11 Comments

TWENTY YEARS???? FML.

With the impact this film had on modern action movies it's easy to forget why it was impactful until you go watch it again and you get smacked in the face that this is a bloody brilliant film. The casting of Matt Damon was an underrated bit of genius; he was not an obvious action hero, so the average dude aspect of Bourne as sleeper was convincing, but then he was dynamite as killer Bourne - the movie worked in large part because the transition from sleeper to killer by Damon was so convincing.

BUT all the action, car chases and fight sequences aside, this movie is brilliant because the story is so good - THAT'S what subsequent action films either forget or overlook in their haste to ape Bourne. At its heart it's a heart breaking mystery story - the splosions and blood are just window dressing to the story.

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Jun 29, 2022·edited Jun 29, 2022

Wow! 20 years - I cannot believe it. This is one of my all time fav movies. I remember watching it for the first time, much younger and full of hope for the future than I am now. I was an intense martial arts practitioner at the time and what I liked most about the movie was the quiet and unassuming efficiency of Bourne as a fighter. He always looked innocent and mundane until he exploded into action - very brief, very efficient. And Matt Damon was so young!

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Bourne has always been Rhino Approved.

Note: everything is 20 years ago now. I hate it.

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Bourne is so good even ms insomniac will watch it again. That doesn’t happen often.

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Regarding being the best: amazing what a low budget and no weight of expectation can do. Makes you wish that the movie industry would kick it's series/sequel habit.

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I remember reading an article once a long time ago that i wish i could dredge up from the internet - the main bit that stuck with me and ruined movies forever was that US movies and therefore pretty much any movie will have a version of the car chase in them, almost without exclusion (talky independent movies dont count). It set up permanent residence in my head and is using up brain cells to be reinforced every time i watch something. I could be dedicating that space to something more useful! But i digress, yes Bourne was great and 20 makes me feel old as well.

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