"The Bourne Identity"

Title: "The Bourne Identity"
Director: Doug Liman
Producers: F. Marshall, R. N. Gladstein, and D. Liman
Editing: S. Klein and C. Rouse
Composer: John Powell
Starring:
- Matt Damon as Jason Bourne
- Franka Potente as Marie Helena Kreutz
- Brian Cox as Ward Abbott
- Julia Stiles as Nicolette Parsons

Plot and Critical Review: An Italian fishing boat crew working off the coast of Marseille, France finds an unconscious man adrift in the Mediterranean with two gunshot wounds in his back. When he wakes up, the man comes to realize he suffers from retrograde amnesia, having only one clue to his identity: the account number to a safe deposit box provided by a tiny laser projector surgically implanted in his hip. Traveling to Switzerland to find the corresponding bank, the man discovers he is skilled in hand-to-hand combat when he instinctively defends himself from two policemen questioning him for loitering in a park at night. The man arrives at the bank and finds the deposit box contains a significant amount of cash in differering denominations and several passports with his photo, but with numerous aliases. He assumes the name on the first passport, "Jason Bourne," and leaves as a bank employee notifies a CIA Special Activities Division group "Operation Treadstone" about his visit. Bourne evades the Zürich police and flees to the embassy where he is accosted by the officials but is once again able to elude capture. A few blocks away, he induces Marie Kreutz with US$20,000 to take him to Paris to the address on his "Bourne" passport.

Back at CIA headquarters, Alexander Conklin, the head of Treadstone, reveals to his supervisor, Deputy Director Ward Abbott, that Bourne was the covert operative responsible for a failed assassination attempt on African dictator Nykwana Wombosi. Intending to sever all connections between the CIA and Wombosi, Conklin sends three highly-trained "assets" (assassins) to eliminate Bourne. Bourne and Marie arrive at the apartment in Paris where he finds that one of his aliases, "John Michael Kane", was supposedly killed two weeks ago. The first asset, code-named "Castel", ambushes them but Bourne subdues him after a brief fight. Marie checks Castel's bag and panics when she discovers a hit list package with photose of her and Bourne at the embassy the day before. As Bourne tries to calm her down, Castel escapes and jumps to his death before Bourne can learn anything else.

Conklin enlists Nicolette Parsons, a logistics technician at the Treadstone Paris safe house, to assist him in tracking Bourne and Marie. Bourne goes to meet Wombosi to obtain more information but the second asset, code-named "The Professor", kills Wombosi before Bourne arrives. With the news of Wombosi's death, Bourne surmises he was an assassin before the onset of his amnesia. Bourne and Marie flee to the home of her stepbrother in the countryside, where Bourne decides that he no longer wants to be who he was. The next morning, The Professor tries to snipe Bourne, but Bourne creates a diversion and dispatches him in a cropfield. As he dies, he tells Bourne about their mutual connection to Treadstone. Bourne sends Marie away for her safety, then uses The Professor's cell phone to arrange a meeting with Conklin to bring him out into the open so he can track him.

Bourne tails Conklin back to the Paris safe house, where Conklin tells him he planned the entire operation to kill Wombosi. The revelation triggers Bourne's memory and through successive flashbacks Bourne remembers he used the Kane alias to infiltrate Wombosi's entourage but couldn't bring himself to kill Wombosi because of the latter's children. When he aborted the mission he was shot twice and fell overboard from Wombosi's yacht into the Mediterranean where the fishermen later found him. Bourne tells Conklin he is quitting Treadstone and warns them not to follow him. After ordering Nicky to close down the safe house, Conklin is murdered by the third asset, code-named "Manheim", on orders from Abbott. Some time later, Abbott explains to an oversight committee that he shut down Treadstone because of its ineffectiveness and proposes a new program, "Operation Blackbriar." Free from his old life, Bourne reunites with Marie in Greece, where she works renting scooters to tourists. The two share a loving embrace as the screen fades to credits.

Some actors just get lucky, and Matt Damon happens to be one of the few that has, and very much so. His filmography is steadily becoming one of the most renowned of all Hollywood actors. Here's a quick refresher of some of his work:

"Good Will Hunting"

"Rounders"

"Dogma"

"Saving Private Ryan"

"Ocean's Trilogy"

"Bourne Trilogy" (+1 in 2012)

"The Departed"

"The Informant!"

