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

Seth Paxton

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Um Darryl, are you sure about that. I mean I can SEE photos of Mykonos Island at their tourism page which look identical AND it is listed as a shooting location.
If it wasn't used for the end then what scenes WERE shot there and then why did the end look just like it yet. Are you suggesting they shot some other scenes there, then went to Turkey to film an ending that looked like the place they had just been shooting?
Because that just doesn't make sense to me.
Of course if it's a joke, obviously I didn't get it. :)
 

Will_B

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Pretty good movie, but... questions:

Why didn't he have his memory? Because he got wet and it was traumatic? Or because his employer erased his memory? If they did erase his memory, then they could have just told him the account number after the "erasure," and he would have remembered it - no need for a surgical gizmo.
A spy should be able to remember such things - he could remember "every license plate number", but not his own bank account number? Or were the drugs he took to keep his headaches away - the side effect of being a supersoldier I guess - ebbing away his memory, so they figured the best place to store his bank account info was inside his skin, where he only found it by pure chance?
 

Will_B

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Theory on why the bullets didn't penetrate him:

He may have been swimming away and the bullets were slowed down when passing through the ocean water.
 

Ben Osborne

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Will,

I think he was programmed to forget classified information if he was caught, captured, neutralized, etc. to be sure he wouldn't give away anything in interrogation. The goverment's mind control techniques probably weren't advanced enough to let him remember some classified things, like the security deposit box number, and forget the rest.
 

Juan Castillo

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Anyone think the memory lapse passed too close to The Long Kiss Goodnight? "Bond is slick, Bourne is a badass" .. I agree, and liked the movie, but guys.. Gena Davis as a badass over Matt Damon... hmmm...
 

AndyVX

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I'm only 21, classed as an adult, but am not quite there yet. :) Even still though, I had no idea who Julia Stiles is/was until I read this thread. So, whether her name was included with the advertising or not wouldn't have made any difference to me.
Anyways though, great film. I never wanted to see the movie at first, mainly because I didnt' think Matt Damon would be able to pull it off. I eneded up seeing it at my local rep cinema a few days ago. And wow, he really did pull it off. Everything appeared so natural.
 

Seth Paxton

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Edwin said in the review thread...
It’s a little bit rough around the edges such as in many of the street scenes the entire set was not fully secured with many of the extras looking at the camera or the actors and wondering what was being filmed, which became distracting.
Just shows how differently two people can see the same thing. I thought to myself "Finally, the bystanders to crazy things actually act like SOMETHING STRANGE IS GOING ON. Even slightly nervous or odd behavior catches people's attention (well, maybe not in NYC :) ).
I never noticed a time when they were being good at being discrete that the crowd stopped to look. Only when they were doing something at least a little unusual (like being extra hurried or something).
Honestly, let's say I go to a bank and someone comes walking out VERY quickly or is looking around a bit nervously, I would notice and find it a bit odd. Even when it turns out to be nothing, I still find myself thinking "what's going on with this guy?"
 

Edwin Pereyra

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Seth, when a regular guy walks out of a train station and crosses a busy street like any other person, that shouldn't cause others to look at him.

When Matt Damon walks out of a train station with a camera in front of him and following him and the bystanders looking on with a "Hey, they're filming over there. Let's see what that's all about" look, then you know the filmmakers have not fully secured the set.

~Edwin
 

Troy_A

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OK. I just watched this last night for the first time. I understand that Bourne was an assassin working for the CIA. What I don't get is the comment about Bourne being a "30 million dollar weapon." Can someone explain this to me? Is he part robot? Does he have some kind of microprocessor implanted in his brain? Or (more likely) is that 30 mil figure simply the cost of the "training program" for black-ops agents? Also, are there more agents like Bourne or is he one of a kind? I heard the other sniper guy say, "we always work alone." But does that mean that he is the same kind of agent that Bourne is? Did he cost 30 million dollars also? Because the guy that Bourne took out with the shotgun did not seem near as badass as Bourne was. Also, what's with the headache comment? What's the cause of it and what's the point?
 

Bruce Hedtke

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What I don't get is the comment about Bourne being a "30 million dollar weapon."
This wasn't made clear in the film but what I gathered is that Bourne was part of the Treadstone operation. I assume the Treadstone project cost $30 million and Bourne was a part of that, so his "malfunctioning" was causing the whole "weapon" to malfunction. Or maybe it does cost $30 million to train these guys.

As for the headache, again, it wasn't explained in the film. However, watching the deleted scene with the psychiatrist, the answer might be because of behaviorial adjustments that the training inflicts. The headaches might be caused by this adjustment, or by medicines provided to the operatives to keep them in balance.

Bruce
 

Tim Glover

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Had some friends over today to watch The Bourne Identity . It's been awhile since I saw this. Been wanting to re-watch it after I saw The Bourne Supremacy this summer.
Truly a great film. This film kind of sneaks up on you. Sometimes movies like this, charter on too familiar territory and get caught up in effects and cool shoot outs. This film certainly has some very cool and intense scenes but none of this would work if the acting wasn't so good. Maybe the best scene is with Bourne and Marie in the diner. He tells her he knows all the licence plates parked outside, the man at the bar weighs 215 lbs and can take care of himself....but he doesn't know who he is.
The casting of Marie was genius. There's something in her eyes that reminds me of K.Dunst in Spider-Man 2. Kind of a sad, yet spark that's there.
Really hated that Marie is killed in Bourne Supremacy
but I understand why. Just love her character.
BTW, the dts track is absolutely fantastic. People were ducking and jumping a few times! :D The image is a dark one...not one to really show off your system but good nonetheless.
If you have't seen this in awhile, you owe it to yourself to give it a spin. :emoji_thumbsup:
 

Stephen_L

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I got the impression that Bourne's amnesia was a product of post-traumatic stress. Confronted with the prospect of killing a man in front of his kids, (and then killing the kids as witnesses) threw him into such conflict with his conditioning that his only psychic escape was to forget. You'll notice that later in the film, he seems inordinately interested in children (the kids of Marie's former lover at the country house)
 

Chuck Mayer

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Stephen,
Great point!
Tim,
I agree. The casting of Marie (Franka Potente) was probably the smartest move in the film (including Matt Damon and Chris Cooper). She brought a real honesty to the film, and made it seem real and dangerous. I also agree regarding the excellent diner scene. Simple and subtle. The best thing the writers did was let Bourne be smart...very smart.
It's been a few months since I've seen this, but my estimation of it has only gone up (and I had it as a top ten film in 2002). It truly is a great film. The sequel doesn't quite match the first one, but is still a first rate film, and worthy of the title.
Thanks for the revisit :)
Take care,
Chuck
 

Tim Glover

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Yes, great assessment Stephen. Well said.

One thing I noticed yesterday. Did have the volume a bit too high, but the soundtrack is a busy one. Not a bad thing or distracting...I just noticed it more yesterday.

Does anyone know how many novels there are? Prospective films? The Bourne character is so intense and smart. I don't want him to become a supporting role with an emphasis on outdoing the last film.
 

Matt Stone

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I think there were three novels, though I could be wrong. IIRC, the last one is called The Bourne Ultimatum.
 

Tim Glover

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Thanks Matt. So this is the final one, huh? Cool. For some reason, the recent press release for The Bourne Supremacy only listed a Dolby Digital track. Has Universal stopped dts mixes? I was hoping to hear perhaps the greatest cinematic car chase sequence in dts. :frowning:
 

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