Espionage

1. The Bourne Identity (DVD)
2. The Bourne Supremacy
3. The Bourne Ultimatum
4. The Bourne Legacy

I was fairly disappointed in this adaptation. Ludlum is an author who excels at plotting, rather than writing style or characterization. While the first adaptation ("The Bourne Identity") tossed out a fair bit of the original plot, it also went to some lengths to avoid directly contradicting the book. With this movie they completely tossed out that principle, along with most of the original plot. What's left is a skeleton hanging from wires -- enough to hang the plot of a mediocre action movie on, but not enough to retain any of the good qualities from Ludlum's novel.

As a pure action movie, rather than an adaptation, it isn't bad. But it's not wonderful, either. The plot, without Ludlum's influence, doesn't hold together well; there are loose ends and unexplained elements all over the place. There are two car chase sequences, but neither one is all that great. There are two hand-to-hand sequences, and again, neither is exceptional; the camera work for the fight scenes in particular suffered by comparison to the first movie. But it's still a fairly high-gloss piece of action-adventure-espionage, and it's got a fair number of good moments.

One element they cover really, really well in this adaptation is the aspect of Bourne's training and skills that covers dealing with enemy opposition. In the novels, he's an infiltrator and saboteur; his skills are greatest in penetrating an organization, tracking it from the foot soldiers to the rear echelons, and then taking out the people in charge. Those skills are displayed to excellent effect. The way that Bourne systematically provokes a response, then analyzes the nature of that response to locate and identify the person running it, is an extremely accurate depiction of Bourne's methods as displayed in the first and third novels (but less so in the first movie).

But overall, if you're hoping for a good adaptation of the book, skip it. If you can stomach a decent, but not exceptional, action movie, then it's worth your money. To get an idea of what I was hoping to get out of this movie, check out my review of the book.

This is a reread, primarily because the sequel, The Bourne Supremacy has been given the movie treatment. I liked the movie adaptation of The Bourne Identity which did a remarkably good job without simplifying the story too much. I do confess to being a little bit concerned about the sequel, since the movie version removed what could be described as the central tension in the book and didn't exactly leave any of the loose ends that Ludlum used in his sequels.

With that said, the basic plotline of The Bourne Identity is simple enough. A man is pulled from the Mediterranean with no memory, several bullet holes in his body, and a microfilm implant with the number of a Swiss bank account. Lacking any other clues, he goes back to the bank to try to rediscover his identity, only to find that his account contains about 5 million dollars (in various European currencies)... and as soon as he tries to access it, people start trying to kill him.

From that moment on, Bourne races to stay one step ahead of his enemies while trying to discover who and what he was, and in the process discovers skills and talents that lead him ever closer to the conclusion that he was an international assassin. What he is remains to be seen.

The execution of the plot is complex and fast-paced. The reader races to keep up with what Bourne discovers about himself and about those hunting him. There is never any opportunity to pause and take stock of the situation; something is always happening to drive events forward. The result is a solidly entertaining action-adventure with enough hints of greater depth to satisfy the discerning or speculative reader.