The Bourne Identity (film)

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The Bourne Identity
Directed by	Doug Liman
Produced by	Robert Ludlum Doug Liman Frank Marshall
Written by	Novel: Robert Ludlum Screenplay: Tony Gilroy William Blake Herron
Starring	Matt Damon Franka Potente Chris Cooper Brian Cox Clive Owen Julia Stiles
Music by	John Powell
Cinematography	Oliver Wood
Editing by	Saar Klein Christopher Rouse
Distributed by	Universal Pictures
Release date(s)	June 14, 2002 August 22, 2002 September 6, 2002 January 25, 2003
Running time	119 min.
Country	United States Germany Czech Republic[1]
Language	English
Budget	$60 million[2]
Gross profits	Domestic $121,661,683[2] Foreign $92,263,424[2] Worldwide $213,925,107[2]
Followed by	The Bourne Supremacy
Official website
All Movie Guide profile
IMDb profile

The Bourne Identity is a 2002 spy thriller. It stars Matt Damon as Jason Bourne, an amnesiac attempting to discover the truth of his identity amidst a conspiracy involving the CIA at which he is the center. Along the way he teams up with Maria, played by Franka Potente, who assists him on his globe-trotting journey to learn about his past and regain his memories. The film also stars Chris Cooper as Alexander Conklin, Clive Owen as The Professor and Brian Cox as Ward Abbott.

The film was directed by Doug Liman and adapted for the screen by Tony Gilroy and William Blake Herron from the novel of the same name written by Robert Ludlum who also produced the film alongside Frank Marshall. Universal Studios released the film to theaters in the United States on June 14, 2002 and it recieved a positive critical and public reaction. The film was followed by a 2004 sequel The Bourne Supremacy and a third part which is expected to be released 2007 entitled The Bourne Ultimatum.

Contents 1 Synopsis 2 Production 3 Cast 4 Reception 4.1 Awards 5 Differences from the novel 6 Releases and sequels 7 References 8 External links

[edit] Synopsis

A fishing trawler finds a man (Damon) floating in the Mediterranean Sea with two gunshot wounds in his back. The ship’s surgeon manages to save the man's life, removing two bullets and a strange device with the number of a Swiss bank account embedded in the man's hip. Suffering from amnesia, he is unable to recall anything prior to waking up aboard the boat but finds he is versed in several European languages. After arriving in port the surgeon gives him some money, and he sets off for Zurich to track down the bank account information that he carried. At CIA Headquarters at Langley, Deputy Director Ward Abbott (Cox) learns in a meeting that there has been a failed assassination attempt on deposed African dictator Nykwana Wombosi (Akinnuoye-Agbaje). After the meeting, Abbott discusses with Alexander Conklin whether this operation was carried out under the confidential black ops Operation Treadstone that Conklin heads. Conklin admits that something has gone wrong with their agent in the field and assures Abbott that he is seeing to it.

Locating the bank in Zurich, the man accesses his safe deposit box and finds several passports therein with different names - all with his photo. He also finds large bundles of foreign currency and a gun. The man assumes the name on the first US passport he finds, Jason Bourne, which also has an address in Paris. After heading to the Zurich US embassy he notices traveller Marie Helena Kreutz (Potente). Increasingly uneasy with those around him Bourne tries to leave the embassy, but is challenged by security staff. He disables them and manages to use his innate expertise to escape from the building. Outside he finds Marie and offers her $20,000 to drive him to his Paris address, to which she reluctantly accepts. Conklin activates three Treadstone agents Castel (Nicky Naude), Manheim (Russel Levy) and the Professor (Owen) to track Bourne down and kill him.

Arriving at his Paris address Bourne is recognised by the building superintendent. Marie and Bourne search his apartment, with Bourne believing that he’s in the shipping business from the literature on the shelves. When redialling the last number called on the apartment phone he connects to a Hotel Regina in Paris. The staff do not recognise the name Jason Bourne but when he gives one of the other US passport names, John Michael Kane, he is told that Kane had stayed but had died in a car crash two weeks ago. At that moment Castel arrives through a window and attacks them, and after a struggle Bourne disables Castel and tries to interrogate him. Marie becomes distraught to discover from Castel’s possessions that they are both wanted by the authorities. With Bourne distracted, Castel leaps out of a window to his death. Managing to elude the police, Bourne and Marie spend the night together and the next day follow Kane’s/Bourne's trail from the Hotel Regina.

