Ludlum fans will hate it. Action fans will love it.
Written: Aug 20 '02 (Updated Aug 28 '02)
Product Rating:
Pros: Excellent action sequences and convincing acting
Cons: Just don't read the book first
The Bottom Line: Where the book was a mystery wrapped within an enigma all wrapped in a puzzle, the movie dumbs it down to a predictable bang-em-up thriller devoid of any real surprises.
I guess it's partly my fault for having excessively high expectations. I sometimes forget that when a novel gets adapted to the big screen, certain compromises are usually made in the plot to suit the time constraints and the difference in attention spans between someone who makes a habit of plunging into 900 page novels and someone who plunks down $8.50 to see the movie version. I know big screen adaptations that are reasonably faithful to the original novel are sometimes possible, the most prominent in my memory being Clear and Present Danger. However, with most modern novel-based big screen thrillers, concessions must be made to the tastes of modern movie goers, who want a little less intrigue and complexity and a lot more action.
So of course, I found it difficult to rate the Bourne Identity. It doesn't just alter the plot of Robert Ludlum's novel, it completely butchers it. In the book, the mysterious stranger who washes up on a beach on some island in the Atlantic is not truly a government assassin. He is instead a CIA spy known as David Webb masquerading as killer-for-hire Jason Bourne to draw the infamous terrorist Carlos the Jackal out of hiding and kill him. When Alexander Concklin, Webb's best friend and boss at the CIA discovers he's on the run, he assumes treachery and attempts to kill him repeatedly up until the end of the novel, at which point he discovers Bourne's true problem and brings him in from the cold, as the old spy-speak goes.
In the movie, I was waiting for the unearthing of the David Webb identity, and for that seemingly indispensible part of the novel to play out on screen. However, the powers that be evidently decided that Robert Ludlum's ingenious plot twist would be too mentally taxing to movie audiences.
Thus, rather than viewing an enigma wrapped in a mystery all tied up in a riddle, we settle for a mystery simple enough to be solved and tied up neatly within two hours. Whereas the main character in the book is a bad guy turned good guy who later finds out he was a good guy all along, in the movie Bourne's true identity is nothing more than what it seems at first glance. The movie also ignores the novel's complex and dynamic relationship between Bourne and his spymaster, which evolves from friendly and affectionate to adversarial and back to friendship again when Bourne proves his loyalty to his country and to the CIA. Instead, Bourne's boss is a ruthless, rule-bending, authoritarian character who isn't very sympathetic from the beginning and becomes even less so as the story progresses.
The new underlying premise is that the stranger is Jason Bourne, a government hitman sent to kill an exiled African dictator. I don't mind minor detail changes, but this completely alters the character of the story and removes what could have been a shocking layer of complexity. Instead, we are faced with the much less believable premise that a normally remorseless and deadly assassin suddenly finds himself unable to complete his assignment because children get in the way. And the concept of the African dictator as a target seems contrived and simplistic. The story looses something important as the big screen changes Bourne from a battle-scarred, haunted CIA officer determined to wipe an infamous and blood-thirsty terrorist out of existence at the risk of his own life and sanity into a ruthless gun slinger gone soft and mushy because of a woman's love. Robert Ludlem's novel is a shockingly complex and layered psychological thriller. The screen version, beneath the unbelievably well choreographed action scenes and the strong leading performances, is a Hollywood cliche that does not live up to the potential offered by the book. Visually and sensually, it's a winner. Psychologically, it's nothing special. Out of necessity, it trades the depth and moral ambiguity that marks a brilliant and provocative spy thriller for the simple morality and black and white mentality of a big screen action hit. There's no longer any room for good guys who aren't sure if they used to be bad or good or for bad guys with good intentions. Instead, it's all the bad guys against one of their own who turned good and wants out. Sound familiar?
That being said, I still can't call Bourne Identity a bad movie. Matt Damon very convincingly blends a sense of strength, resourcefulness, and assertiveness with an appropriate level of vulnerability to create an imperfect hero whose imperfections make him all the more heroic. Franka Pontente is brilliant as the brave heroine Marie who evolves from a frightened victim thrown into a world of espionage way beyond her comprehension to the strong sidekick who picks up espionage trade craft with startling speed. She complements both the leading character's strengths and vulnerabilities by providing his emotional motivation and his psychological anchor in an on-screen relationship that works very well. The changing scenery of the story increases the sense of intrigue and suspense and keeps us interested at slow points in the plot as we move from a blustery winter near the US embassy in Paris to dark alleyways and deadly confrontation on the high seas and in high rise apartments. The action is fast and furious, but also logical and artfully choreographed.
If you've read the book and are a good Robert Ludlum fan, the movie will probably be a love-hate deal for you. You'll get the thrill of seeing one of your favorite action heroes of all time brought to life on the big screen, but at the cost of a decent story-line. If you've never read the book, sit back and admire the film in blissful ignorance of what could have been.
The best-selling suspense novel by late author Robert Ludlum comes to the screen for a second time, following a 1988 made-for-TV movie. Matt Damon sta...More at Buy.com Marketplaces
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