*** Official 'THE BOURNE IDENTITY' Discussion Thread (1 Viewer)

[Larry Seno Jr.]

I don't see what's so unbelieveable about that scene.

Aside from the fact that Damon was able to walk away from it, and put a bullet squarely in the bad guys head WHILE moving over 1/meters per second


Aside from that, this movie was GOOD. I highly recommend it over other spy movies. It's MUCH better than any bond movie I have ever seen. Bonds only appeal is that he is slick. Bourne is a bad ass.

 

[Quentin]

Bourne is an incredible badass. I loved the way nothing he did (except that stunt...) was over the top. He did everything the same way - cool as a cucumber and as efficient as a machine. Very calculated.

 

[Mike_Stuewe]

I didnt mind that scene at all.

The entire movie showed how Damon's character was almost super human, I think it fit along with the other stuff he did in the movie. The point was that these spys were the best of the best, created by the US government to be that way.

 

[Jason Seaver]

Julia Stiles had a strange role, one that any competent girl actress could play because she didn't have to do much in the role

I wondered about that. The only guess I could come up with is that Nicolette has a more important role in the other Bourne books (The Bourne Ultimatum and The Bourne Conspiracy, I think), and the producers are planning ahead. Having read very little Ludlum, I'm not sure, though.

 

[Patrick Sun]

Now that I see Matt Damon in action, I think he could make a really good John Clark in Tom Clancy's "Without Remorse".

Although the pairing of Damon (as Clark) and Ben Affleck in future Jack Ryan novels would be stretching it. (I apologize for the digression, please continue on with the Bourne Identity aspect of this thread).

 

[Paul Case]

I saw this movie last night and enjoyed it quite a lot. Still, there are a couple of minor details I noticed that bugged me a little bit.
First of all, why does Bourne go to all the trouble of cutting Marie's hair and changing its color when he does absolutely nothing to alter his own appearance? You would think he would at least put on a baseball cap or something. Instead, he walks the streets openly without any apparent fear of discovery, despite the fact that every law agency in Europe seems to have detailed sets of photographs of him with various hairstyles, etc. Is he just such a badass that he doesn't care if somebody recognizes him?
Secondly, after the car chase, Bourne runs into the train station and leaves his red bag of money in an anonymous locker. He never returns to the locker, yet when Marie leaves Bourne at the farmhouse/ranch/whatever he has the red bag in hand to give to her. I guess it could be explained that he simply went back to get the bag out of the locker during one of the timegaps that is not shown between when they ditch the little red car and when they show up at the farmhouse. Still, what's the point of going to the trouble of showing Bourne stow the bag away in a locker if it is never going to be referred to again at all in the film? Weird.
So, what do you guys think? Discuss!

 

[Michael Reuben]

I just returned from an 11:15a.m. showing of The Bourne Identity that was sold out. This has never happened to me in 10 years of attending weekend a.m. screenings (unless the film was a limited release). The show immediately following was also sold out. The audience skewed much older than your usual action picture attendees. I don't know whether this was a fluke or typical; if it's typical, the picture is a hit.
Oh yeah, I liked it.
M.

 

[Jason Seaver]

It was sold out at the 5:30 Friday showing I went to, but that was in Boston, and all Damon and/or Affleck films do disproportionately well here. My brother who works at a theater in Falmouth, ME said that the place was much busier than expected last night.

I think people have really been waiting for Damon to do a "movie star" type movie, and he was smart enough to wait for a good one. I guess there's no way for theater owners to know people would respond to it this well, but it makes sense in retrospect.

 

[Chad Ferguson]

I thought the movie great! I was questioning if Matt Damon could pull it off but it worked for me. My only real problem with the film was that Clive Owen wasn't in it enough. I think he is such a great actor and he did a really greast job with what little he had. Anyone else agree?

 

[Patrick Sun]

I didn't really find the character of Jason Bourne all that entertaining, it was like the more I learned about the guy, the less I wanted to know the guy, if you get my drift. Sure, he's an CIA assassin, who slips up because he does have a weakness that sidetracks him at a crucial time, I just didn't really cared if he lived or died.

