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About These Films
Gallery
1. The Bourne Identity (2002)
2. The Bourne Supremacy (2004)
3. The Bourne Ultimatum (2007)
About
These
Films: The Bourne novels by
Robert Ludlum were pretty well received years before the movies came
out, but EVERYONE knows Jason Bourne from the movies. The movies
were well done, and they stayed true to the essence of the books, even though
the stories are quite a bit different. That doesn't always mean
anything. Sometimes a movie needs to be different from the book
to be good (i.e. "Jaws"). But Ludlum's hero and the stories
translated beautifully to film. These are definite action
movies. However, these action movies are done in a different
manner than most action movies. The action is written AROUND the
characters, rather than having the characters written around the action
sequences. You can really get yourself invested in the
personalities and lives of the heroes and villains.
Jason Bourne is widely thought of as the 2000s equivalent of James Bond. Both are great characters, but hugely different. James Bond is superficial and meant to be flash. The Bond books and movies have a lot of substance, but his persona has always been very open-ended and mysterious. We don't really get to know Bond personally...he just takes us on these wild, colorful adventures. Jason Bourne has a very distinct personality. Matt Damon lays out the personality and mannerisms of Jason Bourne very well. With the character of James Bond, all you need is just a really good actor to play Bond, and you can change the actor from time to time. It would be very hard, some would say impossible, to replace Matt Damon as Jason Bourne. He IS Jason Bourne. Putting any other actor into the role would break the reality of the series. They would have to reboot the films, and that would be a pity. These movies will hold up forever.
Another obvious difference between Bourne and Bond is the fact that Bourne is an amnesiac former government assassin, rather than an operating super-spy like Bond. Throughout the film series, Bourne gets more of his memory back. The similarities between the two heroes are that they're both highly trained killers with a lot of skill and experience, and they travel the world.
All three films have been hugely successful. A fourth film has been thought about for awhile, but at the time of this writing (March, 2011) it's hard to know if it will ever get off the ground. My thoughts? If they're looking for a title, I think it should be called, "Bourne Again". All you visitors reading this will have to keep me in the loop. If the creators of the film used my title idea, I'd be tickled.
Jason Bourne is widely thought of as the 2000s equivalent of James Bond. Both are great characters, but hugely different. James Bond is superficial and meant to be flash. The Bond books and movies have a lot of substance, but his persona has always been very open-ended and mysterious. We don't really get to know Bond personally...he just takes us on these wild, colorful adventures. Jason Bourne has a very distinct personality. Matt Damon lays out the personality and mannerisms of Jason Bourne very well. With the character of James Bond, all you need is just a really good actor to play Bond, and you can change the actor from time to time. It would be very hard, some would say impossible, to replace Matt Damon as Jason Bourne. He IS Jason Bourne. Putting any other actor into the role would break the reality of the series. They would have to reboot the films, and that would be a pity. These movies will hold up forever.
Another obvious difference between Bourne and Bond is the fact that Bourne is an amnesiac former government assassin, rather than an operating super-spy like Bond. Throughout the film series, Bourne gets more of his memory back. The similarities between the two heroes are that they're both highly trained killers with a lot of skill and experience, and they travel the world.
All three films have been hugely successful. A fourth film has been thought about for awhile, but at the time of this writing (March, 2011) it's hard to know if it will ever get off the ground. My thoughts? If they're looking for a title, I think it should be called, "Bourne Again". All you visitors reading this will have to keep me in the loop. If the creators of the film used my title idea, I'd be tickled.
1. The Bourne
Identity (2002): I can see why people like this movie, and
why it spawned two sequels. In this film, Bourne is found in the
ocean with two bullets in his back. Lucky to have survived, he is
cursed with an extremely bizarre case of amnesia. He can't
remember his name or anything prior to have regaining
consciousness. Yet, he knows things and can do things that he
can't explain. As he learns more about himself, he finds out that
his name is Jason Bourne. At least that's the name he goes by
most often. He ultimately finds out that he was an assassin for
the U.S. government worth $30 million. A corrupt faction of
Bourne's agency is now trying to kill him to cover their trail.
What the bad guys don't realize is that even in his amnesiac state,
Jason Bourne is too dangerous for their underhanded ways. What
makes him even more dangerous is the fact that he has nothing to lose.
By a strange twist of fate, Bourne meets up with a beautiful free-spirit named Marie he unwittingly pulls into his dangerous world. They become lovers and even partners in Bourne's war against his former bosses.
Cast:
Matt Damon as Jason Bourne
Franka Potente as Marie Kreutz
Chris Cooper as Conklin
Gabriel Mann as Danny Zorn
Brian Cox as Ward Abbott
Julia Stiles as Nicky Parsons
Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje as Wombosi
Clive Owen as The Professor
Fun Facts:
By a strange twist of fate, Bourne meets up with a beautiful free-spirit named Marie he unwittingly pulls into his dangerous world. They become lovers and even partners in Bourne's war against his former bosses.
