3 out of 5

Director: Doug Liman

It’s a solid little piece of action swoopingly directed by Doug Liman, Matt Damon playing “Jason Bourne,” a spy almost permanently out in the cold, thought dead, his memory lost and, as he attempts to get it back, finds himself on the unfortunate end of his agency’s need to terminate the project in which he’s involved. Robert Ludlum’s fun mix gives us a nice cauldron of tropes to work with – the fish out of water, as Bourne finds himself in strange locales, his skills coming to need when necessary – the ill-fated romance – Franka Potente getting wrapped up into things and staying wrapped up despite the danger – the superspy, which is what Bourne totally is, sort of an ungadgeted Bond – and the little man vs. the big man, Bourne just wanting to find out some simple question about his identity which puts him at odds with his big and bad ‘owners.’ The movie jumps forward in the just the right spots and slows down in just the right spots, lightly sprinkling the romance on top just so things don’t get too bleak or quiet. Clive Owen pops up as another assassin to even give us a moment’s reflection on the emotional cost of everything, but otherwise, Doug Liman wisely keeps us forever moving forward with Bourne, definitely getting the audience in on the ‘on the run’ format the story takes.