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    The Bourne Supremacy

    Reviewed by
    adamwatchesmovies@

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    The Bourne Supremacy is a sequel that delivers. In fact, I like it even better than the first. If you’re a Hollywood writer, take note. Look at the way the film utilizes the assets it had leftover from the first film, how the characters have changed, how logically, this film would happen, how it’s not just a re-tread of what we’ve seen before. This is some good stuff.

    Two years after the events of The Bourne Identity, Jason Bourne (Matt Damon) and Marie (Franka Potente) are living peacefully in India, unaware that a conspiracy is coming their way. In Berlin, an assassin interrupts a CIA operation, killing those involved and stealing the $3 million dollar payment meant to get valuable intel from an informant. He plants a clue to throw off the trail: Bourne’s fingerprint. Deputy Director Pamela Landy (Joan Allen) is now on the hunt for Bourne, unaware that not only is he innocent, but that interrupting his peaceful life will mean hell for her and anyone else associated with Operation Treadstone, the program that trained him.

    The ending of The Bourne Identity was pretty definitive. It had been long enough since I’d seen this picture that I remembered very little of it and I was wondering to myself “how are they going to make a sequel? ” Not only did they find a good reason to keep the story going, it’s done very elegantly. The first film had two story threads: Jason asking “Who am I? ” and the Treadstone program trying to eliminate a rogue agent. This storyline I like even more. You’ve got a mystery (who framed Bourne, and why? ), you’ve got a revenge plot (Bourne told them to leave him alone; they didn’t so it’s time to bring the hammer down) and you’ve got a chase (the CIA tracking down our hero) Three storylines all tied together. It reminds me of the first time I read J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Two Towers. In that story, you’ve got a bunch of different characters on separate, but linked missions. Every time it would get to a point where the action was at it’s most exciting, it would jump to another group of characters and begin the escalation all over again.

    One of the highlights of the previous film was the big money shot of a car chase. In that department, the first film’s got nothing on Supremacy. I’m a big fan of The Road Warrior so you know my standards when it comes to cars careening through crowded streets, crashing into each other and weaving between obstacles is high. Big set pieces like that one keep the film exciting all the way through. There is also one noteworthy sequence of hand-to-hand combat that I enjoyed very much. Director Paul Greengrass has a different way of shooting action; it’s very hands-on, somewhat frenetic (some have called it “shaky cam”) I think it’s a clever choice. It pulls you in by making you feel the disorientation you’d get by getting hit in the head repeatedly, but the long shots also allow you to appreciate the carefully coordinated blows delivered. It’s a delicate balance. I think he pulled it off. I felt like I wasn’t so much witnessing it as participating in the fight.

    A key character is written out of the film early on (I won’t say who) Everyone else is a meaty addition to the franchise or a valuable asset that’s dusted off to be used to his or her full potential. I like the world-weary tone that the film has, that project Treadstone is a dinosaur, a dirty secret that everyone would rather forget. Unfortunately for all involved, the sins of the past are being dug up again. Julia Stiles returns as Nicky and although she’s not in the film for a very long time, her character is greatly expanded upon. I wish I could say more about the characters played by Chris Cooper as Alexander Conklin (returning in flashbacks) or Brian Cox as Ward Abbott (who you will remember from the first film) but I can’t. I’d probably give away something and the surprises that accompany them are too good to spoil.

    I didn’t even know it, but The Bourne Supremacy was what I was looking for in a sequel. It digs deeper into the character of Jason Bourne, it expands on the world that created him, has people act logically to this concept of an amnesiac super-agent. You get to see more of the people that intrigued you the first time and it ups the ante on the car chases and the action. It takes elements of different genres, blends them together elegantly, spaces them out to keep you on your toes and creates a story that keeps you guessing. All at a brisk pace. It’s sure to please the fans of the first picture. I say The Bourne Supremacy is even better than the first. (On DVD, August 7, 2016)

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    adamwatchesmovies@  27.8.2016 age: 26-35 2,867 reviews

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