English Title: The Bourne Supremacy - Continued Escape / The Bourne Ultimatum / Bourne's Hegemony / Bourne Identity 2 / The Bourne Conspiracy 2 / The Bourne Ultimatum 2: Secret Trap / The Bourne Ultimacy / Bourne's Hegemony
Film Title: The Bourne Supremacy
Year: 2004
Country: USA/Germany
Category: Adventure/Mystery/Thriller/Action/Drama
Language: English
Subtitles: Chinese subtitles
Duration: 01:48:25
Director: Paul Greengrass
Cast: Matt Damon .... Jason Bourne
Franka Potente .... Marie
Brian Cox .... Ward Abbott
Julia Stiles .... Nicky
Karl Urban .... Kirill
Gabriel Mann .... Danny Zorn
Joan Allen .... Pamela Landy
Marton Csokas .... Jarda
Tom Gallop .... Tom Cronin
John Bedford Lloyd .... Teddy
Ethan Sandler .... Kurt
Michelle Monaghan .... Kim
Karel Roden .... Gretkov
Tomas Arana .... Martin Marshall
Oksana Akinshina .... Irena Neski
Introduction:
Plot Summary: Reappearance of Danger
This film is the sequel to "The Bourne Identity", telling the story of Jason Bourne (Matt Damon), who after enduring countless hardships finally learns his true identity, but is inadvertently dragged into a diplomatic conspiracy. His newly clarified identity is once again questioned, and his peaceful life is once more overshadowed by the relentless pursuit of spies.
All this stems from the brutal murder of a high-ranking official in a major country. At the crime scene, the police find a phone card, even more perplexing is that upon investigation, the card belongs to Bourne. Although the Central Intelligence Agency knows that Bourne might be innocent, pressured by formidable diplomatic forces, they still demand that Bourne must step out of retirement to capture the real culprit to clear his own name.
Bourne initially refuses, but soon, his beloved woman also mysteriously disappears. Thus, Bourne decides to re-enter the field. Facing enemies and friends from all sides, and those with ulterior motives, Bourne gets increasingly entangled in the vortex of espionage warfare...
Behind the Scenes: Searching for the Mystery of Bourne's Identity
Back to the Beginning: The Bourne Trilogy
The screenplay for the Bourne series is adapted from the internationally best-selling spy novel trilogy published in 1980 by renowned author Robert Ludlum. The trilogy consists of "The Bourne Identity", "The Bourne Supremacy", and "The Bourne Ultimatum".
The first book describes an amnesiac discovering his identity as a CIA secret agent responsible for assassination missions named Jason Bourne. After the failure of an assassination mission codenamed "Medusa", he has become a target for elimination by the American Central Intelligence Agency. The storyline for the sequel will be based on Ludlum's second follow-up novel "The Bourne Supremacy". This time, not only does Jason Bourne have to evade the relentless pursuit of the American Central Intelligence Agency, but he also faces greater trouble due to being accused of assassinating a senior Chinese government official. Tony Gilroy, the screenwriter of the first film, will continue to write the screenplay for the sequel.
Due to the tremendous success of the first "Bourne Identity" (global box office of $120 million), Universal Pictures decided to produce a sequel. It seems that this CIA agent played by Matt Damon, suffering from amnesia, will have to "continue" his escape journey.
Changing Directors: Director Handover
Since the release of the first "Bourne Identity", its box office success has been undeniable. However, the sequel will no longer be directed by Doug Liman, the American new generation director who helmed the first part. The reason is that Liman will direct the new movie "Mr. & Mrs. Smith" starring Brad Pitt and Nicole Kidman.
The task of directing "The Bourne Supremacy" then fell on the shoulders of British director Paul Greengrass. He gained recognition in the film industry by winning the Golden Bear at the Berlin International Film Festival in 2002 with his film "Bloody Sunday", which reflected the conflict in Northern Ireland.
California Premiere: Technology Shines
"The Bourne Supremacy" held a grand premiere on July 15th at the ArcLight cinema in Hollywood, California. In addition to the star-studded event, it is worth mentioning that the premiere used advanced DLP Cinema projection technology. Furthermore, the charity screening of "The Bourne Supremacy" on July 7th at the Loews Boston Common cinema hosted by Matt Damon also utilized DLP Cinema technology.
DLP Cinema technology is increasingly becoming the standard for projection at premieres and important screenings of various commercial blockbusters. Previously, Universal Pictures had used this technology at the premiere of "Van Helsing" on May 3rd, and shortly before that, it was also used at the premiere of "Thunderbirds".
The clear, sharp, and stunning digital images brought by DLP Cinema technology for films, especially action films, allow audiences to fully enjoy a visual feast while marveling at the greatness and wonder of science and technology.
Movie Review:
The release of "The Bourne Supremacy" entirely depends on the success of its predecessor. "The Bourne Identity" received high praise in the United States, scoring an average of 7.2 points; in recent years, the famous Bond series films have never exceeded 7.0 points, which sufficiently demonstrates the popularity of the film. Under this background, the release of a sequel is unsurprising.
The film "The Bourne Identity", adapted from Robert Ludlum's eponymous novel, was first brought to the big screen in 2002. Its appeal mainly lies in the relatively realistic portrayal of espionage plots in the film. Actually, the combination of "secret agents" and "amnesia" is not particularly fresh. Whether it's the sci-fi genre "Total Recall" or the fashion action film "The Long Kiss Goodnight", and even Jackie Chan's "Who Am I?" familiar to Chinese audiences, all touch upon this theme.
Although "The Bourne Identity" explores deeper levels of rationality and profundity compared to similar films, it still falls short of becoming a classic. Doug Liman's conventional performance fails to showcase the characteristics of a new generation director, but the successful aspect of the film lies in its relatively realistic depiction of assassin skills. The director of the sequel, Paul Greengrass, is adept at capturing documentary styles. His breakout hit "Bloody Sunday" has long become a model studied and discussed by industry experts. Hopefully, the realistic style of the previous work will be better preserved and developed in the sequel.
Another factor why "The Bourne Identity" leaves a less lasting impression is the lack of explosive and impressive scenes in commercial blockbusters. Despite the film exuding a strong European charm (main scenes set in Paris), the car chases along the Seine River and the fights in old apartments are indeed thrilling, yet they still fail to make up for the shortcomings in scenes and effects. This seems to be what we hope to see improved in the sequel.
Looking at the cast of the sequel, it certainly deserves attention. In addition to some familiar faces from the previous part, Joan Allen, a three-time Oscar nominee actress, also joins the team. In the drama, she plays Helen, the senior official of the Central Intelligence Agency, who relentlessly pursues Bourne's identity. The clash of acting between Joan Allen and Matt Damon is highly anticipated.
There are also concerns in the sequel, besides breakthroughs in scenes and rhythm, the plot needs to be perfect. The screenplay for the sequel is still written by Tony Gilroy, the writer of the first part. If he continues at the same level, it will surely reduce the quality of the film.
Ludlum's original novels were a trilogy. Due to the success of the first part, the second part is also very much anticipated. As for whether we will have the chance to see the third part "The Bourne Ultimatum" on the big screen, that will depend on the box office rankings in the coming weeks.