Cast:
Matt Damon as Jason Bourne
Franka Potente as Marie Kreutz
Chris Cooper as Conklin
Gabriel Mann as Danny Zorn
Brian Cox as Ward Abbott
Julia Stiles as Nicky Parsons
Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje as Wombosi
Clive Owen as The Professor
Fun Facts:
- "The Bourne Identity" was first realized as a
1988 made-for-TV movie mini-series (in two parts) with Richard
Chamberlain as Jason Bourne, and Jaclyn Smith as Marie St.
Jacques. This film and the 2002 remake are quite a bit
different. The 1988 version actually follows the novel pretty
close. Marie's part in the novel and 1988 film was more important
than in the 2002 film.
- What I find funny about this film is the fact that the idea is pretty similar to "The Long Kiss Goodnight" (1996): an amnesiac government assassin. In both films, Brian Cox plays the boss of the hero! However, in "Long Kiss" he was a good guy, and in the first two Bourne movies he is clearly a villain.
- Another funny fact is that Brian Cox also played the boss of the amnesiac government killer Wolverine in "X2" (2003).
- In an early draft of the screenplay, the heroine's name was Marie Purcell and she was American. Her hair was going to be green. By the time the script was finished, Marie was German, her last name was Kreutz, and her hair was multi-colored. While on the run, Marie's hair was dyed black and cut short.
- Robert Ludlum, the author of the novel, died while this film was in post-production on March 12, 2001.
- Brad Pitt was the original choice for the role of Jason Bourne, but turned it down to do "Spy Game" (2001). Commercially speaking, this was probably not a wise decision.
- Matthew McConaughey was another choice for Bourne.
- The original choice for Marie was Sarah Polley, but she declined the role.
- This is the only "Bourne" movie where the character of Jason Bourne smiles. He does NOT smile in "The Bourne Supremacy" or "The Bourne Ultimatum".
- The martial arts used by Jason Bourne in this and
the next two movies is a cross between Filipino Kali and Bruce Lee's
Jeet Kune Do.
2. The Bourne
Supremacy (2004):
This film is a worthy sequel to the original except for one thing:
Marie dies within the first 18 minutes! What the heck! I
think that should have been done different. She was a pretty
important character in the first film. Jason Bourne was an expert
at hiding out. Couldn't he have sent Marie away somewhere, like
he did in the first movie, while he was out fighting bad guys?
Marie's death in this movie bothers me a bit. Besides that, this
was very well done.
The action is even better than in the first film, which was no slouch for thrills. I enjoyed seeing Brian Cox's character of Ward Abbott spiral out of control and become a real bada**. The addition of Joan Allen's character, Pamela Landy, was important because we finally have an ally for Jason Bourne on the other side of the fence. We're finally let in on a big secret: Jason Bourne's real name is David Webb.
The Bourne movies make nods to past entries. For instance, this movie features Karl Urban in an ultimate hitman role, similar to that of Clive Owen in the first film. The major bad guy progressed from Conklin (first film) to his superior, Abbott (this film). In the first film, the character of Nicky Parsons served little importance. In this movie, Nicky is quite a bit more important. In the next film, she's a major character.
Unlike most second entries in film trilogies, this film actually ties up some loose ends while opening new doors. This film is not filler. Treadstone, the traitorous faction of the CIA, is finished once and for all. Bourne regains quite a bit, but not all of his memory. It would seem Bourne is finally off the hook with the U.S. Government, but we know that his journey is far from over because there are still too many questions about his past left unanswered.
Cast:
Matt Damon as Jason Bourne
Franka Potente as Marie Kreutz
Brian Cox as Ward Abbott
Gabriel Mann as Danny Zorn
Joan Allen as Pamela Landy
Julia Stiles as Nicky Parsons
Karl Urban as Kirill
Oksana Akinshina as Irena Neski
Fun Facts:
The action is even better than in the first film, which was no slouch for thrills. I enjoyed seeing Brian Cox's character of Ward Abbott spiral out of control and become a real bada**. The addition of Joan Allen's character, Pamela Landy, was important because we finally have an ally for Jason Bourne on the other side of the fence. We're finally let in on a big secret: Jason Bourne's real name is David Webb.
The Bourne movies make nods to past entries. For instance, this movie features Karl Urban in an ultimate hitman role, similar to that of Clive Owen in the first film. The major bad guy progressed from Conklin (first film) to his superior, Abbott (this film). In the first film, the character of Nicky Parsons served little importance. In this movie, Nicky is quite a bit more important. In the next film, she's a major character.
Unlike most second entries in film trilogies, this film actually ties up some loose ends while opening new doors. This film is not filler. Treadstone, the traitorous faction of the CIA, is finished once and for all. Bourne regains quite a bit, but not all of his memory. It would seem Bourne is finally off the hook with the U.S. Government, but we know that his journey is far from over because there are still too many questions about his past left unanswered.
