The Bourne Identity (2002)
Wounded to the brink of death and suffering from amnesia, Jason Bourne is rescued at sea by a fisherman. With nothing to go on but a Swiss bank account number, he starts to reconstruct his life, but finds that many people he encounters want him dead. However, Bourne realizes that he has the combat and mental skills of a world-class spy—but who does he work for?
- Doug Liman
- Claudine Strasser
- Patrick Crowley
- Claire Letouze
- Petr Němeček
- Inès de la Bévière
- Alexander Witt
- Jeremy Moffett
- Robert Ludlum
- Tony Gilroy
- William Blake Herron
Rating: 7.5/10 by 9250 users
Alternative Title:
El caso Bourne - ES
Jason Bourne - La Mémoire dans la Peau - FR
Chorís taftótita - GR
Samolichnostta na Born - BG
Identifikatsiya Borna - RU
Bornov identitet - RS
Identyfikatsiya Borna - UA
A Identidade Bourne - Renascido em Perigo - BR
谍影重重：伯恩的身份 - CN
叛諜追擊1 - HK
叛諜追擊1 - TW
ボーン・アイデンティティー：2002 - JP
Borna identitāte - Latvia
Borna mīklainā personība - Latvia
Jason Bourne 1 - Die Bourne Identität (2002) - DE
谍影重重1 - CN
叛諜追擊 - HK
Identidad Desconocida - MX
Country:
United States of America
Germany
Czech Republic
Language:
English
Français
Deutsch
Nederlands
Italiano
Runtime: 01 hour 59 minutes
Budget: $60,000,000
Revenue: $214,034,224
Plot Keyword: sniper, assassin, amnesia, paris, france, based on novel or book, escape, barcelona, spain, secret identity, passport, mission of murder, lovers, flashback, shootout, foot chase, cell phone, multiple identities, surveillance camera, hamburg, germany, fishing boat, langley virginia, safe deposit box, hand to hand combat, action hero, bourne, jason bourne, intense, powerful
Lost count the number of times I've watched The Bourne Identity but it's still a fantastic action-thriller with Matt Damon perfectly cast in the lead which if I recall at the time he was only known for dramas. Some issues with how the sequels were handled, mainly (in TBU) the suggestion Bourne and Nicki (Julia Stiles) had some sort past relationship when it's pretty clear he was just another black ops agent. In any case, still works almost 20 years later and I'm sure I'll revisit this one again. **4.0/5**
**The Bourne Identity returns the spy genre to hard-hitting realism with face-paced hand-to-hand combat, clever espionage, and a great lead.** In the early 2000s, when James Bond was surfing on laser-melted glaciers and fighting diamond-crusted henchmen and Ethan Hunt was dual-weird diving through a flock of doves, The Bourne Identity charted a new path. Doug Liman took Good Will Hunting’s Matt Damon, whose biggest action role to this point had been watching Tom Hanks die to save him in Saving Private Ryan and turn him into a hardcore action hero. But unlike Bond and Mission Impossible, Bourne was a grounded and gritty spy that used skill and ingenuity to overcome the duplicitous intelligence agencies that wanted him dead. The action is more realistic and brutal, with the punches landing harder and pens stabbing deep. The Bourne Identity reinvented the spy genre.
Matt Damon ("Jason Bourne") is fished out off the sea by a passing fishing boat and after having had bullets removed from his back, determines to find out just what happened to him. One slight snag - he has absolutely no idea who he is! Luckily, his rescuer has some skill with a scalpel and aside from the bullets, he removes a small gadget that contains details of a Swiss bank account that ultimately gives him a name, but asks far more questions than it answers. He goes to the US embassy, but that doesn't quite go to plan and in escaping picks up the feisty "Marie" (Franka Potente) and the two have to evade chasing police and would-be assassins as they try to discover the mystery of "Treadstone". It's a gripping, end-to-end spy thriller with short, refined, fight scenes that genuinely engenders suspense and peril. Robert Ludlum's story survives largely intact and Damon, alongside a suitably duplicitous performance from Brian Cox, deliver well.
