Alias Is Bourne

After my disappointment with Sum of All Fears, I was wary of The Bourne Identity. What is with all these CIA movies lately? My trepidation soon disappeared as I realized this was the best movie I've seen in the last two months.

First of all, let me just say that the foley artists were on their game in this film. The bullet sounds and fist fights sounded great and made the scenes that much more real. Everytime Bourne threw a punch I cringed because it sounded like bone crunching. Very cool.

Secondly, I love the new ABC show Alias and the premise of the show applies here. The idea is that there is a black-ops division of the CIA and what the spies and assasins do in this division is not something the government wants to know about. The plot is easy to follow once you understand that Jason Bourne (Damon's character) is a member of the black-ops CIA division.

The action is great as Bourne tries to hide from the person he was supposed to assasinate and the people he works for, all without even knowing who any of these people are. Slowly he figures out his identity and the more he learns, the more he'd like to forget. Those moments are touching and for a would-be bad guy, you really feel sorry for him and identify with his plight.

I've read some reviews where they compare Jason Bourne to James Bond. Well, maybe it's a tongue-in-cheek kind of thing because I see very few similarities. Bond is always impeccably dressed and in the sportiest of vehicles. Bourne always manages to look good, but his is more of a physical presence. Who knew the guy had such great arms? It'd be a shame to put him in a tuxedo and hide those bad boys.

Also, Bourne has this incredible high-speed chase in the rattiest little red car I've ever seen in a Hollywood car chase. (The whole thing made me laugh because if I drove like that in my car, I'd be sitting on the side of the road with a broken axle and four flat tires.) Perhaps a little unbelievable, but it adds to the charm of Bourne's character. Proving once and for all that he's no James Bond.

The music is kick-butt in the high action scenes; and I love the moments between the two main characters when there is no music at all. The plot runs smoothly and Damon does an excellent job. I never really thought of him as an action star before, but I can see this is going to be one of his strengths. Sort of like a young Tom Cruise. (Forgive me Tom, but you are getting a little old.)

The climax at the end does not disappoint. There were a couple of revealing details that didn't add up, but for the most part it resolved the mystery. The fight scene was excellent. I had to laugh again at the unbelievability of the little "body-surfing" stunt, but at least he looked good doing it.

Oh, and what was with all the red in the film? It really stood out against all the snow and contemporary deco styles. Reminded me of the use of red in Sixth Sense. Hmmm.