The Jason Bourne Movie Collection (1988-2007)

Posted by fetchblog

June 11, 2008

When people think about the Bourne series you think one thing…Matt Damon. But to be honest with you, the first movie was created in 1988 as a made-for-TV adaption for the Robert Ludlum novel The Bourne Identity. Richard Chamberlain plays Jason Bourne who washes up on a beach and is cared for by a local doctor. This is different from the fishing boat that he ends up on in the recent film. He has no memory of anything but is determined to figure his life out. Basically it follows the same lines as the more current film, but with a few small differences. All in all its a great prequel to the new film if you have not seen it. I would recommend that you see this film before the others and not afterwards…I think the Matt Damon version is much more action packed and much better graphics which is a plus to me. All in all its not a bad film to rent if you are really wanting to get into the “Jason Bourne Affect.” Or you can just download it free…at the bottom of this post lol.

“The Bourne Identity” is an action movie masterpiece. Never have I seen a thriller directed this slickly, or a bland plot written so fully. Unlike the rest of this summers fun, this is not about trying to stop a nuclear terrorist attack or aliens from taking over the world, but rather a film about a character trying to rebuild. It’s seems like small pickings, but this is actually the best movie of the summer so far. I challenge anyone to find better action, better characters, or better acting in a film this summer. “The Bourne Identity” just takes them all and turns it into a thrilling, compelling chase from Switzerland to Paris. One of the best surprises though comes from the surprising performance by Matt Damon. Not only does he do the stunts to perfection, but he also has the tortured hero look that makes the character very compelling. The seriousness and intelligence he shows here makes him a great choice to play Bourne, playing him as a knowledgeable and skilled killer trying not only to stay alive and figure out who he is, but also to regain the humanity that the job made him lose. Franka Potente is a very strong partner for him, and Chris Cooper, who spends much of the film barking orders, proves to be an exceptional nemesis. All this, combined with great stunt work, makes The Bourne Identity into a solid thriller not to be missed.

The Bourne Supremacy is a serviceable thriller - no more, no less. This may come as a disappointment to those anticipating something on the same level as the surprise hit 2002 movie, The Bourne Identity. Sadly, the cinematic second installment of Robert Ludlum’s trilogy falls short of its predecessor in almost every area, except perhaps acting. There’s nothing wrong with any of the performances in this movie; it’s just that the actors aren’t as important as they were two years ago. Action has moved to the fore, shouldering aside plot and character development in order to maintain the frantic pace that director Paul Greengrass believes is necessary to retain his audience’s attention. At its heart, The Bourne Supremacy is a revenge picture. There’s nothing more subtle or deeper going on here, although there is a secondary plot about a group of Russians. Character development is perfunctory. We learn a few more things about Bourne’s past, and he shows signs of a conscience. However, he was more interesting in the last film, when he was foundering to discover who he was. This time around, Bourne is just a relentless killer, at least until the final 30 minutes, when he displays more compassion than we expect (or, in some ways, prefer).

The Bourne Ultimatum is the final film in what has been an amazing and action-packed trilogy of thrillers based on the late Robert Ludlum’s novels featuring the same characters and plot. Matt Damon has turned in some of the best work of his career in these movies. He appears at once as invincible and unstoppable as Jason Bourne, yet is also vulnerable and lost. In the first movie, fans learned that Jason Bourne was just a pseudonym and not the character’s true name. In this movie, we finally find out what the character’s name really is. Of course, those people who have already read the books knew that. The first two movies, to a degree, paced the action and played to the tension in scenes. The Bourne Ultimatum goes for the throat on action sequences from the very beginning, but there are still some brilliant twists and turns to the plot that will catch the audience off balance. The world seems to have rediscovered Robert Ludlum through these movies. Several of the late author’s novels have been recently reprinted, and there’s even a new film adaptation of The Chancellor Manuscript underway starring Leonardo DiCaprio. It seems as though Hollywood has finally figured out how to make realistic spy thrillers and is doing a bang-up job of choosing source material the same way Quentin Tarantino did when reinventing the crime thriller using Elmore Leonard’s books.