| The Bourne Identity | |
|---|---|
 International theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Doug Liman |
| Screenplay by | |
| Based on | The Bourne Identity byRobert Ludlum |
| Produced by |
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| Starring | |
| Cinematography | Oliver Wood |
| Edited by | Saar Klein |
| Music by | John Powell |
Production companies |
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| Distributed by |
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Release dates |
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Running time | 119 minutes[4] |
| Country | United States[3] |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $60 million |
| Box office | $214 million |
The Bourne Identity is a 2002 Americanaction-thriller film directed byDoug Liman and written byTony Gilroy andWilliam Blake Herron. Based onRobert Ludlum's1980 novel of the same name, it is the first installment in theBourne franchise, and the film starsMatt Damon,Franka Potente,Chris Cooper,Clive Owen,Brian Cox, andAdewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje. In the film,Jason Bourne (Damon) suffers frompsychogenic amnesia and is forced to fight to unlock his identity and his mysterious connection to theCIA.
Attempts to develop a feature film adaptation of Ludlum's novel first began in 1981 but stalled after being passed to different distributors, withWarner Bros. producing atelevision film adaptation in 1988. Liman revived the feature film project in 1996 and worked with Ludlum andDavid Self on its screenplay after Gilroy initially declined: Gilroy made several changes to the script upon joining, with additional contributions from Herron. After Damon and Potente were cast,principal photography began in October 2000 and lasted until February 2001, with filming taking place inParis,Prague,Imperia,Rome,Mykonos, andZürich. Production was troubled: the creators frequently clashed with studio executives over delays, costs, last-minute changes, and unexpected reshoots.
Originally set for release in September 2001, it was theatrically released in the United States on June 14, 2002, byUniversal Pictures. The film received positive reviews from critics, with praise for the direction, Damon's performance, action sequences, and characters: it is considered one of the most influential action films of all time.[5] It grossed $214 million worldwide and was followed by the sequelsThe Bourne Supremacy (2004),The Bourne Ultimatum (2007), andJason Bourne (2016) apart fromThe Bourne Legacy (2012).
In theMediterranean Sea, Italian fishermen rescue an American man adrift with two gunshot wounds in his back. Tending to his wounds, they find he has amnesia but shows advanced combat skills and fluency in several languages. A tinylaser projector found implanted in his hip gives the number of asafe deposit box inZurich, so he goes to investigate.
In the deposit box he finds various currencies, passports, IDs with different names, and a handgun. The man takes everything but the gun and starts using the name on the American passport,Jason Bourne. After Bourne's departure, a bank employee contacts Operation Treadstone, a CIAblack ops program. Its head, Alexander Conklin, issues alerts to police to capture Bourne and assigns three agents – codenamed Castel, Manheim, and the Professor – to kill him.
CIA Deputy Director Ward Abbott contacts Conklin about a failed assassination attempt against exiled African dictator Wombosi, who promises to deal with the agent who failed. Bourne evades the Swiss police by using his U.S. passport to enter the American consulate but is pursued byMarine guards.
Bourne escapes after offering $20,000 to Marie Kreutz, a 26-year-old German he saw at the consulate, to drive him to an address in Paris. From the apartment, Bourne uses the phone to contact a hotel to inquire about the names on his passports. A "John Michael Kane" was registered but died two weeks before in a car crash. Castel ambushes Bourne and Marie in the apartment, but Bourne gets the upper hand. Instead of allowing himself to be interrogated, Castel throws himself from a window to his death.
While searching through Castel's belongings, Marie finds wanted posters of Bourne and herself and so agrees to help him. After they evade the police in Marie's car, they spend the night in a Paris hotel.
Meanwhile, Wombosi obsesses over the attempt on his life. Conklin, having anticipated this, has planted a body identified as John Michael Kane in a Paris morgue to appear to be the assailant. Wombosi is unconvinced and threatens to report the CIA's actions to the media. The Professor then assassinates Wombosi on Conklin's orders.
Bourne, posing as Kane, learns about the failed assassination attempt on Wombosi's yacht, and that the assassin was shot twice in the back during the escape, ultimately realizing that he was responsible for the attempt. He and Marie take refuge in the French countryside home of Marie's half-brother Eamon and his children.
