A good SPY Thriller!. Review on Bourne Supremacy Movie

''The march to war hurt the economy. Laura reminded me a while ago that remember what was on the TV screens — she calls me, 'George W.' — 'George W.' I call her, 'First Lady.' No, anyway — she said, we said, march to war on our TV screen.''

—George W. Bush, Bay Shore, New York, Mar. 11, 2004

A touch of grey and a touch of blue – that’s what sum up the movie , The Bourne Supremacy. Though there exists some gleaming gray holes in this movie, its retained and overlooked by a viewer because of its true edge-of-the-seat action and some twisting twits here and there. The bluish look makes the movie look cooler ;-).

Though the movie harps on being based on the novel by the same name by Robert Ludlum, viewers are advised to interpret it as ''based on the characters” by Robert Ludlum – the movie does not do justice to the book, nor does the book do justice to the movie – they are quite different in themselves. Bourne Supremacy is a well crafted script that takes the essential ingredients from its protégé and mixes it up with present world chaos to deliver an intriguing, minute-a-action ride. And no, its not about flashing gadgets or invisible cars anymore ;-). Pure, spy thriller – just the way it should be.

Matt Damon as Jason Bourne is immediately identifiable as rugged spy and an emotional man on pursuit of his own memory. Matt Damon, a quite under rated actor gets into the skin of the character very easily and comes up trumps in his role as an amnesic spy trying to figure his place in world, while trying to save himself from people who want him dead for reasons known to them. In addition, the supporting cast comes up with good performances too, though one is not quite sure exactly how good their performance can be when considering that it’s a spy thriller and not quite an emotional drama. In particular, Joan Allan impresses.

Stylistically shot, the movie presents ample scope of great action (the fight sequences are a delight to watch), thrilling car chase sequences, quirky twists (a must for a spy drama) and a high octane end. In addition, in spite of deviating heavily from book, the script does manage to deliver a good plot and good storyline. Berlin and Moscow feature prominently in the movie, as probably a characteristic of the book themselves (Considering spy thrillers, why do most of spy thrillers have a Russian connection?) . The visuals are beautiful, from Goa (Yes!) to Berlin to Naples to Moscow – all places have been captured beautifully.

Music impresses. Like its predecessor, the movie comes packed in with some great background score, a must for a thriller – music quite simply energizes the urgency in the scene and works to the audience’s advantage. Particularly, the ending track is amazing – if any one knows which track it is, please comment ;-)

Oh, I forgot ;-) mentioning the story of the movie. Jason Bourne begins his tale from his end of last adventure where he’s hidden from his killers, trying to build his live with his love – Marie. While he battles his hallucinations and tries to uncover his past, elsewhere a deliberate conspiracy embroils which eventually has Bourne involved. The rest – well, just see it – it ain’t a spy drama if I had to quite literally throw in the bucket.

All in all, a story well told and well shot; Does not follow the book at all, though well done and hence can be forgiven! Go see it – its time spies stopped using life saving watches ;-).

''This has been tough weeks in that country.''

—George W. Bush, Washington, D.C., April 13, 2004