Bourne Identity

9 out of 10
 

 

Summer's Ace Action Movie

If you were broke and someone offered you $10,000 to drive them 500 miles, would you take the money? This is the dilemma that Marie Krutz, (Franka Potente), a German drifter faces after meeting Jason Bourne in Switzerland.

After being found floating unconscious in the Gulf Of Lyons by some French fishermen, Jason Bourne (Matt Damon) awakes with total amnesia and no record of his past life apart from two bullet holes in his back, a device in his groin that displays a Swiss Bank Account and the abilities of 007. Who is he? And why is everyone trying to kill him? With the help of the cash in his Swiss Account and Marie whom he meets at the US Embassy, he must unearth his past before it puts him under the earth. Assassins come through the windows, the doors and the fire escapes in displays of martial arts that are among the best I've ever seen. They're pursued in Marie's Mini Cooper, the same make as in the "Italian Job" in chases that would have made it's director envious, down flights of stairs and through buildings.

German star Franke Potente is quite exemplary playing Marie, a perfect portrayal of how a European woman would react in such a crisis. After finding the Police have listed her with Jason, she realises that staying with him is her only chance of survival. Indeed, as a European myself, comments of "No chemistry" border on insulting - unlike her American cousin, when bullets are flying, developing a relationship is the last thing on a European girl's mind.

Filmed entirely in Europe - Progue, Paris and Greece to be precise - it comes as a refreshing break from the streets of LA and I must confess that I really did not see the clever twist at the end.

The action never stops! I'm certainly going again

Film Critic: Robert L Thompsett