The Bourne Supremacy Review

The Bourne Supremacy – Review

Yet again, Jason Bourne catapults us into his amnesic world of guns, thrills and insanely long car chases in explosive style, with Matt Damon putting in another terrific performance as the world’s greatest secret agent who doesn’t even know his own name. Directed by Paul Greengrass, ‘The Bourne Supremacy’ pulls away from the original instalment’s plotline of Jason Bourne (Damon) attempting to discover who he is, what happened to him, and why the men in suits, shades and sneering faces are trying to kill him. Instead, the sequel focusses on Bourne’s quest for revenge against the CIA for the disruption of his quiet and untroubled life in a darker, more bloodthirsty chapter in the Bourne Trilogy.

Damon is well supported by leading ladies Julia Stiles and Joan Allen. Although against Bourne and believing (wrongly) that he was the murderer of two other agents, they evoke the audience’s sympathy with their determination and desire to do the right thing. There was not a weak member of the cast which was pleasing to see, though I never expected the experienced Brian Cox and daredevil assassin Karl Urban to let me down. I felt fully immersed in their characters and was genuinely shocked at the plot twists. Damon as always was the perfect action hero with superbly choreographed fight scenes and his cool head when on stealth missions. I felt his losses and pains despite the bad-boy attitude he took on when fighting for his life. The more sensitive and heart-wrenching scenes with Damon were portrayed beautifully, making for an emotionally diverse action film.

As for production values, the film exhibited the frantic – and at times chaotic – action scenes where Jason Bourne does not hesitate to leap from buildings, cars, balconies and anything else he can climb on. Credit must be given to the shaky camera work and fast cuts that were made to demonstrate Bourne’s adrenalin-fuelled chases. However, I did feel that the colour grading was slightly bland, with even the exotic beaches of India resulting in beige and grey being the primary colours used. It did not take advantage in some possible landscape shots which would have given the audience a better taste of the action’s location and – if I was being extra picky – the lack of city landmarks shown such as the Berlin Cathedral took away some of the intense atmosphere given by these amazing cities, albeit I can see Greengrass’ perspective as he possibly wanted to focus on the action taking place rather than sightseeing, thus it is merely a personal preference. Direction was wonderful with some comic moments to provide a relief for the audience from the fast-paced drama that the film focussed on, along with plenty of wit concerning Bourne’s spy abilities.

Overall ‘The Bourne Supremacy’ is a faced-paced, action thriller with the added spice of amnesia to make it unique in the genre. Perfect acting and casting meant for great connections with the characters. The storyline was interesting and engaging with some suspense, sorrow and spies thrown in for good measure (it’s an action film; of course it involves the CIA). ‘The Bourne Supremacy’ was a great sequel to ‘The Bourne Identity’ and must be praised for its differing plot, rather than the easy option of creating an identical copy of the first film. I highly enjoyed what it had to offer.

**** By Zac Smith