The Bourne Supremacy

What’s the Story?

In the first Bourne film, Jason Bourne (Matt Damon) was rescued from the ocean, suffering from a gunshot wound and amnesia. He eventually learned that he's a spy, but he couldn't remember who was after him. Or why. He ended up with a girl he loved and the guarantee of being left alone to try to recover the rest of his lost memories and make some new and better ones.But in this sequel, someone's after him again. The CIA believes he was behind a recent assassination of two agents. CIA big shots Pamela Landry (Joan Allen) and Ward Abbott (Brian Cox), who knows more than he wants to tell, both try to track him down, though perhaps they have different purposes and goals. Bourne still remembers very little of what went on before he was fished out of the water. But now finding out is a matter of life or death.

Is It Any Good?

This is a smooth thriller for grown-ups. That means it has lots of chase scenes and action scenes but the mood is dark, even grim. The dialogue is smart but not smart-alecky. Instead of flashy fights where one dazzling kick to the throat knocks the bad guy out, the battles are messy and breathless and brutal. The chase scenes are like extreme bumper cars. And the primary pleasure is not some big triumph, just the fun of seeing smart people outsmarted.

Allen strides around in long, cool, black Matrix-style coats and Damon is nicely inexorable and relentless. Julia Stiles adds punch as Bourne's former liaison. She explains how the special operatives worked: "They don't make mistakes. They don't do random." When asked who is assigning Bourne's targets, she says, "Scary version? He is." Damon doesn't get to do much acting but delivers a serviceable performance in what is a serviceable movie. Like its title character, it does the job. And the last exchange of dialogue tops it all off nicely.