Bourne:
A Hero For Our Times
I want to tell you about my man Bourne. I’m really proud of the guy. Last week he successfully completed his
trilogy, which is a lot like graduation for these film serial types. Even though his three films have the unique
titles of Identity, Supremacy, and Ultimatum, in every
film he learns a bit about more about his identity, proves his supremacy, and
delivers the same ultimatum of don’t fuck with me or else. So the titles are interchangeable. Actually, now that I think about it his
identity lies in judo chopping and roundhouse kicking as does his supremacy at
judo chopping and roundhouse kicking and he usually delivers his ultimatums
with a judo chop or a roundhouse kick employing his supremacy as the
credibility for the ultimatum. Fuck, I
love these movies. They’re like crunchy
peanut butter, some parts are nuts, some parts butter, but the butter comes
from the nuts and if you just wanted the butter you’d buy that plain shit and
if you just wanted nuts you’d go maul that Mr. Planters guy until all that was
left was a monacle.
Fuck, I love crunchy peanut butter while watching a Bourne flick.
The reason I love these films, besides their organic
quality mentioned above, is that I really feel this Bourne guy is a hero for
our times. He’s an ass-kicker, no doubt
about it, but he’s got a heart. More
importantly he takes responsibility for his actions. In the world of today we get too many wankers blaming their parents for their weaknesses, or
blaming corporations or politicians but doing nothing to make the world a
better place themselves. Bourne actually
takes time out of entertaining action sequences to do stuff like apologize,
sympathize, and enlighten. But he never
does it with a whole lot of self-righteous bullshit monologuing. He knows he’s played a main role in some bad
shit and he’s humbly ready to own up to it.
He makes house calls, and he even apologizes to you in your native
tongue and supplies the subtitles in a classic white Arial font for those of us
watching at home. And since he’s a rogue
agent none of this is at any expense to the taxpayer.
My favourite example of Bourne’s moral supremacy is in
Bourne 2: The Supremacy. After a raging car chase through
There’s also a good one in Bourne 1: The Identity where after fatally wounding an assassin,
played by Mr. Clive Owen, Bourne goes out and comforts him during his dying
moment even though Clive just tried to kill him. I don’t know if the
Now that I think of it, these movies actually employ a
lot of Christian content. Especially in
part three when we see Bourne get baptized into the CIA by two big men dunking
him under water and then his new boss christens him with his codename. Maybe the church wouldn’t like these movies
after all. But in a way that makes
Bourne more like Jesus in that he’s a rebel within the system and even though
he’s just one man the powers that be can’t stand the humiliation of Bourne just
being alive and delivering his message of accountability. Things turn out better for Bourne than Jesus,
mind you. But not by
much.
Bourne’s main quest in all three films is to figure
out his identity. But this is an
identity crisis like you’ve never seen.
Most people just try out a bunch of outfits and maybe take that
Briggs-Meyers test to figure out who they are.
Not Bourne. He has to judo-chop
and roundhouse kick his way through his own psyche and
across the world. If Bourne ever goes
into therapy to sort his problems out I would recommend that he get Jet Li as
his psychiatrist. He’s disillusioned and
guilt-ridden, but unlike Woody Allen he doesn’t have all day to mutter it out
because some assassin keeps showing up hungry for a beating and only a nice
warm bowl of supremacy will satisfy them.
On a side note, the CIA in these films refers to their
assassins as “assets”. I think the
implication being that they balance out “liabilities” like Bourne. As a professional finance type I find this really
funny. But the rest of you probably
don’t.
There’s a really good part in the first film where
Bourne is sitting in a disillusioned posture on a bench in
Aside from Matt Damon’s great acting during the
Christian scenes, my other favourite part of Bourne’s movies is where something
really small and seemingly insignificant twigs Bourne off that he’s in
danger. Little stuff like two pepper
shakers but no salt at his table and he’ll blow up the entire restaurant and
burn off his own fingerprints just to be sure he’s safe.
I don’t think I could discuss this series without
mentioning the great supporting cast.
