The Bourne Supremacy

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Originally uploaded by Struthers.

Matt Damon is back for another round as Jason Bourne, with a new director, Paul Greengrass (Bloody Sunday) and a smart, fast paced script that takes us from India to Italy, Germany, Russia and the US in The Bourne Supremacy.
Greengrass uses the same hand-held camera techniques which gave Bloody Sunday its ultra-real documentary feel. This is an extremely effective and increasingly popular way (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Being John Malkovic) of presenting a more realistic feel of a film to the audience in order to 'soften' a situation which would otherwise seem absurd.
007 producers take note: international spy thrillers don't have to be an exercise in special effects, stumbling from ridiculous set-piece to ridiculous set-piece with a never ending body-count and cost a couple of hundred million dollars to be successful and engaging.
Taking up where The Bourne Identity left off, with Bourne, still suffering from amnesia, and girlfriend, Franka Potente (Run Lola Run) trying to stay off the radar and well out of the sight of the CIA, now living a simple life on a beach in India. But of course this peaceful existence has to come to an end, and does so as a result of Bourne being framed for the deaths of two CIA agents in Berlin, and having his own life targeted.
Bourne is a pragmatist and is not at all used to dealing with conflict verbally, his unease with people is evident, as well as his confusion with the circumstances revolving around the agents he's supposedly killed.
Joan Allen (The Contender) and Brian Cox (Adaptation, 25th Hour) do most of the talking in this film, as the CIA heads trying to find Bourne and bring him in.
The script is intelligent, twisting enough to keep the tension running through the unfurling plotlines, which never feels as though it's being spelt out.
Oliver Wood's camera work appears in the slower/dialogue scenes to be a little too shaky with no reason to be, but all is forgiven as soon as the action builds and reaches a frenetic pace by films-end with the brilliant car chase through the streets of Moscow, (don't forget to blink).
The second sequel to outdo its predecessor this year (Spiderman 2), The Bourne Supremacy is one hell of a good ride and rates 4 Stars