The Bourne Identity (2002 movie)

The Bourne Identity is an action-thriller movie released in 2002. It is based on the novel by Robert Ludlum, The Bourne Identity, which was published in 1980. The movie is directed by Doug Liman. It stars Matt Damon as the main character, Jason Bourne.

In the movie, as Jason Bourne recovers from his gunshot wound, he find that he lost his memory. As he recovered his memory, he learns he was involved with an international spy agency. The movie is set in Europe, in places such as Prague, Paris, and Italy. It shows thrilling gunfights, car chases, and action scenes. After release, the box-office profit was successful. Two sequels, The Bourne Supremacy and The Bourne Ultimatum were released in 2004 and 2007.

Plot

An unidentified man is rescued from the sea by fishermen. But because of amnesia, he cannot remember who he is. He cannot remember why he was drowning in the sea, how the gunshot wound on his back was made, how he can speak many languages or how he has martial arts skills. He only knows the number to his Swiss bank safe which was hidden in his skin.

In the safe, he finds a huge amount of cash, and passports for each country. He saw the name "Jason Bourne" on his U.S. passport and he believes that is his name. After he has some trouble at the U.S. embassy in Zurich, he moves to Paris with the help of a woman named Marie Kreutz. Wherever he moves, the police and assassins chase him and Marie. In continuous chasing between Bourne and the killers, he notices that some unknown big power threatens his existence. To find his identity and the reason why they are trying to kill him, Bourne gradually gains access to the unknown agency.

Cast

• Matt Damon as Jason Bourne
• Franka Potente as Marie Kreutz
• Chris Cooper as Alexander Conklin
• Clive Owen as The Professor
• Brian Cox as Ward Abbott
• Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje as Nykwana Wombosi
• Gabriel Mann as Danny Zorn
• Walton Goggins as Research tech
• Josh Hamilton as Research tech

Release Dates

Country	Premiere
United States	14 June 2002
Australia	22 August 2002
Taiwan	23 August 2002
Philippines	4 September 2002
United Kingdom	6 September 2002
Ireland	6 September 2002
Lebanon	12 September 2002
Singapore	12 September 2002
Denmark	13 September 2002
Norway	13 September 2002
New Zealand	16 September 2002
Hong Kong	19 September 2002
Malaysia	19 September 2002
Iceland	20 September 2002
Turkey	20 September 2002
Belgium	25 September 2002
Egypt	25 September 2002
France	25 September 2002
Indonesia	25 September 2002
Venezuela	25 September 2002
Austria	26 September 2002
Switzerland	26 September 2002 (German speaking region)
Germany	26 September 2002
Poland	27 September 2002
Argentina	3 October 2002
Chile	3 October 2002
Colombia	3 October 2002
Cyprus	4 October 2002
Estonia	4 October 2002
India	4 October 2002
Kazakhstan	4 October 2002
Thailand	4 October 2002
Ukraine	4 October 2002
Peru	10 October 2002
Russia	10 October 2002
Slovenia	10 October 2002
Brazil	11 October 2002
Finland	11 October 2002
Kenya	11 October 2002
Portugal	11 October 2002
Czech Republic	17 October 2002
Hungary	17 October 2002
Israel	17 October 2002
Netherlands	17 October 2002
South Korea	18 October 2002
Mexico	18 October 2002
Sweden	18 October 2002
Kuwait	22 October 2002
Bulgaria	25 October 2002
South Africa	25 October 2002
Croatia	7 November 2002
Spain	8 November 2002
Italy	15 November 2002
Uruguay	15 November 2002
China	21 November 2002
Greece	22 November 2002
Romania	22 November 2002
Lithuania	10 January 2003
Japan	25 January 2003

Critics

After the movie was released in the U.S., the movie got generally good reviews from several critics, especially for the acting of Matt Damon and the direction of Doug Liman. Peter Howell of the Toronto Star said, "An entertaining thriller that eschews most of the usual spy gimmicks in favour of old-fashioned sleuthing." Eric Harrison of the Houston Chronicle praised the direction of Liman: "The Bourne Identity shouldn't be half as entertaining as it is, but director Doug Liman and his colleagues have managed to pack it with enough action to satisfy the boom-bam crowd without a huge sacrifice of character and mood." Matt Damon also got praise from Stephen Hunter of the Washington Post: "Great fights. You wouldn't think of Damon as a tough guy, but he's worked really hard on the physical stuff here and it shows."

Other websites

• Official website Archived 2020-09-21 at the Wayback Machine
• The Bourne Identity on IMDb