Under pressure from Abbott to handle the matter, Conklin tracks Bourne's location and sends the Professor to kill him. Bourne mortally wounds the Professor, who reveals their shared connection to Treadstone before dying. Bourne sends Marie, Eamon, and the children away for their protection. He then contacts Conklin via the Professor's phone, and they agree to meet alone in Paris.
When Bourne sees that Conklin is not alone, he abandons their meeting but places a tracking device on his car, leading Bourne to the Treadstone safe house in Paris. He breaks in and holds Conklin and logistics technician Nicky Parsons at gunpoint. Conklin reveals his association with Treadstone and presses him to remember his past. Bourne recalls his attempt to assassinate Wombosi through successive flashbacks.
Under orders from Treadstone, Bourne had infiltrated Wombosi's yacht and got close enough to assassinate him and make it appear as if he had been murdered by a member of his own entourage. However, Bourne could not kill Wombosi while his children were present, and believing he would have to kill the children too, he instead fled, being shot during his escape and losing his memory.
Bourne announces he is resigning from Treadstone and warns Conklin not to follow him. As agents descend on the safe house, he fights his way out. As Conklin leaves, he is killed by Manheim under Abbott's orders. Abbott later shuts down Treadstone using Conklin's right hand Danny Zorn. Both of them report to an oversight committee that Treadstone is a "decommissioned" former program of theoretical game-scenario exercises before diverting the discussion to a new project codenamed "Blackbriar".
Some time later, Bourne finds Marie renting out scooters to tourists onMykonos, and they reunite.
In addition,Julia Stiles appears as Nicolette (Nicky Parsons), in a role that would be elevated to main cast billing in three later films of theBourne franchise. Other actors in the film includeOrso Maria Guerrini as Giancarlo,Tim Dutton as Eamonn,Denis Braccini as Picot, Nicky Naudé as Castel, Russell Levy as Manheim, andVincent Franklin as Rawlins.[3]
Attempts to develop a film adaptation ofThe Bourne Identity began in 1981, when film producer Anthony Lazzarino and Ludlum's literary agent Henry Morrison's company Windwood/Glen Productions purchased the film rights to the novel shortly after its publication. Morrison left the company shortly afterwards, and Lazzarino optioned the film toOrion Pictures in exchange for a 3.75 percent interest and a presentation credit. This option was eventually acquired byWarner Bros. Pictures, which intended to make a film adaptation directed byJack Clayton and starringBurt Reynolds.[6] However, the film did not move forward because Reynolds was uninterested. Warner Bros. produced atelevision adaptation of the novel forABC in 1988, but otherwise did nothing with its option and allowed the rights to revert to the Ludlum estate in 1999.[7][8]
Director Doug Liman had been a fan of the source novel by Robert Ludlum since he read it in high school. Near the end of production of Liman's previous filmSwingers in 1996, Liman decided to develop a film adaptation of the novel. However, he could not initially move forward with the project because Warner Bros. still owned the film rights.[9] After more than two years of securing rights to the book and a further year of screenplay development with screenwriter Tony Gilroy, the film went through two years of production.[10]Universal Pictures acquired the film rights to Ludlum's books in the hopes of starting a new film franchise, and because studio CEOStacey Snider later admitted to being "intrigued by the pairing of an independent-minded filmmaker with a familiar studio genre."[11] Ludlum approved of the adaptation after befriending Liman, who repeatedly visited the author's home inGlacier National Park,Montana, to consult him.[9]
David Self was brought in to write the screenplay in 1999 after Gilroy initially declined the offer. His screenplay was more faithful to the original novel.[12] Unlike Liman, Gilroy disliked Ludlum's novels and considered them poorly suited to a film adaptation, calling Self's original script "a huge fifteen-gunmen-on-the-Metro-blowing-the-fuck-out-of-everything kind of movie." However, Gilroy agreed to write a new screenplay for the film after Liman took his advice to abandon everything from the original novel except for the basic plot involving "a guy who finds the only thing he knows how to do is kill people." Gilroy subsequently rewrote almost the entire film, althoughWilliam Blake Herron was later brought in to rewrite Gilroy's script to have more action. Most of Herron's rewrites were abandoned after Matt Damon threatened to quit the role of Bourne if they were included in support of Liman and Gilroy, but Herron still received a writer's credit after the opening scene he composed for the film was included.[9][13]
