Average Rating: 
Rating:  - The best action film of 2002.
Exceptional film. Finally, a director who is able to illustrate Damon's talent. Amazing shots, continuous action, and no misplaced love story to water down the plot. This film contains the most exciting action sequence I have seen in years. Shame it wasn't released at a time when there wasn't 30 spy films out. Highly, highly recommend.
Rating: - This Update Gets It Right!
Doug Liman has changed and updated Ludlum's Bourne Identity and really made a better movie than the dopey old book or the godawful miniseries with Richard Chamberlain. He has crafted a nifty spy/action thriller with a stong central performance by Matt Damon, ably supported by Franka Potente (Run Lola Run).Liman has kept the essential intriguing element of Ludlum's book, which is the amnesia of the hero and his slow realization of his lethal skills. Damon is great in the action scenes, going on auto-pilot has he opens a can of "whup-ay" on anyone that messes with him. There are great chases and all the stuff we want from this type of film. Franka Potente is beautiful without being unbelievably so. She brings the needed reality element to the film and her relationship with Damon. Little time is wasted, the updating of the technology and the necessary elimination of the Carlos theme all works fine. This isn't deep intellectualism here, but good craft. Ludlum's books were pretty cornball and ill-informed but could catch you up despite their flaws. Chamberlain was too old & incapable of making you think he was a lethal assassin, but Matt Damon is credible as is Franka as a Euro-flake, and the direction is tight. Good flick.
Rating: - What a Spy Movie is Suppose to Be
This is a terrifc movie and is quite faithful to the book in it's overall perspective of the spy world. If every element from Ludlum's greatest novel were left in this would be a five hour movie. The book was that complex and jam-packed. Director Doug Liman has retained the basic feel of the book and left the heart of the story in tact. He didn't try to "Glitz it Up" because it had a big budget and a big named actor in Matt Damon, who comes into his own in this film. We see Paris and all the other countries as a background to this dark story we hope can have some kind of happy resolution as the film goes along. Franke Potente is perfect as a girl who has no real roots herself and what starts as a business proposition of a ride to safety for the cash she so desperately needs ends up in romance, even if it has to be a life on the run. Damon proves he can really act in this film and does a great job as Jason Bourne, a guy who has no idea who he is but has all the instincts of someone not quite part of everyday society. There is a scene in Paris where setting down to eat Damon frustatingly asks Marie (Potente), "What kind of guy has a Swiss bank account with a dozen passports in different names and that kind of cash-and a gun?" She tries to offer solice but then he wonders why and how he knows how many cars are on the street outside and their licence numbers, among other things. The romance that blossoms between Bourne and Marie becomes one more reason Bourne must find the answers to his identity as international assasins come after them at every turn. There is a moment in the film when he tries to make her leave him for safety because he loves her, and it is for that same reason she stays. This is a gritty movie with a heart. The action sequences as Bourne's instincts kick in are terrific and the human elements are not lost along the way which is a credit to Director Liman and the two stars, especially Damon, who can now look behind him at the pack. We are left with a good feeling at the end of this film but don't get to comfortable. There were two Bourne books that followed this one. We're not out of danger yet! That's a good thing for us. I can't wait for "The Bourne Supremecy" and maybe that's the best compliment I can pay this film.
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