Reel To Reel:
The Bourne Supremacy
How It Rates: ***1/2Starring: Matt Damon
Rated: PG-13
Red Flags: Action Violence, Mild Language
Preconceived Notions: If the first film is any clue, this should be fun.
The Bottom Line: Mostly action, most of it thrilling. Talk about getting to the good stuff...
The sequel to 2002's The Bourne Identity pares a spy-thriller down to the bare essentials without cutting down to the bone. You have your rogue agent Bourne (Damon) on the lam, you have the CIA after him, along with what's left of the rogue unit he belonged to, and you have a reason to run -- a frame-up where the title character is connected to the deaths of two agents. No time for exotic locales, fancy dinner parties, or glamourous women. We don't even get to see much of Bourne's girlfriend.
What we do see is a lot of running around as Bourne comes out of hiding to find who's after him and take them out. But he's also haunted by that "Identity" he's never quite figured out -- his life before he woke up floating in the ocean, as seen in the first picture. We see flashback clues to that previous life throughout the picture, which hits us with lightning-fast cuts and off-the shoulder camerawork. You feel like you're running alongside Bourne as he makes his way through India, Italy, Germany, and Russia. Nothing is slowed down for dramatic effect, not even a wild fight scene in the first hour of the film. Same goes for a car chase in Moscow. Director Paul Greengrass continues Identity's style of showing you the back alleys of the world's most famous cities.
The Bourne Supremacy is lean and mean for all it does, clocking in under two hours. The action is nearly non-stop. Many movies claim that, but this one lives up to it.
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