The Bourne Supremacy movie review by Larry Novotny

Matt Damon is Jason Bourne! O. K., that is how the James Bond franchise would have marketed this movie. Damon reprises his role from 2002 and again he is not good enough to warrant seeing this movie on his name alone. But this is a very good film, in some respects, it's better than Bourne Identity from 2002. In other ways, it is not as good.

Paul Greengrass had crafted a wonderful cat-and-mouse thriller. Bourne Supremacy takes a page out of the old "Columbo" T.V. series by showing the audience what is going on from the onset and letting us follow along as the hero solves the mystery.

C.I.A. director Pamela Landry is putting the finishing touches on a mission in Berlin. Just as she is about to succeed in purchasing some information, the deal goes horribly wrong. The buyer and seller of the information are assassinated while Landry's team is on surveillance. But the audience already knows what Landry is about to discover, a finger print is suspiciously left behind. The owner of the finger print is none other than Jason Bourne. For a man who is trained to not leave any traces of himself, wherever he goes, this is very sloppy for an operative of Bourne's caliber. (What is really odd is that Bourne's finger prints are on file anywhere! One strike against the movie) The finger print is there to mislead the C.I.A.

Of course, for the plan to work, Jason Bourne must be eliminated so that he cannot come forward to prove his innocence, let alone, find those responsible for framing him.

Tragedy strikes the idyllic Bourne household as the hit man strikes. He misses, of course, otherwise there would not be a movie. Unfortunately for the "bad guys", Bourne survives. Thinking that the C.I.A. is once again after him, Bourne rises to the occasion.

What follows is a classic "cat and mouse" struggle as Bourne tries to find out who is after him. He is convinced that this is still an off-shoot of Operation: Treadstone, of which he was the top operative. His only chance at survival, is to identify who is running the operation and bring them down.

Bourne, is of course, up to the challenge in a mission that takes him all over Italy, France, Germany and Russia. The James Bond formula for exotic locales is working overtime here. Not that this is a problem. Bourne moves quickly around Europe, almost too quickly, with the exception of a long, secretive car drive. (O. K., i'm getting a little hung up on the details)

Just like Bourne Identity , this is a very taut thriller. Very well directed by Paul Greengrass. He is very good at crafting a suspenseful thriller. When there are no major action scenes, fist fights and car chases, the action is wonderfully suspenseful. Most notably, Bourne's re-enactment of his first mission and subsequent escape from the location of the hit. Wonderful!

Where Greengrass fails is in the major action sequences: a fist fight with the only other survivor of Project: Treadstone and the concluding car chase in Moscow. The action is shot so tight as to be impossible to follow anything that is happening. It's like watching a Fred Astaire dance sequence but only seeing his torso. The fight scene is impossible to tell who is hitting whom, and the car chase is equally disjointed. The close ups from under the steering column of Bourne's car and Kirill's S.U.V. gave me a headache. Whatever happened to actual stunts!

The actual mystery and its conclusion are fun to follow. The movie is not as predictable as other action films. Surprises abound as allegiances shift. Of note are the sequences of Bourne talking to Director Landry on the phone, where she learns that he is watching her during the entire conversation. Excellent!

This is a very good thriller! Just what the summer movie schedule calls for.