We’ve got some great small performances from actors who’ve starred in
their own films. The likes of Mr. Clive
Owen, David Strathairn, and Paddy Considine
all appear. But once again hats off to
Joan Allen for actually playing a role with age appropriateness. I’m guessing Joan Allen has some sort of fake
ID to keep getting these kinds of roles because I don’t see any other way. When I saw Face/Off I couldn’t believe
they actually cast an actress the same age as John Travolta to play his wife,
but after these Bourne films I’m convinced that wasn’t just a fluke. Normally the role of a top brass seasoned CIA
director would go to Hillary Duff, but Joan Allen manages to swing this role in
another defiance of the system. Jolly
good show, Joan. Keeping
shaking things up.
And I guess we can’t avoid mentioning Julia
Stiles. I think even Julia Stiles’s parents must be amazed that she’s managed to be in
this many worthwhile films. When I saw
the first film I just remember every time I saw her on screen thinking “You’re
not famous anymore, you never really were.
What are you doing here? Where’s your building pass? Security!” But by the end of the third instalment they
had really endeared her character to the audience. I’m not saying I want more Julia Stiles as
far as cinema in general is concerned.
But I’ve come to see her purpose in these films and her presence doesn’t
bug me anymore. I guess she’s kinda like Michael Keaton in Jackie
Brown. I don’t really like Michael Keaton typically, and Julia Stiles’s
parents agree, but we understand how sometimes you just need a recognizable
face to give a small but important role some weight.
And of course you’ve got Lola as Mrs. Bourne. I think Lola has a really great lightly
tanned skin tone and natural warmth to her smile that I find really
appealing. The fact that she’s willing
to trust a guy who claims to remember nothing about himself and is constantly
getting attacked makes me wonder why she hadn’t been able to make any of her
previous relationships work, but an individual’s ability to compromise is a
mysterious thing.
Alright, you guys are still reading? Okay, here’s where I make a little confession
(see, more Christian themes). I wasn’t
that super sold on the first Bourne film.
I thought it was good but had a major problem with a lot of the
action. The part at the end where Bourne
surfs a fat man’s corpse down a stairwell was pretty goofy, but the main
problem is the fight scene in the middle.
In the worst scene in the series Bounre
goes to his flat to pick some stuff. One
of the CIA’s assassins chose not to just hang out and wait for Bourne in his
home because I guess he saw Pulp Fiction and didn’t want to risk dying
on the can like John Travolta did. But
this assassin guy was obviously in the area because he gets there pretty
fast. Maybe he was staking out Bourne’s
regular video rental spot.
The assassin then chooses the approach of entering the
apartment by Tarzan-style swinging in through a window in a harness. The window is opaque so the assassin cannot
be sure what’s on the other side, but will it will definitely be covered in
broken glass. Good thinking so far. He’s got an uzi but
he actually empties his clip while swinging through the window and landing on
his ass in broken glass. He then gets up
and pulls out his backup weapon, a pennyknife. Bourne beats him to the ground but he gets
up. He then keeps walking straight at
Bourne even though Bourne keeps knocking him down using the same attack combo. This happens several times. Then after realizing he’s the worst assassin
in the world tries to kill himself by whipping himself out another window
(presumably the exit window). The only
thing that would’ve been stupider is if he’d committed sepicu
with the pennyknife.
In a Jean-Claude Van Damme
film this would’ve been my favourite scene, but when you put it in with all
these scenes of good acting and an original story it just feels like an
incongruous shame. The other action
sequence in the first one is a thrilling car chase through
The director of the first one left the series to
further ensucken the genre of hitman
comedy with some Angelina Jolie/Brad Pitt
venture. Paul Greengrass
took over as director and the sequels balanced out the quality of the action
with the brilliant acting. And even
though scientists thought it was impossible, they actually had fight scenes
that weren’t choreographed by Yuen-Wo Ping. Bourne also defies modern filmmaking
convention by actually having sequels that are individually crafted films. Not one good idea for one movie padded out
and then chopped in two. I’m talking
about actual movies that are satisfying on their own and have plot structure.
These films are pretty extraordinary and I really feel
Bourne is a Christian hero for our times.
I respect the supremacy of his identity and will accept his ultimatum
and you should, too. I think if Bourne
can apologize for shit he barely even remembers, then we can all be little more
accountable.
If you liked
this, here are some other recommended articles:
My essay
analyzing this revolutionary film series.
Let’s reminisce
about Tony Scott’s greatest film, shall we?
I’m going to talk to you about one of my favorite films of all
time.