Plot Details: This opinion reveals major details about the movie's plot.

In 2002, a new spy, Jason Bourne, came on the movie scene in The Bourne Identity. I saw that movie in the theater and really enjoyed it. I own the DVD and have watched it several times since then. I have been looking forward to seeing the second movie featuring Jason Bourne, The Bourne Supremacy. I wanted to go see it sooner than I managed, but I did see it. I enjoyed the movie for the most part, but I felt there were a few problems with the movie.

In discussing things about The Bourne Supremacy, some things I mention could be spoilers to The Bourne Identity if that movie hasn’t been seen yet. Certain things that happened in The Bourne Supremacy tied back to events in The Bourne Identity. I do think that things would make more sense if the movies are seen in order. Read at your own risk if you haven’t seen The Bourne Identity yet.

In The Bourne Identity, Jason Bourne pieced together his past after he woke up on a boat with amnesia. He’d been part of a top secret project for the CIA. Something went wrong on his last assignment and he almost died. The CIA was looking for him. With the help of Marie, a woman he got to drive him to Paris, he figured out some things about his past and managed to stay away from the CIA.

Jason and Marie were living in India. It wasn’t clear how long they had been there. Jason still couldn’t remember his past and he had nightmares. One day a man showed up that Jason recognized as an assassin. He went to find Marie so they could leave. Things didn’t go well, and Jason felt that he had to resort to doing things he learned when he worked as an assassin for the CIA. At the same time in Berlin, Pamela Landy was in charge of a CIA operation. Things went very bad and she was determined to find who was responsible. A fingerprint was discovered. Pamela didn’t have high enough clearance to see who the print belonged to, but she did discover it was connected to a certain project. She was able to get higher clearance and found that the print belonged to Jason Bourne.

Pamela continued to dig into the past of Jason and the project. She talked to Ward Abbott, a man that had been involved in the project before it was closed. She also pulled in Nicky, the female agent that had worked in Paris to coordinate some aspects of the project. Pamela was sure that Jason was responsible for what happened in Berlin. She also thought that he might have answers related to something that happened several years earlier. She wanted to talk to Jason. Ward didn’t think Jason would have any useful information. Someone else sent an assassin after Jason. He wanted to know why the CIA was after him again.

Whenever a movie is based on a book, things change. Some changes are minor, some are huge, and some fall somewhere in the middle. I have read books after I have seen the movies, and I’ve also seen movies after reading the books. Most of the time, I like the book better. I did pick up the book versions of The Bourne Identity and The Bourne Supremacy by Robert Ludlum after seeing the first movie. Both books are still in my huge pile of books to read, but I think I will be bumping them up soon. I’ve also read the back of the third book, The Bourne Ultimatum, several times. Just from reading the blurbs on the back of the books, I know a few certain events happened over the course of the three books. Something happened in the movie that I know didn’t happen in the book. I was disappointed by what happened instead. Because of the one event, if there is a movie based on The Bourne Ultimatum, major changes will have to be made. Based on the information on the blurb of The Bourne Supremacy, some other things were changed as well. The plot of the movie did work, and it made sense to me. I was just disappointed by something that happened.

I had one major problem with The Bourne Supremacy. I enjoyed the movie, but it was difficult to tell what was going on at times. The camera was entirely too jerky and there were too many cuts to different shots in a scene throughout the movie. The camera was so jerky at times it seemed like the cameraman was doing the hokey pokey on a trampoline. This problem was the worst during the scenes that had action, like fights or the car chases. The cuts were so fast and jerky that it was hard to tell what was going on. Some things were just a blur. It was really bad during a fight between Jason and another man. It was made worse by the fact that both men were wearing all black. I think Jason beat the other guy up with a rolled up magazine, but I’m not completly sure because of all the cuts and how jerky the camera was. It got annoying at times, and made my eyes hurt. There were some impressive fights in The Bourne Identity. The fights in this movie fell short since it was so hard to tell what was going on. If the camera had just been a little more steady and not cut away so often during those scenes, they would have been much better. There were a lot of cuts at times when there wasn’t action going on as well. There really wasn’t any need for the camera to be as jerky as it was. If it had been more steady, the movie would have easier to watch and more entertaining.

