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Idiom for an identity
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In The Bourne Ultimatum, opening today, the amnesiac assassin hurtles on his third adrenalin-driven encounter with his shadowy opponents Mini Anthikad-Chhibber
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Paean to paranoia Jason Bourne is on the run again from exotic opponents
In 2002, a slick action film about an unnervingly baby-faced amnesiac assassin, Jason Bourne, on the run from he knows not what, startled us out of our complacence of what to expect from a spy thriller. The film was “The Bourne Identity”.
Directed by Doug Liman and starring Matt Damon as Bourne, the film set the template for the post 9/11 spy thriller.
There was the paranoia of not knowing who to trust, the fact that the people in power are not necessarily doing the right thing, the classic ‘us vs. them’ dilemma and of course the age-old trope of an innocent man caught up in events beyond his control. All these elements came together in a good, no-holds-barred breathless thriller winging it from one exotic location to another including Barcelona, Paris, Italy, Prague and Greece.
The movie came the same year as the 20th James Bond movie, “Die Another Day” and revealed all that needed to be done to breathe new life into the ageing franchise. Based on Robert Ludlum’s page turners, the movie made the necessary plot changes to give a contemporary idiom.
“The Bourne Identity” was followed by “The Bourne Supremacy” (2004). Directed by British filmmaker, Paul Greengrass, the film displayed a heightened sense of realism. The hand-held camera and the razor-sharp edits contributed to an interesting marriage of the cinema verite style and an outrageous story.
While “Identity” ended with Bourne walking into the sunset with his love, Marie, (a charming Franka Potente), “Supremacy” opens in Goa with Marie being killed by an assassin’s bullet.
Bourne’s swears to avenge Marie’s murder and the stage is set for more thrills and spills as he chases the coolly wicked assassin Kirill (Karl Urban) across the globe from Goa to Berlin with pit stops at Moscow and New York.
Along the way, Bourne realises he is a product of the CIA’s sinister project Treadstone which trains human beings to become perfect killing machines. He has turned rogue and the CIA are out to terminate him. There is CIA operative Nicky (Julia Stiles) who might be able to help and also there is CIA internal investigator Pamela Landy (Joan Allen) hot on his heels.
At the end of “Supremacy”, Bourne swears he will be back if the CIA makes any further moves. Thanks to an article in The Guardian, Bourne realises the CIA are up to their old tricks as they have re-imaged Operation Treadstone into Blackbriar.
One of the most heartening things about the Bourne movies is the embarrassingly tiny carbon footprint he makes. Bourne, unlike James Bond does not run around the world in planes and gas guzzling sports cars. He prefers public transport – trains, trams, buses and the ferry.
In “Identity”, the train station in Paris, the Gare du Nord, is the centre of action and in “Supremacy”, it is heartening to see Bourne at Panaji bus stand rather than jumping into a private jet.
In “Ultimatum”, again directed Greengrass, railway stations are huge, including a cracklingly scary sequence at Waterloo Station where Bourne tries to guide the reporter, Simon Ross, while the CIA are on the prowl using the CCTVs in the station to locate their quarry.
Locations include Moscow, Paris, Madrid, London and the Tangiers and action is of the old fashioned kind. There is no blue screen stuff and even though Damon has gone on record saying at 36 he feels a little too old for the physicality of the role, he has given a good account of himself, leaping across roof tops and into windows with gumption and gusto.
Greengrass, who took a break from the big budget extravaganzas to direct the taut “United 93”, about the fourth plane hijacked on 9/11, which also won him an Academy Award nomination, has kept within the action movie framework at the same time pushing the envelop in a variety of exciting ways.
Damon says the strangest question he has been asked at press conferences has been who will be the winner if James Bond and Jason Bourne were to spar. An interesting conundrum that we shall not bother about as long as we have movies dedicated to each of these rocking spies with loads of action, guns and a round-the-world trips for the price of a cinema ticket.
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Friday Review
Bangalore
Chennai and Tamil Nadu
Delhi
Hyderabad
Thiruvananthapuram
|