Gilroy's new script rewrote the Treadstone program and its director Alexander Conklin into the film's primary antagonists; in the novel both they and Bourne had been pursuing the terrorist "Carlos the Jackal" and Treadstone had only tried to assassinate Bourne because they believed he had deliberately gone rogue from his mission after his amnesia. "Carlos the Jackal" could not appear as an antagonist in the film at all because in real life he had been captured and imprisoned by the French government in 1994.[13] The film's portrayal of Treadstone was inspired by Liman's fatherArthur L. Liman's memoirs regarding his involvement as chief counsel for theUnited States Senate investigation of theIran–Contra affair. Many aspects of the Alexander Conklin character were based on his father's recollections ofOliver North. Gilroy also abandoned the novel's original backstory for Bourne as a formerForeign Service officer recruited to theUnited States Army Special Forces during theVietnam War after his family had been killed in thesecret bombing of Cambodia and posing as an assassin named "Cain" to lure "Carlos" out of hiding.[13] Liman admitted that he jettisoned much of the content of the novel beyond the central premise, in order to modernize the material and to conform it to his own beliefs regardingUnited States foreign policy. However, Liman was careful not to cram his political views down "the audience's throat".
There were initial concerns regarding the film's possible obsolescence and overall reception in the aftermath of theSeptember 11 attacks.[10] As a result, producer Frank Marshall reshot a new ending in which Ward Abbott offers to recruit Bourne back to the CIA and abandons the agency's pursuit of him even after he declines. The ending was not included in the theatrical cut because it was deemed too different from the rest of the film.[9][13]
Liman approached a wide range of actors for the role of Bourne, includingBrad Pitt,[11] who turned it down to star inSpy Game,[14] as well asRussell Crowe,Arnold Schwarzenegger,Tom Cruise andSylvester Stallone, before he eventually cast Damon. Liman found that Damon understood and appreciated that, thoughThe Bourne Identity would have its share of action, the focus was primarily on character and plot.[15] Damon, who had never played such a physically demanding role, insisted on performing many of the stunts himself. With stunt choreographer Nick Powell, he underwent three months of extensive training in stunt work, the use of weapons,boxing, and the Filipino martial arteskrima. He eventually performed a significant number of the film's stunts himself, including hand-to-hand combat and climbing the safe house walls near the film's conclusion.[16]
Liman initially intended to castSarah Polley in the role of Marie, but she declined. AfterFranka Potente was cast instead, the role was rewritten from a Canadian economist to a German drifter.[13]
Filming began in October 2000.[17][18] From the onset of filming, difficulties with the studio slowed the film's development and caused a rift between Liman, Gilroy, and Universal Pictures. The first problems started after Liman and Damon demanded the abandonment of Herron's re-written script shortly before production started despite the fact that extensive preparations had already been made to film it.[9] Liman also insisted on shooting the film on location in Paris rather than the cheaper option ofMontreal, despite the fact that this meant the film's French-speaking crew was unable to understand the English-speaking cast and director.[13] Executives were unhappy with the film's pacing, emphasis on small-scale action sequences, and the general relationship between themselves and Liman, who was suspicious of direct studio involvement.[19] The film's original producerRichard N. Gladstein also quit the film at the beginning of production due to his wife's pregnancy, resulting in delays until he was replaced byFrank Marshall.[citation needed]
Liman demanded a number of reshoots and rewrites late in development and throughout production, sometimes in the middle of a shoot.[9][13] This resulted in scheduling problems which delayed the film from its original release target date of September 2001 to June 2002 and took it $8,000,000 over budget from the initial budget of $60 million; Gilroy faxed elements of screenplay rewrites almost throughout the entire duration of filming.[19] Particular points of contention with regard to the original Gilroy script were the scenes set in the farmhouse near the film's conclusion. Liman and Matt Damon fought to keep the scenes in the film after they were excised in a third-act rewrite that was insisted upon by the studio. Liman and Damon argued that, though the scenes were low key, they were integral to the audience's understanding of the Bourne character and the film's central themes. The farmhouse sequence consequently went through many rewrites from its original incarnation before its inclusion in the final product.[19] Although Marshall ultimately sided with Liman to get the farmhouse sequence filmed, they got into an intense fight on set after Liman abruptly insisted on another reshoot to record a shot he had forgotten to include.[9]
