Date made
Running Time	1 hr 54 mins
Starring	Matt Damon
Cert 12 (UK)

Like most films, the film is not the book. The Bourne Identity (TBI) is in some ways close to the book and in others a total mystery, as to what is happening and why.

The opening sequence is very close to the book, a stormy night, a body floating in the Mediterranean Sea, and a fishing boat picking up the body. From here the book and film start to diverge, instead of the boat returning to port they carry on fishing for two weeks, by which time Bourne has fully recovered, from I think 3 bullet wounds!!

We then have the visit to the Gemeinschaft Bank and the visit to the vault room where Bourne finds the money and several passports. On leaving the bank we have a mini chase, which ends up in the US Embassy. The reason for going into the Embassy I assume was safety, but looks to be a trap. With remarkable ease he ends up traversing the Embassy before escaping from the highest point. It is whilst at the embassy we first meet Marie now renamed and an American.

The film then becomes a somewhat laboured, and slow paced chase film, with the CIA apparently using a number of freelance hitmen to kill off Bourne. These men are not exactly efficient, and Bourne is easily able to outgun them. Bournes loss of memory comes to the surface every now and again, but is not so integral to the story.

Bourne finally confronts the architects of Treadstone 71 at a safe house in France, where they try to kill him, and where the CIA eventually kill the head of Treadstone.

In all the film is a fairly run of the mill spy thriller although a lot of the anxiety, and pace of the book have gone.

Points for :

• It does resemble the book at times!
• Some exciting parts.
• Nice to see an American film based outside America
• Have tried to update parts of the film (Not always successfully)

Points against :

• The dumbing down of Marie - pointless, and as a result the character becomes rather pointless * see below.
• Lack of pace, there is no sense of pursuit as there is in the book
• Updating of the target for which Bourne was created. The target could easily have been disposed of, as he was political rather than a top rate assassin. Why was there the need for Bourne to go into deep cover?
• The loss of Bournes memory, it becomes a minor point when in reality the whole point of the story is finding out who Jason Bourne really is.

Of all the negative points in the film the meddling with Marie, is the worst. In the book we have a strong willed, highly skilled woman, who in the end is fairly key to Bournes recovery. She has contacts who are able to help build up the picture surrounding Bourne and Treadstone. At the start her kidnapping, (by Bourne) leads to some quite interesting scenes, which seem to paint Bourne in a poor light, it is only as the book progresses and more answers are found that the relationship progresses. I realise that films cannot always follow the books to the letter, but the relationship between Bourne and Marie would have been a good way of unlocking the story.

In the film Marie has become an American student, with hardly anything going for her, apart from the ability to scream, and thankfully disappear two thirds of the way through the film. Quite why the makers needed to turn a strong female character into a 'screamer' is beyond me, you would have thought that the strong female character would have been a necessity in this day and age.

As to the lead, Matt Damon, I am not really sure whether he fits the bill, he wasn't bad, just wasn't 'hard enough' to be Jason Bourne. Remember at the time he was shot Bourne had been under cover for several years, which would have taken its toll.

In all an average film. In some ways it has stayed truer to the book, but lacks the pace and intensity of the book. If the producers had made a film paced at something like Speed with the relentless pursuit of Terminator then it could have been a far better film. As to Marie? Definitely best forgotten I think.