The Bourne Identity

Released 2003
Stars Matt Damon, Franka Potente, Clive Owen, Chris Cooper, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, Julia Stiles, Brian Cox
Directed by Doug Liman

The Bourne Identity doesn't have much of a story to speak of - the plot is a jumping-off point and a means to keep things rolling from one action sequence to the next. Jason Bourne (Matt Damon) is a CIA assassin who loses his memory after a failed mission that results in him being shot twice and left floating in the ocean. However, while Jason doesn't know exactly who (or what) he is, he recognizes that someone is after him, and his training kicks in. That "someone" is his boss, Ted Conklin (Chris Cooper), who sees Bourne as a loose end that has to be eliminated. Jason meets Marie Kreutz (Franka Potente), a German wanderer who leaps at the chance to earn $20,000 by driving Jason to his Paris apartment. Once there, however, they encounter hit men and dead bodies, and Jason decides that the only way to save himself is to find out who he is and why someone wants him dead.

Summary by James Berardinelli

The spy with amnesia meets a girl who helps him, and he has a bunch of fight scenes and car chases. Yippee. Movies like this are like printing money for the studios, but why would Matt Damon waste his time on something like this when he can have has his pick of the litter? It's not that it's a bad movie, it's just that we've seen it a million times. Isn't anyone else tired of evil double-crossing CIA bosses and car chases? --Bill Alward, July 4, 2003