 

[Tom-G]

I have a question for y'all -- how is Matt Damon in this role? He's one of my least favorite actors, he's very uncharismatic and doesn't emote nearly enough. He's an actor where the less-is-more approach doesn't work.

I like Doug Liman and Franka Potente, but I'm having a hard time convincing myself to see this film based on the fact that Matt Damon plays the protagonist.

 

[Chuck Mayer]

Give a full review tomorrow (as if you care ), but I really, really enjoyed this one. I actually like Matt Damon, but he hasn't been in anything I wanted to see in a while. Very good casting and great directorial choice. Can't say I enjoyed the one end scene (those who have seen it know what I mean), but it was a hiccup in a very well-made film.
So, long story short, I really liked Damon in this (I can believe him in this role - it's an alternate reality where he took the Government's job in GWH), but I usually like him.
Take care,
Chuck

 

[Joseph_W]

I saw this movie this afternoon with my 14 year old son. We both liked it. I did have one question that I didn't get (maybe I'm just slow):
What was the deal with the headaches? It nearly implied that these assassins were enhanced in some way.


Just wondering.

Joe

 

[Michael Reuben]

I have a question for y'all -- how is Matt Damon in this role? He's one of my least favorite actors, he's very uncharismatic and doesn't emote nearly enough. He's an actor where the less-is-more approach doesn't work.

Damon is terrific in the role. Of course, I think he makes great use of less-is-more, so your mileage may vary. It's appropriate for the role, because the character of Jason Bourne is intended to be a blank for most of the film.

M.

 

[Alex Spindler]

I thought this movie was excellent. I was somewhat concerned about the movie as the weeks grew shorter but they came through in fine style. I was very concerned that Damon was a bad choice for this, both in terms of his ability to carry himself as a spy and to handle the physical stuff, both of which he did in fine style.

A couple of questions:
Franke went through a ton of accents in this movie. In the embassy, I was thoroughly impressed by her American accent. However, she fell back into a somewhat British accent through the movie and then peppered German curse words here and there. What exactly is her background. I caught that she was born in Hanover (Pennsylvania, right?). So why does she have an accent and use so much german?


Also, for anyone with knowledge of the booksWas Julia Stiles/Nicolette a big character in the Bourne universe? Because I couldn't find a single reason for her character to be in this movie at all. She did nothing that couldn't be handled by inference or a single sentence by another character. I can only assume that she had to be in this one as part of the framework for a larger character in the franchise.

I'm aware that there are more books in the Bourne storyline. Does the ending follow the book at all? I was under the impression from the movie that he had successfully removed himself from danger.

 

[Tom-G]

Michael, I should have mentioned in my last post that Damon was very good in The Talented Mr. Ripley and that role was one time where Damon's approach worked well within the context of the character. From what you have said, it seems as if this is the case in BI. I'm going to make an effort to see it later today.

 

[Patrick Sun]

TomG, you're awfully brave and lucky that many posters have spoilerized their posts in this thread (they are not required to do so) because you might have spoiled many of the scenes from this film for yourself.

 

[Tom-G]

Pat, I know I'm very thankful that they were using the spoiler tags. I wasn't perusing each post, but rather I was hoping to get some info on Damon, so I skimmed over each one.

 

[Michael Reuben]

Alex --

Re: Franka Potente's accent. Her character is German. Many Germans speak English with a mix of British and American pronunciations -- the result, I assume, of a collision between the the Brit pronunciations taught them in schools and the Yank ones heard in movies, TV, pop music, etc. The "Hanover" she refers to is a major city in Germany; I believe the town in Pennsylvania is named after it.

She's at the embassy trying to get a U.S. visa.

M.

 

[Alex Spindler]

Thanks! That explains it all. For some reason I thought she was at the US Embassy to resolve an issue with her being in Paris.