There was action throughout The Bourne Supremacy. There were car chases that were impressive when I could tell what was going on between all the cutting away to different views. The cars got very banged up. There were some fight scenes. Those scenes were ok, but would have been better if it has been easier to tell what was going on. There were a few explosions as well. There was a lot going on in the movie. The movie did jump back and forth between what Jason was doing and what Pamela and the CIA were doing. Some things about Jason’s past were also shared. I was able to keep track of what was going on for the most part, but some people could get a little confused, especially if they haven’t seen The Bourne Identity. The movie was fast paced. I wasn’t bored by anything that happened in the movie, though I wasn’t sure why certain things were shown at first. Those things were cleared up for me later.

There was violence in a lot of scenes in the movie. Different characters were shooting at each other, and characters were injured. Blood was shown. At one time, a character took care of their own gunshot wound. That was gross, but it wasn’t shown too much. Another time, something very unpleasant was almost shown, but the camera cut away at the last second. I still saw enough to know what happened. In those two cases, I didn’t have a problem with the camera cutting away. The movie was fairly violent, so people who don’t like to see movies with violence in them should avoid this movie. The movie deserved the PG-13 rating. I don’t think this is a movie that young children should see.

The Bourne Supremacy focused in action and why Jason was pulled back into the world of the CIA. He still couldn’t remember most of his past, but he had nightmares that seemed to be revealing things about his past. Jason was trying to figure out why the CIA was after him again. At the same time, he was trying to figure out something about his past. He was the main character in the movie. Jason was still having headaches and nightmares. He did want answers about his past even though he didn’t want to be part of that life anymore. The acting in The Bourne Supremacy was good. Matt Damon was great as Jason. He was really good in the action scenes, and he also had a few emotional scenes that he did very well with. He was in good shape again for the part, though he wasn’t shown shirtless like he was in the first movie. He was wearing a tank top in one scene. That is as close to shirtless as he got.

Franka Potente didn’t have much to do at all as Marie in this movie unfortunately. She was good in the scenes she did have. I really hated how things worked out with her character. Brian Cox was good as Ward. His character was troubled about something, and he conveyed that well. Ward knew things about Jason and didn’t think it was a good idea to be looking for him. At times Ward did remind me of the character Cox played in X2: X-Men United. Ward really wasn’t like the character he played in Manhunter.

Julia Stiles returned for a few scenes as Nicky, another CIA agent. Nicky got pulled into the search because she had worked on a former project that involved Jason. I think she had more scenes in the first movie, though they were all very short. She was fine in the scenes she had. Karl Urban played an assassin that was sent after Jason. Urban was in two of The Lord of the Rings movies in a very different part. He looked very different in this movie. Joan Allen was good as Pamela, an agent in charge of an operation in Berlin. She was trying to figure out why her operation went wrong and how Jason was connected to it. She didn’t seem too nice at times. She was very determined to find answers. Allen did seem a bit cold and stiff at times, but I think that is the way the character was written.

Main Cast

Matt Damon - Jason Bourne
Franka Potente - Marie
Brian Cox - Ward Abbott
Julia Stiles - Nicky
Karl Urban - Kirill
Gabriel Mann - Danny Zorn
Joan Allen - Pamela Landy
Marton Csokas - Jarda

Paul Greengrass - Director

I was disappointed by something that happened in The Bourne Supremacy, but I did still enjoy the movie. People who liked the first one should give this one a chance. People who didn’t like the first movie shouldn’t bother to see this one.

Borne Movies
The Bourne Identity ~ The Bourne Supremacy ~ The Bourne Ultimatum ~



Recommended: Yes

Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children Age 13 and Older