The Bourne IdentityYear of Release: 2002
Country of Origin: USA, Germany, Czech Republic
Director: Doug Liman
Cast: Matt Damon, Franka Potente, Chris Cooper
Plot outline: A man is picked up by a fishing boat, bullet-riddled and without memory, then races to elude assassins and recover from amnesia (IMDb).
The Bourne SupremacyYear of Release: 2004
Country of Origin: USA, Germany
Director: Paul Greengrass
Cast: Matt Damon, Brian Cox, Julia Stiles, Joan Allen
Plot outline: When Jason Bourne is framed for a botched CIA operation, he is forced to take up his former life as a trained assassin to survive (IMDb).
The Bourne UltimatumYear of Release: 2007
Country of Origin: USA, Germany
Director: Paul Greengrass
Cast: Matt Damon, David Strathairn, Julia Stiles, Joan Allen
Plot outline: Bourne dodges new, superior assassins as he searches for his unknown past while a government agent tries to track him down (IMDb).
Despite having the same titles as Robert Ludlum's three spy fiction thriller novels, this Jason Bourne movie trilogy is substantially different from those three novels. Only the beginning of the first movie and the ending of the last movie are true to the plot of the first novel. Most other parts of this trilogy are either altered, deviated from its source material or even intermingled with the plot from Eric Van Lustbader's The Bourne Legacy novel. Why make a movie trilogy of a novel trilogy if most parts of it is different from its original source. Is this a typical blatant way of Hollywood to cash in on the popularity of those spy fiction thriller novels? In my opinion, the second act of the trilogy is not really worthwhile - its sole purpose is only for prolonging the action sequences; so it can be cut or incorporated into the first or the last act.
My judgement:
**1/2 out of 4 stars for "The Bourne Identity" (2002)
*1/2 out of 4 stars for "The Bourne Supremacy" (2004)
** out of 4 stars for "The Bourne Ultimatum" (2007)
The Bourne IdentityYear of Release: 1988
Country of Origin: USA
Director: Roger Young
Cast: Richard Chamberlain, Jaclyn Smith
Plot outline: A man is washed ashore the beach of a small French village during a heavy storm. He is bullet-riddled and without memory. He then tries to discover who he is and why several groups, including the CIA, are trying to kill him (IMDb).
Compared to the movie trilogy this TV miniseries is reasonably faithful to the plot of the first novel. Despite lack of style of big budget and splendour of high-end special FX, the script is solid - it gives sufficient time to let the story unfold, with only occasional drags in the middle part. This TV miniseries reminds me of the golden days of Richard Chamberlain and Jaclyn Smith.
My judgement: **1/2 out of 4 stars
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