And the list goes on. The films listed above alone have collectively grossed over 2 billion dollars. Well done, sir. And yet the "Bourne" films are but an addition to an already sterling career that Damon is forging for himself. At a mere 40-years old, we can no doubt expect him to climb to even higher levels of stardom. He has gardened nominations from almost all of the major film guilds, including the Academy, but has yet to win "big"...we can expect that coming around the corner, as well.

Damon was chosen to play the Bourne role not only for his abilities in physical/combat acting, but because he was able to deliver a plot and character-driven performance. It shines through, and the "Bourne" films are among the finest series of films we've seen in recent years. They do not all achieve the same measure of greatness, but they are all great.

My Rating: 7/10

Content to Caution:
V-3.5 - Bourne is a killing machine...that is what he does...so he does it. Often.
L-3 - Many instances of cursing.
DU-1 - Some drinking.
RT-0 - No comment.
H/S-2.5 - No comment.
CH-1 - No comment.
S/N-1 - One love scene (kissing), but no nudity aside from Bourne's shirt being removed.

The "Reel Revelation": "Remembering The Truth - Pt. 1"

The heart of the suspense found within the "Bourne" films is that of Jason's quest to rediscover his true identity, lost through amnesia. What makes the films so riveting is getting to go along as he discovers clue after clue; always getting closer to his ultimate goal. We know that what works in the movies doesn't always work in real life, but this is one element of life reflected in film that we can reconcile with, for we too are seeking out our true identity which has been lost through the amnesic fog of sin. Every day we're challenged to remind ourselves:

- Who/whose we are. (Pt. 1)

- Why we're here. (Pt. 2)

- How to keep from forgetting in the future. (Pt. 3)

When you wake up in the morning, what's the first thing that flashes through your mind? I suspect some would say:

"Bathroom!"

"Smell that coffee...it's the best part of wakin' up!"

"Takin' a ride on the snooze cruise, baby!"

"Do I have to get out of bed?"

No harm there, on the whole. Go a step further. Once you're up and about, where's your head? Suddenly the reality of the day comes crashing down and all of the details start to come into focus; the daily commute, meetings, errands, expectations to meet, promises to keep, and people to serve. Yikes! We haven't even made it into work and our brains are going a hundred different directions. It's no wonder why we're always asking, "Who am I?" Think of all the things vying for our attention, competing to become our top priority and purpose. Again, it's no wonder why we're always asking, "Who am I?"

Where did Jason Bourne start in his search to attain his true identity? The past. Where must we start to remind ourselves who/whose we really are? The same.

While they wandered in the desert, the people of Israel erected altars (or what we might consider piles of rocks) or monuments to signify what God had done for them. When they celebrated feasts or honored the commandments of God, Moses urged the people to remember the many signs and wonders God had performed for them (Exodus 13:3). While in the same season of wandering, Moses and Aaron commanded the sons of Israel to make blue tassels for themselves and wear them on the corners of their outer garments:

"It shall be a tassel for you to look at and remember all the commandments of the LORD, so as to do them and not follow after your own heart and your own eyes, after which you played the harlot, so that you may remember to do all My commandments and be holy to your God." (Numbers 15:39-40)

Simple. As simple and could be and they reminded the Israelites to whom they belonged; the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. What is your altar, your monument, your blue tassel? Do you hang a cross of crucifix on the wall to remind you that Christ has saved you? Do you keep a Bible by your bed, that you might meditate on God's Word before sleep and upon rising? Do you listen to music or radio programs that will remind you of God's love for you, and favor for your life? Choose simple things if you wish, or complicate it all you want, but choose something to remind you every day that you belong to God, and that God loves you deeply.

Not only does a strong and consistent "method of remembrance" keep us cognizant of our belong to God, it will also keep us alert to what God expects of us. Chiefly, to not disobey or live against His commands. It will all the more reinforce who and whose we are, but lead us to consider not only our identity, but our purpose as humans and followers of Christ.

"With all my heart I have sought You;
Do not let me wander from Your commandments.
Your word I have treasured in my heart,
That I may not sin against You." (Psalm 119:11)

See you tomorrow- E.T.