The Bourne Identity directed by Doug Lyman
The Bourne Supremacy and
The Bourne Ultimatum directed by Paul Greengrass

I didn’t see any of these films until the last came out on DVD. I then took the trilogy and loaded them on to my iPod, watching them as I shuffled to and from work on the train day after day. I enjoyed all of them, most of all ‘Identity’.

Usually I prefer the first film in a trilogy, The Lord of the Rings being the exception. Generally the first film if well done outshines the rest, and the subsequent installments fail to live up to the first. But I don’t think that was the case here. All three of the films were exciting, and the action and suspense never got stale. The reason the first was the best in this case was mostly attributed to the film making style. I found that the second and third films were a bit choppy, which created confusion. I understand that during a chase scene (of which there are many) the movement of the camera can create a sense that the viewer is in the middle of the action. But there were many times when the shaking of the camera made me lose sight of what was happening, and at times I just waited until the scene was over to see who was alive and who was dead. There was just too much motion. I can imagine that people who saw these films in theaters and sat too close to the screen could have become nauseated.

I have heard many people compare Jason Bourne (Matt Damon) to James Bond. I can understand this comparison when I think about Bourne’s resourcefulness, but I think the link ends there. In Bond’s case, you don’t ever see remorse for all of the people he has killed, except a bit in the recent ‘Casino Royale’. At the beginning of the trilogy Bourne does not know who he is. The more he learns about his past, he realizes that he has killed several people in service to his country. And he doesn’t like it.

The fact that Bourne doesn’t like the things he has done makes him a complex character. Eventually he finds out that the super-secret force that he had been a part of did not recruit him, but he approached them. Bourne battles the knowledge that he has volunteered for the service but later had a change of heart.

The films were replete with all kinds of traditional film conventions that you would expect to find in a spy thriller. My favorite was the old ‘shoot the driver’ bit. Have you seen this one? When a car is being chased and a fight is going on between the hero and villain, who gets shot? The driver of the pursued car. In the back. While on a bridge. And the car plunges off the bridge. Don’t get me wrong. Conventions like these didn’t take away from the films. In the case of Bourne, they made the films more fun, much like the conventions in a Bond film make them more fun. I think that is why I enjoyed these films so much. Here we have action thriller films that kept good suspense, but didn’t take themselves too seriously. The directors didn’t have to resort to blood and guts to keep the tension up. A spy movie that can be entertaining while keeping a PG-13 rating can’t be easy to pull off. And in this case they pulled it off three times in a row.

If you don’t want plot spoilers, stop reading right now. I like how the trilogy came full circle. The first scene in the first film showed Bourne in the ocean, floating motionless after having been shot in the back. This scene is recalled in the last scene of the last film, where Bourne is seen floating motionless in a river after having been shot at from behind by Noah Voss (David Straithairn). Both shots are limed from underneath the body, with a single light from above illuminating Bourne. However, in the final scene Bourne shudders and swims off camera, reminding us that he can’t be killed by a cowardly shot in the back. I thought it was a nice touch.

‘Identity’ earned an 8 out of 10. ‘Supremacy’ got a 6 and ‘Ultimatum’ earned a 7.

Next review: Beowulf, directed by Robert Zemeckis