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The Bourne Identity (Full Screen Collector's Edition)

The Bourne Identity (Full Screen Collector's Edition)

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Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Not bad....
Review: I was sort of surprised that this movie was so good, but it's definitely worth seeing. Matt Damon does a great job in his role, and is very convincing that he's not sure who he is. I would highly recommend this DVD to people who like suspense movies.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Entertaining. Good story. Good casting and performance
Review: I had not read the original story but gone straightly to the DVD. To my surprise, the movie is much more entertaining than I expected. Perhaps the original novel is a good plot so without many action scenes or special effect (Matt is in no way an action star or a James Bond) so common in today's action or assasin thrillers, I "felt" that I had finished watching the movie real fast. Highly recommended for those who appreciate the importance of a good story line.

p.s. Actually I dont know the name of the supporting actors and even the main actress. But I must say the casting and their performance are really good so it is quite easy to get "dissolved" into the whole film.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Has nothing to do with the book ...
Review: This movie is only surpassed by "The Jackal" (with Bruce Willis and Richard Gere) as the worst remake of an action/spy movie. Apart from the fact that the main character is named "Jason Bourne", is found floating in water, and has a swiss bank account, this movie has nothing to do with the book on which it is based. The suspense in the book is replaced by Matt Damon ripping apart a US consulate and a cheap car chase scene where he outruns Paris' finest in a rusty old Mini Cooper ...

If you want to see the movie based on the book, get the made for TV version with Richard Chaimberlain instead. That movie is very true to the book, and infinately better than this.

Now, the movie is actually a decent action movie. I'd give it 3 stars if it hadn't been for the reasons above.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Good Entertainment
Review: Movie is about an amnesiac CIA assassin who has no memory of his name, profession, or his recent activities. He pays a penniless German traveler to assist him in solving the puzzle of his missing identity and to find out why there are a group of assassins trying to dispose of him. The plotting is intricate with good character detail and good action mixed with slight humor. Having never read the original book, I viewed the movie with no real expectations. It kept me interested. Mystery, lots of action and an interesting twist at the end make this movie worth checking out.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Loved it, Loved it, Loved it.
Review: A man is found floating in the sea near death. He has been shot twice and has a laser implanted in his hip with the number of a Swiss bank account. He doesn't remember his name or who he is. Slowly however he discovers that he has skills. And oh boy does he have SKILLS.

The gist of the movie is described by others on this page so I will avoid repetition. However the reasons I like this movie are as follows:

Matt Damon as Jason Bourne is cool calm and collected. I never would have pegged him for an action star but he carries his role admirably. You feel his confusion, his surprise and his disgust when he finds out who he is. He is also the calmest and most professional spy/protagonist I have seen in a long time.

The charaters modus operandii is refreshingly different. He reads a map to escape from a building, and values precision and speed over haste and unnessesary force (read hails of bullets).

The female lead (Franke Potente rocks) is a solid individual. Most Hollywood action female leads are as follows; Screaming Ninny, Brave Toughy, or Spunky Girl. Here we have none of that, she is afraid but overcomes it, listens to directions, accepts her mistakes and provides a refreshing counterpoint to Damons paranoid spy, sometimes solving problems more simply and clearly than he can.

The action sequences are fast moving and original with no unneccesary gunshots.

The car chase is physically possible.

Humor is sweet and not overdone.

Peripheral characters are fleshed out enough to be interesting but not too much to distract from the main story.

In a nutshell. I found this movie treated me like an intelligent viewer rather that following a formula but without becoming "arty" and trying too hard.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Good Action Movie for a Saturday Afternoon
Review: Not a bad movie . . . but not a particularly memorable one, either. It's got a lot of good action, but there's very little exploration of the background or personality of Jason Bourne, despite the fact that this is the central point of the movie. Instead, it focuses too much on being an action movie, with mysterious people trying to kill him for reasons unknown.

This is a rare movie in that the movie is better than the book. The only thing the book did better was explore the complexity of the main character's past.

Pick it up some Saturday afternoon. It's good for a few hours' entertainment- but if you want a movie that will be a little more memorable, grab the original instead.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: The Bourne Controversy
Review: It seems as though this film/DVD has as many detractors as fans. The principal reason seems to be its faithlessness to the decades-old Robert Ludlum novel. Well, I believe Ludlum was an executive producer of the film, and think that he helped migrate the book into a slick script, which provides plenty of screen satisfaction.

At last, someone got the idea, that of an amnesiac spy, to the screen, as the first in what was a book trilogy, and will hopefully produce at least one movie sequel. A lukewarm version of "Identity" played on television years ago (think of the results if it starred Richard Chamberlain and Jaclyn Smith!). This version stylishly updates the story to today.

I felt that I saw another dimension to talented actor Matt Damon as the action anti-hero of the film, and thought his onscreen chemistry with Franka Potente worked brilliantly. Couple it with a fine performance from Chris Cooper, a jolting assassination, and one of the finest chase sequences I've seen on film....its a winner!

The DVD features are somewhat average, although anything filmed this slickly has a lot of interesting background material. The alternate ending was very disappointing.

All in all, definitely worth a watch!!!

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: He was the perfect weapon until he became the target
Review: I really enjoyed this movie. A great little spy thriller, with lots of action and an interesting story. And the car chase was amazing! I never got around to reading the book, so maybe I will check that out. It seems like Matt Damon might have been a little too young to play this part, and I would have expected someone a little older, but it didn't ruin the movie for me. I would have enjoyed just a little more story in there...things seemed a little too laid out in front of me at times, like they were feeding the story to me, but whatever. Basically, this is the story of a spy who was thought to have been killed during a mission, but turns up sans his memory. The agency he worked for, who thought he was dead, seems to have a special interest in not allowing him to live. He has no memories about his past, but he has these survival skills and abilities that he finds he must use to stay alive. He slowly starts putting the pieces back together, and discovers his true identity. All in all, a fun way to spend a couple of hours. I didn't really care much for the ending, but it didn't spoil the movie. If you want a tight, fast movie with lots of action and a good story to boot, then get this movie.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Matt is Bourne for Action...
Review: Starring Matt Damon (Good Will Hunting) Franke Potente (Run, Lola Run!) and directed by Doug Liman (Swingers, Go), this action thriller, based on the Robert Ludlum novel, is a remake of a made-for-tv movie starring Richard Chamberlain. I haven't seen the telefilm yet, but I can't imagine it being better than this 'modern' version. The film has weaknesses though. Although the story moves right along with all the brevity and ferociousness of an action thriller, I can't help feel like it's all phony sometimes. The little nuances that make a solid thriller move effortlessly and in a believeable way, like Sum of All Fears or Crimson Tide or even a Bond film, seems to be missing here. An example was a scene where a foe of Bourne's decides he can't kill him and throws himself out a window in such a way that the audience explodes in laughter. But this was not a 'funny' scene and that made me uncomfortable with the rest of the film. Liman should stick to comedies and gen 'xer films. He does them quite well. ***1/2 stars.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Don't watch if you read the book
Review: I went to the movies think, "wow, this'll be great!" I loved the book, and from it seemed from the comercial that it would be about the same. Well it wasn't. It was completely different. When I left the movie theater, I wanted to cry in a corner in fetal position with my copy of The Bourne Identity cradled in my arms. If you want to see an accurate portrayl of the book, rent the mini-series.
But if you haven't read the book, I guess this movie's half-way decent.


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