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Peter Greengrass, maker of the pulsating but under-appreciated Bloody Sunday, goes commercial with The Bourne Supremacy.
Though the script is convoluted, Greengrass has delivered a fairly entertaining, gripping espionage drama about an amnesiac hero and a former assassin struggling to pull out of the amoral world.
With well-choreographed action scenes and several solid performances, especially from Joan Allen, one of the most versatile but not fully recognised of American character artistes, The Bourne Supremacy offers many pleasures.
The film may not set records. But it could be around for a long time, benefiting from good word of mouth. Fans of Robert Ludlum ought to know that a few of the movie's characters, especially that of Marie, are quite different from the ones conceived by the master storyteller.
Though the excitement the new film offers is considerably less than what director Doug Liman's 2002 hit The Bourne Identity produced, it consolidates the franchise inspired by Ludlum's books.
Matt Damon's amnesia-prone Jason Bourne and girlfriend Marie (Franka Potente) are struggling in the new film to put behind their difficult and dangerous past. Fresh danger seems to be lurking everywhere.
Soon we know that the two young lovers aren't just being paranoid. There is indeed a paid assassin after their lives, and then there are efforts to implicate Bourne in two recent murders.
When Bourne sets out on his clandestine investigation to silence his foes, a complex cat-and-mouse game begins. Among the difficult and intriguing characters he has to confront is a foxy and overdetermined CIA agent called Pamela Landy (Joan Allen).
Amidst the script twists, rapid editing cuts, and atmospheric visuals, the film's real strength comes from the performances of fine artistes like Brian Fox, playing a mysterious CIA agent who does not like Landy. He conveys with silent intensity the picture of a person who cannot really turn his back on the heartless world.
While Matt Damon reasonably conveys his inner anguish and mental confusions, his fellow actors overshadow him. Watch out in particular for Julia Stiles, who has the difficult and intriguing part of a field agent called upon to be a go-between for Bourne and the CIA.
Despite many humanely impossible situations, what distinguishes The Bourne Supremacy from the flashy and perhaps more entertaining James Bond films is that along with its predecessor the new spy drama tries hard (and succeeds considerably) in reminding us of the cynical and amoral political operators.
Commercial trappings aside, one would like to remember this film as an example of the better human impulses fighting the inhuman. Greengrass has brilliantly dissected the sectarian politics and violence in Northern Ireland in Bloody Sunday. Here he deals with a very different world.
Come to think of it, are the two worlds all that different? After all, crooked, bloodthirsty politicians and greedy, cynical bureaucrats are all over the place, right?
CREDITS:
Cast: Matt Damon, Franka Potente, Brian Cox, Julia Stiles and Joan Allen
Directed by: Paul Greengrass
Script: Tony Gilroy, based on a novel by Robert Ludlum
Rating: PG-13 for violence and language
Running time: 1 hour 50 minutes