Conklin arranges to plant a body at a Parisian morgue to fool Wombosi into thinking his attacker dead, but Wombosi does not fall for the ruse. The Professor then assassinates Wombosi in his house. Discovering that Wombosi has been killed and learning from a newspaper about the failed assassinaton attempt two weeks prior, Bourne realizes from the information he has pieced together that he was the assassin. Eluding the authorities once more, Bourne and Marie head to the country side to stay at Marie’s stepbrother’s house. As Bourne confesses his feelings for her, saying that he no longer wants to know about the man he was, the Professor eventually arrives to kill Bourne. Bourne, however, is able to out-maneuver and fatally wound him. Before the Professor dies Bourne discovers that they are both Treadstone agents and that Bourne was the Paris operative. He tells Marie to leave with her money and the two part company. Using the Professor’s phone to arrange a meeting with Conklin in Paris, Bourne manages to discover the location of the CIA’s Parisian safe house.

Bourne confronts Conklin about Treadstone as Bourne finally remembers the night he was to assassinate Wombosi on his boat. He was unable to go through with it after seeing Wombosi's children were sleeping in the same room. While attempting to flee the ship, Wombosi's bodyguards shoot him in the back, inflicting the wounds that would leave him adrift in the ocean and affect his memory. Bourne tells Conklin that he wants nothing more to do with Treadstone. After a confrontation with a security team he once again manages to escape.

Conklin is killed thereafter by the last of the three activated Treadstone agents under orders from Abbott to tie up loose ends as Abbott goes before a CIA Committee and informs them that the Treadstone project was nothing but a theoretical exercise that was deemed a failure and terminated. Some time later Bourne tracks Marie down to a shop in Mykonos where she is renting out scooters to tourists and the two reunite.

[edit] Production

Director Doug Liman stated that he had been a fan of the source novel by Robert Ludlum since he read it in high school and had decided nearing the end of production of his previous film Swingers to work on a film adaptation of the novel. After over two years of securing rights to the book from Warner Brothers and a further year of screenplay development with screenwriter Tony Gilroy, the film went through two years of production.^[3] From the onset of filming difficulties with the studio slowed the film's development and caused a rift between the director and Universal Studios, as executives were unhappy with the film's pacing, emphasis on small scale action sequences and the general relationship between themselves and Liman who was suspicious of direct studio involvement.^[4] A number of reshoots and rewrites late in development as well as scheduling problems delayed the film from its original release target of September 2001 to June 2002 and took it $8,000,000 over budget from the initial budget of $52,000,000; screenwriter Tony Gilroy faxed elements of screenplay rewrites almost throughout the entire duration of filming.^[4] A particular point of contention in regards to the original Tony Gilroy script were the scenes set in the farmhouse near the films conclusion that actor Matt Damon and Doug Liman fought to keep in the film after they were excised in a third act rewrite insisted upon by the studio, arguing that though the scenes were low key they were integral to the audience's understanding of the Bourne character and film's central themes. The farmhouse sequence consequently went through many rewrites from its original incarnation before its inclusion in the final product.^[4] Other issues included the studio's desire to substitute Paris for Montreal or Prague in order to lower costs, Liman's insistence on use of a French speaking film crew and poor test audience reactions to the film's Paris finale which required a late return to location in order to shoot a new, more action orientated conclusion to the Paris story arc.^[5] Damon described the production as a struggle, citing the early conflicts that he and Liman had with the studio, but denied it was an overtly difficult process; "when I hear people saying that the production was a nightmare it’s like, ‘a nightmare? Shooting’s always hard, but we finished".^[6]

Liman's directorial method was often hands-on and many times operated the camera himself in order to create what he believed was a more intimate relationship between himself, the material, and the actors feeling that this connection was lost if he simply observed on a monitor. This was a mindset he took from his background as a small-scale indie film maker.^[7]

A wide range of actors were approached by Liman for the role of Bourne, including the likes of Russell Crowe and Sylvester Stallone, before eventually casting Matt Damon who Liman found understood and appreciated that though The Bourne Identity would have its share of action the focus was first and foremost on character and plot.^[8] Damon, who had never played a role as physically demanding before, insisted on performing many of the stunts himself and underwent extensive training in stunt work, weapons training, boxing and eskrima for three months with stunt choreographer and trainer Nick Powell. Damon eventually performed a significant number of the films stunts himself, including climbing the safe house walls near the films conclusion and the hand-to-hand combat scenes.^[7] The casting of German actress Franka Potente stemmed from Liman's appreciation of her performance in Run Lola Run which prompted him to approach her, wanting to cast an actress both unfamiliar to American audiences and who appeared a suitable opposite for the Bourne character.^[3] Filming took place in Prague, Paris, Imperia, Rome, Mykonos and Zurich; several scenes set in Zurich were also filmed in Prague.^[3]

