The Bourne Identity (2002)// First Time Watching!!!

"I've never tried." The most empowering phrase I've ever heard. Anything. It could literally be anything.

Unquestionably one of the best spy franchises. Jason Bourne was my ideal spy character. Because he was so flawed, relatable and stoic. The novel series by Robert Ludlum debuted in the year I was born (1980). I saw the very-first screen adaptation on television with Richard Chamberlain & Jaclyn Smith when I was 8 (1988). Matt Damon getting his own franchise, 5 years after winning an Academy Award was unprecedented. So great from start to finish and more of an tradition approach to the genre. I have the special edition from 2004 with alternate beginning and ending that makes the story more complex. The next 2 films (2004, 2007) are incredible. The 3rd film (2012) with Jeremy Renner is not liked very much. But was a decent enough sequel to me. The 4th film (2016) with Damon's return as Bourne is a phenomenal one. The theme song, Extreme Ways (Jason Bourne) by Moby is in every installment, sounding a little different each time and is a killer track.

That little Mini Cooper isn't just another tiny car. It took the world by storm in the 60's, due to being VERY agile, nippy, and super durable. There's another classic movie that demonstrates the Mini in its heyday, called The Italian Job, with Michael Caine. If you enjoyed the car chases here, you should check out Ronin, from 1999 (I think) with Jean Reno and Robert Dinero.

I always loved the symbolism of Jason Bourne floating in the ocean at the start of the movie, about to be 'reborn' again. With that musical piece flagging a great sense of anticipation.

This is one of the best movie trilogies. Each movie is twisty AF, but makes total sense. They're all rewatchable. Matt Damon's ability to switch languages is incredible. Bourne is always many steps ahead of everyone. This one is also a lovely demonstration of the Mini Cooper. The action sequences are amazing. The shaky cam is a bit much though. This is a big American budget movie, done with European style. This is why it stands out from other big budget American movies.

The first three Bourne movies are the best ones! Hope you watch the next two.

Hell Yeah I love The Bourne Identity this movie kicks ass 🤘🔥

I always appreciate when they use relatively unknown actors for love interests. It makes the relationship more believable.

If you like that actress (Franka Potente), she gives a fantastic performance in a really good and beautifully original German movie called Lola Rennt (English title Run Lola Run). You would love it. 100%.

James Bond drove a janky little car in For Your Eyes Only (1981). It's a classic for a reason.

Best Action Spy/Assassin Trilogy I know of, watch the remaining two, it goes deeper!

The bank account was a Numbered Account, there is no name associated with it. They use a double tap followed to one to the head. After the other two Jason Bourne movies, then check out the 4 John Wick movies.

27:15 "How did he know it would be a sniper?" Wide open countryside, no easy approach to the property without possibly being seen. But mostly because it's what Jason would do and he knows that whoever comes for him has the same training.

Strikes me that my dad resembled Matt Damon when my dad was young. When he was in the navy.

So, the Bourne Identity trilogy is, theoretically, based on Robert Ludlum's novels of the same name. I wouldn't recommend them - they're fine - but maybe check them out on wikipedia or something. It's crazy how different the movies are from the source material; in the books, Bourne is created as a fiction to flush out Carlos the Jackal, and isn't part of a team of super spies at all. (Spies? Agents? Whatever.) It's wild how far it strayed from the source material. That really rarely works, oftentimes makes you wondering why they bothered to "adopt" source material rather than just telling an original story (normally it makes for a bad story, in and of itself, while also alienating the fans of the source material as well), but I think they did a good job here of making a really interesting, engaging story.

I have a friend that has the chase music, Ready Steady Go by Paul Oakenfold on a burned CD and it says "In case of police chase" on it. 😂

This movie is what got me to like Matt Damon. This movie is base on a series of novels and they actually had a TV movie in the late 70s or early 80s staring Richard Chamberlin as Bourne along with Jacklyn Smith who was one of Charlie's Angels I believe. THe Bourne Identity kinda reimagined spy movies and had a pretty big impact on the Bond franchise with Daniel Craig's Bond movies. Hope you watch the other 2 sequels. You might as well finish the series.

You're surprised by the little red Mini Cooper car. They're fairly good cars. Not as speedy as a Lamborghini but still above average on speed, way above average on maneuverability, and have fairly reliable engineering. All in all, a good car for this sort of thing, but maybe not the best for an all-out race on a straight freeway (which, cleverly, Jason Bourne is not doing).

Despite what people will tell you, there are actually five movies in the Bourne cycle. The first three form a tight trilogy centered around Jason Bourne himself (The Bourne Identity, The Bourne Supremacy and The Bourne Ultimatum), the fourth movie, called The Bourne Legacy, is sort of a spin-off as it follows a different agent (played by Jeremy Renner) and sort of goes into the background workings of these illegal programs. It also stars Rachel Weisz. A lot of people hate on this movie as it doesn't star Matt Damon and is only loosely connected to the first three, but if you can put yourself over that aspect it is actually quite decent. The last movie, simply called Jason Bourne, is the weakest of the bunch. It again stars Matt Damon and delves into his past and how he got included in the threadstone project in the first place. It's still decent, but it doesn't feel really necessary. As others have pointed out the series is loosely based on the Novels by Robert Ludlum, with the first movie being the closest to the first book. Since the books are set in the seventies they deal with a different plot though. In the first book Jason Bourne is actually tasked with tracking down a terrorist called Carlos The Jackal (who was actually a real person), like in the movie he is shot by Carlos and loses his memory (also being fished out of the water by fishermen). The first part is very much the same, with him trying to track down who he is. In the books however Marie is actually a Canadian government economist, not a German national. The rest of the book deals with Bourne trying to recover his memory, the people at Threadstone trying to find him (as they think he has gone rogue) and Carlos trying to finish his attempt at killing Bourne. The other two books deviate so much from the movies that they bare little resemblance to each other.

This was made post 9-11, as the public was coming to terms with our newly awol security state... Apparently other countries don't appreciate it when we do gunfights and kidnappings on their soil. US spy agents got into shootouts with Italian police in one noted incident.