The spy thriller The Bourne Identity drew a large part of
its pop and verve from the attached-at-the-hip nature of its conceit and action
— as Matt Damon’s overwhelmed, government-trained, amnesiac assassin Jason
Bourne experienced the action, so too did the film’s audience. Its narrative
twists and turns were born (pun embraced, if not intended) of the
don’t-sit-still reality of the situation its main character was in. The result
was the best spy thriller in years. Those thinking the franchise might be a
one-trick pony, however, might be surprised at the fact that The Bourne Supremacy cedes almost none
of its predecessor’s energy. The trick? Something called characters.
With The Bourne Supremacy, Damon and director
Paul Greengrass (stepping in for Doug Liman) took their franchise on the road
to even more international backdrops, but wisely chose non-played-out locales
like
freewheeling this time around, the movie, stirringly, doesn’t discard the
narrative of the first film for convenience’s sake. Rather it uses it as a
springboard, launching Joan Allen’s upper-level CIA agent into a new
investigation of Bourne after he’s erroneously implicated in a botched
operation that leaves her team dead. As the loosest of loose ends, someone is
still looking to tie Bourne off.
The supplemental
material doesn’t overwhelm you to the point of numbness (in a world where,
increasingly, mediocre theatrical fare still receives two-disc DVD releases,
this one is still only one disc), but rather seems about right. Extras include
seven minutes of mostly interstitial deleted scenes, but one crackling showdown
with Allen and Brian Cox that more explicitly sets up the latter’s desperate
end game actions. Most notable among the extras, though, are a slew of
production featurettes that serve as a dipped toe into almost every aspect of
the filmmaking. One section looks at the movie’s bridge chase sequence, one
looks at the casting and one looks at the hand-to-hand combat training, while
two examine the movie’s car chase — both from the stunt coordinators’
perspective and that of their groovy new toy, the “Go Mobile.” All include
generous interviews with Damon and the rest of the cast, Greengrass (who
resembles a slightly better groomed Peter Jackson), producer Frank Marshall and
more. It’s here that Damon astutely praises the latitude in Greengrass’
direction and his lack of reliance on staged movements as allowing for a
greater emotional investment (and thus return, for the audience). It’s also
where Marshall and others jokingly score Damon’s stunt jump from a
be for The Bourne Supremacy as a
whole. A- (Movie) A- (Disc)