The Bourne Identity (PG-13, 2002)

After fishermen pull a body out of the ocean and remove two bullets and a strange device containing a Swiss bank account number from his body, the man (Matt Damon) awakens in a state of amnesia. After a visit to the bank uncovers a cache of money, fake passports, and a gun, the man struggles to recall his past. When confronted by law enforcement, he finds he has incredible combat skills (not to mention wall-scaling abilities). As he attempts to put the clues of his past life together, he pays a young woman named Marie (Franka Potente) to drive him to Paris and they both become embroiled in the mystery of his true identity, which has links to the CIA, an African politician, and a handful of European assasins who seem to be out to kill him.

THE BOURNE IDENTITY is the first in a trilogy of movies that made Matt Damon an unlikely action star. Based on a book by Robert Ludlum, the movie is a tightly knit wonder of intense, heart-pounding action and mystery, with the perfect amount of romance tucked in for good measure. What makes it so good is Damon's ability to merge the physical with the emotional. He's strong, skilled, and smart, but he's also generous, honest, and tender. The scene when he dyes and cuts Marie's hair is incredibly intimate, made even more potent by the near silence of the scene. In fact, for an action movie, Bourne is remarkably quiet. Neither lead character talks much, but both command the screen nonetheless. Potente (of Run, Lola Run) is an edgy choice of a love interest because she's sexy in an offbeat way, not a typical American movie star type -- which gives the movie a refreshing touch of realism.

Aside from the characters, the fighting scenes, which incorporate a martial art called Krav Maga, among others, are especially watchable. Augmented by the miracles of filmmaking, Damon moves so fast while beating a foe to a pulp that one almost expects him to break into a slow-mo Matrix moment (but thankfully, he doesn't). Teens will want to gorge themselves on the fighting scenes, so even though the violence is tamer than many R-rated action movies, some reality checks and moderation are, of course, in order.