The acclaimed car chase sequence was filmed primarily by the second unit under second unit director Alexander Witt in various locations around Paris at the same time as the main body of the story arc was being filmed by Liman elsewhere in Paris. The finished footage was eventually edited together to create the illusion of a coherent journey as Liman confessed that "anyone who really knows Paris will find it illogical" since few of the locations used in the car chase actually connect to each other.^[5] Liman took only a few shots himself, notably the interior shots of the car featuring Matt Damon and Franka Potente.^[3]

The inner workings of the fictitious Treadstone organization at the heart of The Bourne Identity were inspired by Liman's father's time in the NSA under President Ronald Reagan; in particular his memoirs regarding his involvement in the investigation of the Iran-Contra affair. Many aspects of the Alexander Conklin character were based on his father's recollections of Oliver North.^[3] Liman admitted a lot of the content of the novel was jettisoned beyond the central premise in order to modernize the material to a contemporary setting and to bring it inline with his own political and personal beliefs regarding United States foreign policy, but to be careful not to dictate his political views down "the audiences' throat".^[3] There were initial concerns regarding the film's reception in the aftermath of the September 11th Attacks but these ended up unfounded.^[3]

[edit] Cast

• Matt Damon as Jason Bourne - An amnesiac found adrift in the sea who is attempting to discover his own identity, and is proficient in multiple languages, espionage and martial arts. It eventually becomes clear he is a former CIA assassin who is now being pursued by his former employers.
• Franka Potente as Marie Helena Kreutz - A bohemian German traveller down on her luck who is paid by Bourne to transport him to Paris and who eventually ends up staying by Bourne's side in his journey to discover his identity.
• Chris Cooper as Alexander Conklin - The coordinator of Treadstone and Bourne's immediate superior, he is tasked with dealing with the fallout of Bourne's rogue status and covering up the growing problem.
• Brian Cox as Ward Abbott - A CIA Deputy Director and Conklin's immediate superior who generally allows Conklin and his operatives free reign but becomes increasingly concerned over Bourne, the failed Wombosi assassination and Conklin's handling of the crisis.
• Julia Stiles as Nicolette 'Nicky' Parson - A CIA field operative working in Paris who reports to Conklin.
• Clive Owen as The Professor - Another Treadstone operative based out of Barcelona who is dispatched to locate and kill Bourne.
• Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje as Nykwana Wombosi - A deposed African dictator who seized power with backing from the CIA and threatens to reveal the names of those who assisted him if he is not given aid to retake his former position of power. Was Bourne's last target prior to his amnesia.
• Gabriel Mann as Danny Zorn - Conklin's assistant and a key member of Operation Treadstone's control team.
• Nicky Naude as Castel - a Treadstone operative based out of Rome sent to kill Jason Bourne
• Russel Levy as Manheim - a Treadstone operative based out of Hamburg sent to kill Jason Bourne

[edit] Reception

The critical reception of the film was largely positive, with the film review collection website, Rotten Tomatoes, giving the film an 83% approval rating from critics and 91% from subscribers.^[9] Roger Ebert gave the film three stars and praised it for its ability to absorb the viewer in its "spycraft" and "Damon's ability to be focused and sincere" concluding that the film was "unnecessary, but not unskilled".^[10] Walter Chaw of Film Freak Central praised the film for its pacing and action sequences, describing them as "kinetic, fair, and intelligent, every payoff packaged with a moment's contemplation crucial to the creation of tension" and that the movie could be understood as a clever subversion of the genre.^[11] Charles Taylor of Salon.com acclaimed the film as "entertaining, handsome and gripping, The Bourne Identity is something of an anomaly among big-budget summer blockbusters: a thriller with some brains and feeling behind it, more attuned to story and character than to spectacle" and praised Liman for giving the film a "tough mindedness" that never gives way into "cynicism or hopelessness".^[12] Ed Gonzalez of Slant Magazine also noted Doug Liman's "restrained approach to the material" as well as Matt Damon and Frankta Potente's strong chemistry but ultimately concluded the film was "smart but not smart enough".^[13] J. Hoberman of The Village Voice dismissed the film as "banal" and as a dissapointment compared against Liman's previous indie releases;^[14] Owen Gleiberman also criticised the film for a "sullen roteness that all of Liman's supple handheld staging can't disguise".^[15] Particular acclaim was directed toward the film's central car chase which was described as an exciting action highlight and one of the best realized in the genre.^[16][17]