Other issues included poor test audience reactions to the film's Paris finale. The latter required a late return to location in order to shoot a new, more action-oriented conclusion to the Paris story arc involving a large explosion.[13][20] This ending was also cut after the studio and Marshall decided that the film could not include an explosion after 9/11.[13] In addition to Paris, filming took place in Prague,Imperia,Rome,Mykonos, andZürich; several scenes set in Zürich were also filmed in Prague.[10] Damon described the production as a struggle, citing the early conflicts that he and Liman had with the studio, but denied that it was an overtly difficult process, stating, "When I hear people saying that the production was a nightmare it's like, a 'nightmare'? Shooting's always hard, but we finished."[21]
Liman's directorial method was often hands-on. Many times he operated the camera himself in order to create what he believed was a more intimate relationship between himself, the material, and the actors. He felt that this connection was lost if he simply observed the recording on a monitor. This was a mindset he developed from his background as a small-scale indie film maker.[16]
The acclaimed car chase sequence was filmed primarily by thesecond unit underdirectorAlexander Witt. The unit shot in various locations around Paris while Liman was filming the main story arc elsewhere in the city. The finished footage was eventually edited together to create the illusion of a coherent journey. Liman confessed that "anyone who really knows Paris will find it illogical", since few of the locations used in the car chase actually connect to each other.[20] Liman took only a few of the shots himself; his most notable chase sequence shots were those of Matt Damon and Franka Potente while inside the car.[10]
The consulate scenes were filmed in 2001 with real U.S.Marine Security Guards playing the roles of consulate guards.[22]
On thereview aggregator websiteRotten Tomatoes, 84% of 193 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 7.0/10. The website's consensus reads: "Expertly blending genre formula with bursts of unexpected wit,The Bourne Identity is an action thriller that delivers – and then some."[23]Metacritic, which uses aweighted average, assigned the film a score of 68 out of 100, based on 38 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.[24] Audiences polled byCinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A−" on an A+ to F scale.[25]
Roger Ebert of theChicago Sun-Times gave the film three out of four stars and praised it for its ability to absorb the viewer in its "spycraft" and "Damon's ability to be focused and sincere" concluding that the film was "unnecessary, but not unskilled".[26] A review byFilm Freak Central, of the 2003 DVD release, praised the film for its pacing and action sequences, noting its "subversion of the conventions of the thriller genre".[27] Charles Taylor ofSalon.com acclaimed the film as "entertaining, handsome and gripping... 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", without sliding into "cynicism or hopelessness".[28]
Ed Gonzalez ofSlant Magazine also noted Doug Liman's "restrained approach to the material" as well as Matt Damon and Franka Potente's strong chemistry, but ultimately concluded the film was "smart, but not smart enough".[29] J. Hoberman ofThe Village Voice dismissed the film as "banal" and as a disappointment compared against Liman's previous indie releases;[30] Owen Gleiberman also criticised the film for a "sullen roteness that all of Liman's supple handheld staging can't disguise".[31]Aaron Beierle ofDVDTalk gave particular praise to the film's central car chase which was described as an exciting action highlight and one of the best realized in the genre.[32][33]
The Bourne Identity has been described by some authors as aneo-noir film.[34]
In 2025, it was one of the films voted for the "Readers' Choice" edition ofThe New York Times' list of "The 100 Best Movies of the 21st Century," finishing at number 237.[35]
The Bourne Identity grossed $121.7 million domestically (United States and Canada) and $92.4 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $214 million, against a budget of $60 million.[36] Going into general release on June 14, 2002, it opened at No. 2 and spent its first five weeks in the Top 10 at the domestic box office.[37]
