The Bourne Identity

Watch: The Bourne Identity

PG-13

6/14/20021h 59m

Theatrical Release (US)

~ He was the perfect weapon until he became the target. ~

Overview:

Wounded to the brink of death and suffering from amnesia, Jason Bourne is rescued at sea by a fisherman. With nothing to go on but a Swiss bank account number, he starts to reconstruct his life, but finds that many people he encounters want him dead. However, Bourne realizes that he has the combat and mental skills of a world-class spy—but who does he work for?

Director:

Doug Liman

Status:

Released

Language:

English

Buget:

$60,000,000.00

Revenue:

$214,034,224.00

Key words:

sniper
assassin
amnesia
paris, france
based on novel or book
escape
barcelona, spain
spy
secret identity
passport
mission of murder
lovers
flashback
shootout
foot chase
cell phone
multiple identities
surveillance camera
hamburg, germany
fishing boat
langley virginia
safe deposit box
hand to hand combat
action hero
bourne
jason bourne
intense
powerful

Cast

Matt Damon

~ as ~

Jason Bourne

Franka Potente

~ as ~

Marie Helena Kreutz

Chris Cooper

~ as ~

Alexander Conklin

Clive Owen

~ as ~

The Professor

Brian Cox

~ as ~

Ward Abbott

Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje

~ as ~

Nykwana Wombosi

Gabriel Mann

~ as ~

Danny Zorn

Julia Stiles

~ as ~

Nicky Parsons

Walton Goggins

~ as ~

Research Tech

Josh Hamilton

~ as ~

Research Tech

View full cast & crew

Reviews (3)

JPV852
Written 4 year(s) ago
8
Lost count the number of times I've watched The Bourne Identity but it's still a fantastic action-thriller with Matt Damon perfectly cast in the lead which if I recall at the time he was only known for dramas. Some issues with how the sequels were handled, mainly (in TBU) the suggestion Bourne and Nicki (Julia Stiles) had some sort past relationship when it's pretty clear he was just another black ops agent.

In any case, still works almost 20 years later and I'm sure I'll revisit this one again. 4.0/5
The Movie Mob
Written 2 year(s) ago
9
The Bourne Identity returns the spy genre to hard-hitting realism with face-paced hand-to-hand combat, clever espionage, and a great lead.

In the early 2000s, when James Bond was surfing on laser-melted glaciers and fighting diamond-crusted henchmen and Ethan Hunt was dual-weird diving through a flock of doves, The Bourne Identity charted a new path. Doug Liman took Good Will Hunting’s Matt Damon, whose biggest action role to this point had been watching Tom Hanks die to save him in Saving Private Ryan and turn him into a hardcore action hero. But unlike Bond and Mission Impossible, Bourne was a grounded and gritty spy that used skill and ingenuity to overcome the duplicitous intelligence agencies that wanted him dead. The action is more realistic and brutal, with the punches landing harder and pens stabbing deep. The Bourne Identity reinvented the spy genre.
CinemaSerf
Written 1 year(s) ago
7
Matt Damon ("Jason Bourne") is fished out off the sea by a passing fishing boat and after having had bullets removed from his back, determines to find out just what happened to him. One slight snag - he has absolutely no idea who he is! Luckily, his rescuer has some skill with a scalpel and aside from the bullets, he removes a small gadget that contains details of a Swiss bank account that ultimately gives him a name, but asks far more questions than it answers. He goes to the US embassy, but that doesn't quite go to plan and in escaping picks up the feisty "Marie" (Franka Potente) and the two have to evade chasing police and would-be assassins as they try to discover the mystery of "Treadstone". It's a gripping, end-to-end spy thriller with short, refined, fight scenes that genuinely engenders suspense and peril. Robert Ludlum's story survives largely intact and Damon, alongside a suitably duplicitous performance from Brian Cox, deliver well.