to the books on which this trilogy (with the third title being "The Bourne Ultimatum") is going to be based. Like I said before, don't hold your breath.

Third is the way you are expected to remember so much from the first film to understand a lot of what is happening here. If you don't remember exactly who "Conklin" is, you're not ready for this. It's not like Spider-Man or Star Wars where you either remember the basic gist (since the basic gist was pretty much it) or have seen it a dozen times. Don't be an idiot like me and expect a single viewing from two years ago to come flooding back when you sit down for "Supremacy". When a movie is complicated and its sequel is complicated, you end up with a major case of the R & R syndrome. Of course I feel that much of this is more my own fault than that of the movie.

Make no mistake, Matt Damon is better than ever as our mysterious Jason Bourne. Jason's unwavering determination (made even more solid by Damon's square face) mixes well with his nagging feelings of grief, guilt and fear. His eyes tell it all.

Julia Stiles gets an extremely under-written return as Nicki, who basically comes along and explains to The People In The Room what's up with Jason. Then she gets sent out with a wire a la Conspiracy Theory, has a powerful moment with Jason, then vanishes soon afterward. She's great while she's onscreen, though. I didn't think of Mona Lisa once.

Joan Allen has always had a wonderfully tender way about her, especially since her wifey role in Face/Off. I just can't picture her any other way, and because of that, I think she added a very personable touch to the whole group of agents. Yet at the same time, I was totally buying her badness, so to speak.

Karl Urban makes a nifty Russian villain as he tries to keep up with a seemingly invincible Bourne. Any second, you almost think he'll just throw his hands in the air, give a Mr. Bean look and walk away. But this ain't no comedy you guys. Gee, I'm not even sure I laughed once.

The Bourne Supremacy takes you all over the eastern Globe, from Naples to Moscow. A whole lot of fascinating scenery is made slightly surreal by Greengrass' gritty techniques. I also found the music to be oddly appropriate, with a lot of weird foreign hard-rock and some techno beats here and there. Finally, there is a huge confession from Bourne to an orphaned girl, which I found very strange; there's something about that whole exchange that keeps sticking in my head. I just don't know if I would have reacted the way she did, but considering her circumstances, it's unlikely anyone knows how he/she would react.

This is one of those movies I feel I almost had no business seeing. It's not really my type, it seems outdated and wholly stale. But farbeit for me to tell you not to see what is otherwise a riveting, superbly-performed action flick just because I haven't the tolerance.