| Year | Organization | Award | Category/Recipient | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2003 | ASCAP Film and Television Music Awards | ASCAP Award | Top Box Office Films – John Powell | Won |
| Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films, USA | Saturn Award | Best Action/Adventure/Thriller Film | Nominated | |
| American Choreography Awards | American Choreography Award | Outstanding Achievement in Fight Choreography – Nick Powell | Won | |
| Art Directors Guild | Excellence in Production Design Award | Feature Film – Contemporary Films | Nominated | |
| Motion Picture Sound Editors, USA | Golden Reel Award | Best Sound Editing in Domestic Features – Dialogue & ADR; Sound Effects & Foley | Nominated | |
| World Stunt Awards | Taurus Award | Best Work With a Vehicle | Won |
On January 21, 2003, Universal Pictures releasedThe Bourne Identity in the U.S. onVHS as well as on a "Collector's Edition"DVD in two formats: widescreen and full screen. It surpassedHarry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone to have the highest DVD rentals, making $22.7 million.[38] The film would hold this record for seven months until it was taken byThe Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers in August of the same year.[39] This DVD release contains supplemental materials including a making-of documentary, a commentary from director Doug Liman and deleted scenes. On July 13, 2004, Universal released a new "extended edition" DVD of the film in the U.S. in preparation for the sequel's cinema debut.[40] This DVD came in the same two formats as the 2003 edition. The supplemental materials for this version include interviews with Matt Damon, deleted scenes, alternative opening and ending, a documentary on the consulate fight and information features on the CIA and amnesia. The alternate ending on the DVD has Bourne collapsing during the search for Marie, waking up with Abbott standing over him, and getting an offer to return to the CIA. Neither contain the commentary orDTS tracks present in the 2003 edition. The film was also released onUMD forSony'sPlayStation Portable on August 30, 2005, and onHD DVD on July 24, 2007. With the release ofThe Bourne Ultimatum on DVD, a reprint of the 2004 version was included in a boxed set withSupremacy andUltimatum, entitledThe Jason Bourne Collection. A trilogy set was released onBlu-ray in January 2009.[41]
It was the top DVDvideo rental in the United States during the first quarter of 2003, earning$36,400,000 (equivalent to $62,000,000 in 2024) in US DVD rental revenue by March 2003.[42]
The score forThe Bourne Identity was composed byJohn Powell, conducted by Pete Anthony and performed by theHollywood Studio Symphony. Powell was brought in to replaceCarter Burwell, who had composed and recorded a more traditional orchestral score for the film, which director Doug Liman rejected. Since a lot of the music budget had been spent recording the rejected score, Powell's score was initially conceived to be entirely non-orchestral, making extensive use of percussion, guitars, electronics and studio techniques. However, a string section was later overdubbed onto many of the cues to give them a 'cinematic' quality.[43]
The Bourne Identity: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack was released on June 11, 2002, byVarèse Sarabande. In addition to the score, the film also featured the songs "Extreme Ways" byMoby and "Ready Steady Go" byPaul Oakenfold. The soundtrack won anASCAP Award.[44]
The Bourne Identity was followed by a 2004sequel,The Bourne Supremacy, which received a similar positive critical and public reception,[45] but received some criticism for its hand-held camerawork, which observers argued made action sequences difficult to see.[46]The Bourne Supremacy was directed byPaul Greengrass with Matt Damon reprising his role as Jason Bourne. A third film,The Bourne Ultimatum, was released in 2007 and again was directed by Paul Greengrass and starred Matt Damon. LikeSupremacy,Ultimatum received generally positive critical and public reception, but also received similar criticism for the camera-work.[47] Liman remained asexecutive producer for both films as well as for the fifth filmJason Bourne, once again directed by Greengrass and released in 2016.
The fourth film of theBourne franchise,The Bourne Legacy was released in 2012. Neither Damon nor Greengrass was involved.[48][49]
Damon andPaul Greengrass returned in 2016 for the fifth installment of the seriesJason Bourne, directed by Greengrass and written by Greengrass andChristopher Rouse. It is the final film in theBourne film series and a directsequel toThe Bourne Ultimatum (2007).
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