The Bourne Identity (2007, HD DVD)

Wow... when did a week without going to the movies become a hiatus to me? Hrmph, well, this hiatus came to an end Tuesday when I went to see The Bourne Identity.

The movie gets its name from the appropriately-named Jason Bourne, played by Matt Damon. One dark and rainy night, his body is discovered floating amidst the Mediterranean Sea. He is taken aboard by a friendly fisherman and his buds, and brought back safely to the Swiss land. He comes around on the way there, only to find himself befuddled by a loss of memory that claims his knowledge of everything from his job to his own name. The only clue he has is a capsule displaying a bank name and an account number.

I'll tell you two things right now about the first ten minutes. There are subtitles, and you'll probably want to refrain from indulging in your cinema cuisine until the bullets and capsule are removed from Jason's back. Maybe it was me at the time, but that scene was utterly gross.

They couldn't possibly make it any more obvious who he is, what he does, and who he's running from. The "who he is running from" part may be a little tougher, but I had figured that out halfway into the first chase. And I'm such a horrible movie predictor that I couldn't even tell you whether or not this were something they already meant for us to know.

Jason realizes that he is being chased, and happens across a chick, Marie (Franka Potente) who looks a lot like Michelle Branch. Jason offers her ten grand to drive him to Paris. She asks him if he's serious, and he tosses the money straight into her hands. You know how all great relationships start with trust? Well, there ya go. I wouldn't call it the greatest love story ever, but it is good enough considering it is more or less a subplot.

Marie coerces the truth out of Jason early on, and good thing she does too because if she hadn't, I would not have been convinced. It's hard enough to imagine why she would continue to follow this guy around other than sympathy. Or just a major crush, which you can tell she has. It's kind of cool; he's always telling her to stay away because he cares about her. She's always staying by his side because she cares about him. Sounds like a kindergarten concept, but then, all you need to know you learned in kindergarten, right? (Some might say "Not in a spy thriller," but I digress...)

Now the guys that are chasing Jason, these are some serious mofos. Led by the never-smiling and masterful Chris Cooper as Ted, they will stop at literally nothing. They have kind of a Big Brother thing going on; no matter where Jason & Marie go, there seems to be someone watching. Even in the alley where they first meet, they're on camera.

There is one fast-paced scene of all Ted's agents around the world being paged. Each one maintains a spooky subtleness (say, at the family dinner table or wherever they happen to be) as they respond. Looks kind of like one of those 3-D fighter games, with each agent's picture, name, and stats appearing briefly over a bird's eye view of the city they live in. I imagined that each of them would have to be confronted individually, but to tell you the truth, the first fight is the only one that sticks out in my mind. The rest were okay, but most of the time, the shot changes so quickly throughout the fight that you hardly catch what's happening. I was hoping maybe Julia Stiles as the "secretary" or whatever she does, might get to fight. She's working for 'em, right? It's the least we could expect after what Yoda just did. She didn't seem to be there for anything other than sex appeal.

Otherwise, the camera work was interesting in parts; the overall pacing was rocky but consistent, and the actors fit into their roles so well that it's a wonder they even needed to be directed at all.

So what would happen if this movie had been backwards a la Memento?

Who knows. I've heard the question asked before, but I don't think it would work without the novelty of Lenny's "can't remember what happened five minutes ago" syndrome. It does, however, occur to me that Bourne's climactic flashback scene would have been brilliant as the final scene of what happened first to start it all. On the other hand, it would probably only leave the audience thinking "Oh, so that's what happened." Then again, that's basically the way it is now. The love story wouldn't be possible backwards, and the building up to how the two met would be nowhere near as fulfilling as the building up to Natalie & Lenny's meeting was. In spite of certain things being cheaply disposed of, I really like the way The Bourne Identity ended. If you're even half the girl that I am, you probably will too.

This is the kind of movie that might just get people thinking about their place in this world, who they are and what they do. When Jason awoke knowing nothing, it was only then that he was able to see clearly and realize that he didn't like what he was doing. It doesn't do much for people like me who already think about that crap 24 hours a day as it is, but for you, it might. We don't need movies to remind ourselves who we are; I'm no different.

Now, who was I?