Cast:
Matt Damon as Jason Bourne
Franka Potente as Marie Kreutz
Brian Cox as Ward Abbott
Gabriel Mann as Danny Zorn
Joan Allen as Pamela Landy
Julia Stiles as Nicky Parsons
Karl Urban as Kirill
Oksana Akinshina as Irena Neski
Fun Facts:
- This movie was allegedly made as the "final" movie in the series. The epilogue at the end of the film, where Landy tells Bourne his real name, place, and date of birth, was meant to give Jason Bourne some closure. However, when the third film was green-lit, the final scene of this film was reworked into the story of the next film, and we discover that the CIA conspiracy goes a lot higher up than we thought.
- Nearly all of the scenes in this movie were shot in reverse order of location. The Moscow scenes were shot first, and the Goa scenes were shot last.
- This movie originally ended with Jason Bourne's
confession to Irena Neski. When previewed, audiences found the
ending too bleak and unsatisfying. The final scene where Landy
talks to Bourne over the phone was shot just weeks before this film's
release in the Summer of 2004.
3. The Bourne
Ultimatum (2007): This is my favorite movie in the
series. In a lot of ways, it's superior to the previous two
films. Each successive movie purposely ups the anty for action
and plot twists. I like this movie because we finally get to see
Jason Bourne gain some peace of mind. He finally regains his
memory. At the end of the last movie, we learn his name is really
David Webb. We discover how he got involved with Treadstone, its
significance to Blackbriar, and the ultimate connection that goes all
the way up the CIA ladder to the Director. All of Bourne's
enemies are destroyed in some form, and he learns to renounce his
violent past. Our hero takes back his real name of David Webb.
Like the previous movie, this entry also makes nods to the previous "Bourne" films. Bourne's last line, "Look at us. Look at what they make you give." is exactly what is said by Clive Owen's Professor character in the first movie. The part where Nicky dyes her hair black and cuts it short mirrors what Franka Potente's Marie character did in the first film. In the first movie, our major bad CIA guy was Conklin (Chris Cooper). In the second film, it was Abbott (Brian Cox). In this movie, it's Vosen (David Strathairn). Each one of these bad guys served a superior villain that was above them. Blackbriar, briefly mentioned at the end of the first film, is the focal point of this movie.
In some ways, this movie is a suitable finale. In other ways, you can tell there is room for another film. The connection between Jason Bourne and Nicky needs to be explored. We know Bourne disappears, but how long can he live off the grid? And what about David Webb? Does he have a family or any unfinished business? What about all the people he killed over the years? Is he safe from revenge-seekers? If another film is never made, we can assume that Bourne/Webb has vanished, blended into the woodwork and started a new life. However, it would be reasonable to assume that the "Jason Bourne" saga does not end here.
Cast:
Matt Damon as Jason Bourne
Julia Stiles as Nicky Parsons
Joan Allen as Pamela Landy
David Strathairn as Noah Vosen
Scott Glenn as Ezra Kramer
Paddy Considine as Simon Ross
Albert Finney as Dr. Albert Hirsch
Daniel Bruhl as Martin Kreutz
Fun Facts:
Like the previous movie, this entry also makes nods to the previous "Bourne" films. Bourne's last line, "Look at us. Look at what they make you give." is exactly what is said by Clive Owen's Professor character in the first movie. The part where Nicky dyes her hair black and cuts it short mirrors what Franka Potente's Marie character did in the first film. In the first movie, our major bad CIA guy was Conklin (Chris Cooper). In the second film, it was Abbott (Brian Cox). In this movie, it's Vosen (David Strathairn). Each one of these bad guys served a superior villain that was above them. Blackbriar, briefly mentioned at the end of the first film, is the focal point of this movie.
In some ways, this movie is a suitable finale. In other ways, you can tell there is room for another film. The connection between Jason Bourne and Nicky needs to be explored. We know Bourne disappears, but how long can he live off the grid? And what about David Webb? Does he have a family or any unfinished business? What about all the people he killed over the years? Is he safe from revenge-seekers? If another film is never made, we can assume that Bourne/Webb has vanished, blended into the woodwork and started a new life. However, it would be reasonable to assume that the "Jason Bourne" saga does not end here.
Cast:
Matt Damon as Jason Bourne
Julia Stiles as Nicky Parsons
Joan Allen as Pamela Landy
David Strathairn as Noah Vosen
Scott Glenn as Ezra Kramer
Paddy Considine as Simon Ross
Albert Finney as Dr. Albert Hirsch
Daniel Bruhl as Martin Kreutz
Fun Facts:
- Matt Damon and Julia Stiles are the only two actors to appear in all three "Bourne" films.
- Blackbriar was mentioned at the end of the first film, and not at all in the second film. This is the only film in the series that really explores Blackbriar.
- The scene where Landy talks to Bourne over the phone and reveals some of his past information, including his real name, was totally re-shot for this movie. None of the footage from "The Bourne Supremacy" was used for this scene.
- The incredible car chase scene in lower Manhattan
took six weeks to film!