In its opening weekend, The Bourne Identity took in (USD) $27,118,640 in 2,638 theaters. As of March 2007, the film has grossed $121,661,683 in the United States and $92,263,424 elsewhere for a total worldwide gross of $213,925,107.^[2]

[edit] Awards

Year	Organization	Award	Category/Recipient	Result
2003	ASCAP Film and Television Music Awards	ASCAP Award	Top Box Office Films: John Powell	Won[18]
2003	Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films, USA	Saturn Award	Best Action/Adventure/Thriller Film	Nominated[18]
2003	American Choreography Awards	American Choreography Award	Outstanding Achievement in Fight Choreography: Nick Powell	Won[18]
2003	Art Directors Guild	Excellence in Production Design Award	Feature Film - Contemporary Films	Nominated[18]
2003	Motion Picture Sound Editors, USA	Golden Reel Award	Best Sound Editing in Domestic Features - Dialogue & ADR Best Sound Editing in Domestic Features - Sound Effects & Foley	Nominated[18]
2003	World Stunt Awards	Taurus Award	Best Work with a Vehicle	Won[18]

[edit] Differences from the novel

The film has many significant changes from the source novel. While elements of his journey around Europe as well as his amnesia are retained, the Jason Bourne of the novel is not an assassin but rather a deep cover CIA operative acting as a fictional assassin to get close to international assassin Carlos the Jackal; he was wounded attempting to prevent rather than perpetrate an assassination. The nature of Operation Treadstone is also different than portrayed in the film: Instead of a network of government sponsored assassins it is a scheme to trap Carlos with Jason Bourne as the sole field agent.

While most of the characters in the film share names similar with characters in the novel, their personalities and place in the story are significantly different. The character of Maria in the novel is a Canadian economist as opposed to a young, unemployed German traveller. Conklin is a more villainous presence in the film adaptation that, unlike the novel, does not survive. The story thread involving Carlos was also removed as the real Carlos was by this time imprisoned in France. Bourne discovering information regarding his true identity and past — such as his real name — was also removed.^[19]

[edit] Releases and sequels

On January 21, 2003 Universal Studios released The Bourne Identity on DVD in the US in two formats; a single-disc widescreen collectors edition and a single-disc full screen collectors edition. Both contain supplemental materials including a making of documentary, a commentary from director Doug Liman and deleted scenes. On July 13, 2004 Universal studios released a new DVD of the film in the US in preparation of the sequels cinema debut. This DVD also came in two formats; a single-disc widescreen extended edition and s single-disc full screen extended edition. Both contain supplemental materials including interviews with Matt Damon, deleted scenes, alternative opening and ending, a documentary on the embassy fight and information features on the CIA and Amnesia. Neither contain the commentary or DTS tracks present in the collectors edition. The film was also released on UMD for Sony's PlayStation Portable on August 30, 2005. The official soundtrack album was released on June 11, 2002 and contains original music scored for the film by John Powell.

The Bourne Identity was followed by a 2004 sequel The Bourne Supremacy which received a similar positive critical and public reception.^[20] The Bourne Supremacy was directed by Paul Greengrass with Doug Liman returning as a producer and Matt Damon reprising his role as Jason Bourne. A third film The Bourne Ultimatum is expected for release in 2007 and is once again directed by Paul Greengrass and stars Matt Damon.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Official website at Universal Studios
• The Bourne Identity at the Internet Movie Database
• The Bourne Identity at Rotten Tomatoes
• The Bourne Identity at All Movie Guide
• The Bourne Identity (film) at the Open Directory Project (suggest site)

Jason Bourne
Robert Ludlum novels:	The Bourne Identity (1980) | The Bourne Supremacy (1986) | The Bourne Ultimatum (1990)
Eric Van Lustbader novels:	The Bourne Legacy (2004) | The Bourne Betrayal (2007)
20th century films:	The Bourne Identity (1988)
21st century films:	The Bourne Identity (2002) | The Bourne Supremacy (2004) | The Bourne Ultimatum (2007)