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Bourne Identity, The
MCA/Universal Pictures

Bourne Identity, The reviews
Critic Score
Metascore: 68 Metascore out of 100
User Score  
8.0 out of 10
based on 38 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
based on 84 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie

MPAA RATING: PG-13 for violence and some language

Starring Matt Damon, Franka Potente, Clive Owen, Chris Cooper, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, Julia Stiles, and Brian Cox

Robert Ludlum's international thriller gets an edgy 21st century spin from director Doug Liman.


GENRE(S): Suspense/Thriller  
WRITTEN BY: Tony Gilroy
W. Blake Herron
Robert Ludlum (novel)
 
DIRECTED BY: Doug Liman  
RELEASE DATE: DVD: January 21, 2003 
Video: January 21, 2003 
Theatrical: June 14, 2002 
RUNNING TIME: 113 minutes, Color 
ORIGIN: Czech Republic / USA 

What The Critics Said

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

90
Variety Todd McCarthy
A first-rate thriller with grit and intrigue to spare.
Read Full Review
88
Charlotte Observer Lawrence Toppman
One of those rare thrillers where the cops aren't fools, villains don't turn stupid at crucial moments, and career assassins seldom miss targets.
Read Full Review
88
USA Today Mike Clark
Blisteringly fast, Bourne also has a strong or striking supporting actor around every corner: Chris Cooper, Brian Cox, Julia Stiles and Clive Owen in roles that range from meaty to amazingly small.
Read Full Review
83
Seattle Post-Intelligencer William Arnold
Somehow the movie works like a clock. Its scenes and sensibility are all more than familiar, but it exudes a kind of nostalgic spy-movie charm and, at the same time, is so fresh and free of the usual thriller nonsense that it all seems to be happening for the first time.
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80
Slate David Edelstein
The movie is a generic paranoid espionage fantasy, but its proportions are refreshingly correct. It moves quickly, adroitly, and without fuss.
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80
Los Angeles Times Kenneth Turan
This is an entertainment that really entertains because any number of interesting and unexpected choices were made, starting with the selection of Doug Liman as the director.
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80
Salon.com Charles Taylor
Entertaining, handsome and gripping, The Bourne Identity is something of an anomaly among big-budget summer blockbusters: a thriller with some brains and feeling behind it, more attuned to story and character than to spectacle.
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80
Wall Street Journal Joe Morgenstern
The outcome is distinctive and entertaining. There's no way you'd mistake this for James Bond, and no reason you would want to.
80
New Times (L.A.) Robert Wilonsky
Not only an exceptional thriller, but a transcendent summer movie: It assumes, for two hours, you've brain and heart enough to stick with a film that doesn't condescend, doesn't beat you up and doesn't dumb you to death.
80
Newsweek David Ansen
It’s as formulaic as "The Sum of All Fears," but it feels fresher, hipper, less inflated.
80
The New York Times Dana Stevens
The Bourne Identity, like its hero, triumphs through sheer unreflective professionalism. It is, by today's standards, a modest thriller, with a self-contained storyline and with very few big special effects.
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80
Chicago Reader Hank Sartin
The full-throttle approach of director Doug Liman (Swingers, Go) is impressive.
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80
Washington Post Desson Thomson
There isn't a dull or dumb moment in this movie.
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80
Time Richard Schickel
The result is an escapist fantasy that is -- Damon's and Potente's persuasive performances aside -- as weightless and inconsequential as a musical. And at the moment every bit as welcome.
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78
Austin Chronicle Marc Savlov
Like its protagonist, it never hands you explanations on a silver platter, and it makes you think a bit, something far too few thrillers do these days.
Read Full Review
75
Philadelphia Inquirer Steven Rea
Damon, starring in his first full-fledged action pic, brings a determined bearing and believability to the proceedings.
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75
ReelViews James Berardinelli
Nicely paced and fits the bill for those in search of two hours of spy-based action and martial arts. The movie has credibility issues, but none are insurmountable in the name of entertainment.
Read Full Review
75
Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert
A skillful action movie about a plot that exists only to support a skillful action movie. The entire story is a set-up for the martial arts and chases. Because they are done well, because the movie is well-crafted and acted, we give it a pass. Too bad it's not about something.
Read Full Review
75
Baltimore Sun Michael Sragow
The Bourne Identity keeps you in a state of nervous excitation from the opening shot to the fade-out and has a thread of deadpan humor that vibrates alongside the main action like a third rail quivering next to a hurtling train.
75
New York Daily News Jami Bernard
Thrillers have become so gnawingly generic that The Bourne Identity wakes the senses without leaning on cliché and soundtrack.
75
San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle
The result is not only entertaining but also refreshing, a shameless crowd-pleaser with a healthy cynicism about itself.
Read Full Review
75
Chicago Tribune Mark Caro
Liman packs enough firepower into The Bourne Identity to please the summer action fan, including a reshot climax that contains one of the niftier stunts I've seen recently. The centerpiece action sequence is a bravura car chase through Paris, yet the moments that bookend it are equally impressive.
Read Full Review
70
LA Weekly Ella Taylor
Though it's clearly meant to be character-driven, the movie is thrown out of whack by a total lack of chemistry between the leads, and some great acting (Clive Owen, Chris Cooper, Brian Cox) on the side.
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70
Rolling Stone Peter Travers
Director Doug Liman -- the hip skipper of "Swingers" and "Go" -- makes all the familiar dirty business seem fun and almost human. In these dog days, Bourne earns what passes as high praise: It doesn't suck.
Read Full Review
63
New York Post Jonathan Foreman
A lean, deftly shot, well-acted, weirdly retro thriller that recalls a raft of '60s and '70s European-set spy pictures. There are even moments when you hope it could turn into a modern "Charade."
Read Full Review
63
The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Liam Lacey
The problems with Damon's character are the problem with the movie: It's about plot mechanics, not heart and soul.
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60
Washington Post Stephen Hunter
As for Damon, this may not be a performance so much as an appearance. But he cares so utterly, it works.
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60
TV Guide Ken Fox
This savvy adaptation of Robert Ludlum's action-clogged 1980 bestseller benefits from the fact that the filmmakers were smart enough to throw out most of the book's preposterous spills and thrills and concentrate instead on its intriguing central character.
Read Full Review
60
The Onion (A.V. Club) Scott Tobias
May be a bloodless piece of thriller craftsmanship, but at a time when craft has become negligible, its efficiency and whipcrack timing are increasingly uncommon virtues.
Read Full Review
60
Film Threat Michael Dequina
Makes one interested in seeing the inevitable sequel, but one is also left to somewhat question the worth of sitting through this first installment.
Read Full Review
58
Portland Oregonian Shawn Levy
Isn't a bad movie so much as one that feels like an amateur version of material from more accomplished works -- a movie that not only isn't sure what it really is but doesn't seem terribly much to care.
58
Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman
It has a few whispers of intrigue, but at the heart of The Bourne Identity lies a dispiriting paradox: The more that Jason Bourne learns about himself, the less arresting he seems.
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50
Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt
Films borrow tricks from pictures made years ago -- try to watch Bourne without thinking of "The Manchurian Candidate."
Read Full Review
50
The New Yorker David Denby
Damon may be too young, too unformed, to play an amnesiac. Gazing at that blank face, we can't imagine that Bourne has any experiences or memories to forget. [17 & 24 June 2002, p. 176]
50
Miami Herald Rene Rodriguez
Next time Damon will have to find a worthier vehicle. As the intended start of a franchise, The Bourne Identity is a bit of a bust.
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50
New York Magazine Peter Rainer
All this is diverting but also borderline dull.
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40
Village Voice J. Hoberman
Banal big-budget adaptation of Robert Ludlum's 1980 espionage thriller.
Read Full Review
38
Boston Globe Renee Graham
The best audiences can hope for is that they, too, get amnesia and forget they ever saw this movie.
Read Full Review

