Friday, June 14, 2002 | 8:38 a.m.
'The Bourne Identity'
Grade: *** 1/2
Starring: Matt Damon, Franka Potente, Chris Cooper, Clive Owen and Brian Cox.
Screenplay: Tony Gilroy and William Blake Herron.
Director: Doug Liman.
Rated: PG-13 for violence and some language.
Running time: 118 minutes.
Movie times: http://www.vegas.com/movies/
Doug Liman, the director of "The Bourne Identity," previously directed "Go" and "Swingers," two of the best films about being alive you're likely to see.
"Go" had its young stars living by their wits, and having a hell of a time while at it.
"Swingers" is the Rat Pack movie that never was -- the film in which the cool cats in the suits dropped their guard and still proved to be fairly cool, if a bit reckless.
In his first production for a major studio, based on a dry-as-toast Robert Ludlum novel, Liman brings his savvy and wit to what could have been an all-too-typical action piece.
Though this is the first film he hasn't shot himself -- Oliver Wood shoots it, beautifully -- the Liman trademarks are all in evidence: handheld camera, natural lighting, adrenaline-charged shots from moving cars. The interaction between the characters is wholly natural -- ingratiating, even. It's no "Swingers," but man, does it ever "Go."
Matt Damon plays Jason Bourne, a man with a few questions he needs answered. He is found floating in the sea by a crew of fishermen with no memory of his name or his identity -- yet he's able to speak several languages and incapacitate or kill any living being. He's even more puzzled and scared after he checks out a safety deposit box in a Swiss bank (the account number is implanted in his hip) and finds in it a number of passports, a small fortune in international currency and a gun.
Before he knows it, he's on the run from CIA spooks who want him dead. He buys his way out of town from Marie (Franka Potente), a student with visa difficulties. Evading capture by a persistent CIA operative (Chris Cooper) and an assassin known only as The Professor (Clive Owen), Bourne zeroes in on the truth of his life and, despite his better judgment, falls for Marie.
Being a James Bond fan, I've seen scores of spy movies over the years, and was happy to see "The Bourne Identity" bypass certain cliches and embrace others. Marie doesn't turn out to be a liability or a trained killer, but a smart and streetwise girl who finds the angles Bourne can't see through his ingrained training. When he sends her to get a copy of a phone bill from a hotel clerk, he briefs her on exit strategies, methods to gain entry to secured facilities and the like; she walks out of the hotel less than a minute later, bill in hand, having simply flirted with the clerk.
Damon is perfect in the role. His small, wiry frame works to his advantage -- why would a spy look like a bodybuilder? He never looks tough or mean, but exactly as someone in his position would look: thoughtful, a little fearful. Potente proves herself a real presence once again, sexy and smart as her opposite number.
It would be unfair to give away more -- although Tony Gilroy and Willam Blake Herron's script doesn't have too many twists, "The Bourne Identity" is all about the trip. Similar to John Frankenheimer's "Ronin," it fancies Europe as a place to do business, even if that business is transacted with guns and speeding cars. Liman does the job "The Bourne Identity" requires, and does it well.
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