The Bourne Identity (2002)

Directed by Doug Liman. Starring Matt Damon, Franka Potente, Chris Cooper, Brian Cox, Julia Stiles, Gabriel Mann, Clive Owen, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, Orso Maria Guerrini, Tim Dutton. [PG-13]

Damon is fished out of the Mediterranean, suffering from severe memory loss and two gunshot wounds in his back. As he tries to piece together the clues of his past, he’s joined by expatriate Potente and discovers that not only is he being pursued by deadly strangers, but he also has the instinctual skills to elude them and fight back. Skillful and kinetic updating of the Robert Ludlum bestseller (previously filmed as a television miniseries in the 80s) uses the source material as little more than a blueprint jump-off point. Damon’s sincerity and boyishness serve the character well, earning audience sympathy for what is essentially a lethal open book, and maintaining it no matter how brutal or cold-hearted his character may need to be to survive; the chemistry he shares with guarded Potente helps make her far more than eye-candy baggage during all the chases and fights. Leaves plenty of unanswered questions and lapses in logic, but not in a “you’ll find out in next week’s episode” kind of way (it was designed as a “closed” story that didn’t require continuations); it’s hard to care about those inconsistencies, however, when the galloping pace keeps plunging its enigmatic hero and his fetching accomplice into one sticky situation after another. Followed by several sequels, starting with The Bourne Supremacy.

81/100