What Our Users Said

Vote Now!The average user rating for this movie is 8.0 (out of 10) based on 84 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Riren gave it an8:
As far as action movies go, The Bourne Identity has a charm like few others. Its world is simply more real. The people look closer to average, vehicles are worn down, and the clothing isn't gawdy or fashionable. Another movie would have slick cars and immaculately groomed cast members who would be CG'd through their fight scenes. Here, so much of what you see feels genuine that it's easier to fall into, and easier to like the characters, for what they are. Damon in fits particularly well into the role of amnesiac assassin Jason Bourne. Once the action kicks in it doesn't try to reach the bar that The Matrix or X-Men set, but rather follows a more realistic, but still entertaining kind of action. And because it's unafraid to be what it is, it's its own kind of cool. If you have this is one hand and another action flick in the other, do yourself a favor and pick this.

Fred B. gave it a9:
I loved this movie. It had lots of action and suspense. I think Matt Damon did a great job bringing Jason Bourne to life. I can't wait till the third one.

Dan C. gave it a9:
An incredibly satisfying thriller because it's so smartly done - all the usual action movie cliches are absent, and thank goodness. Damon is very good. Franka Potente is outstanding. One of my favorites of recent years. It deserves more credit for its intelligence and sheer entertainment value.

craig a. gave it a10:
Gahhh! Can't resist! MUST... WATCH... AGAIN...

[Anonymous] gave it an8:
I was expecting a plethora of Matrix-esque fight scenes, but I guess they wanted something more realistic. Action is realistic, meaning there's not as much of it and it's less cool looking, but it fits the film better. The suspense and issues of identity are nice too. Not the best, but good if you want a more realistic action thriller.

Erwin K. gave it a4:
Supremely overrated.

Amanda P. gave it a 10:
I really enjoyed this movie. i think Jason Bourne (Matt Damon) is stunnin'.

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