The Bourne Identity 2002

Glenn Lovell, San Jose Mercury News: I've seen the best cloak-and-danger exercises, including The Spy Who Came in From the Cold and the original Day of the Jackal, and in terms of story and cold-sweat suspense, I'd rank this one right up there. Read more

Renee Graham, Boston Globe: For all its shoot-outs, fistfights, and car chases, this movie is a phlegmatic bore, so tedious it makes the silly spy vs. spy film The Sum of All Fears, starring Ben Affleck, seem downright Hitchcockian. Read more

Terry Lawson, Detroit Free Press: If The Bourne Identity is an example of indie-movie rogue agents gone amok, then mainstream Hollywood should definitely recruit a few more. Read more

Rene Rodriguez, Miami Herald: As the intended start of a franchise, The Bourne Identity is a bit of a bust. Read more

Richard Roeper, Ebert & Roeper: Really well done. Read more

Mark Caro, Chicago Tribune: The Bourne Identity is no mere summer amusement park ride. It's as gray as Go was colorful and a cool contrast to its source material. Read more

A.O. Scott, New York Times: Free from the encumbrances of history and of Ludlum's cloddish prose, The Bourne Identity, like its hero, triumphs through sheer unreflective professionalism. Read more

John Anderson, Newsday: It wouldn't be measurable in g-forces, but there is enough forward motion in The Bourne Identity to pin audiences backwards and enough nervous tension to put them on the edge. Read more

Moira MacDonald, Seattle Times: Bourne aspires only to be a fun popcorn movie -- and, for the most part, it is. Read more

Eleanor Ringel Gillespie, Atlanta Journal-Constitution: The film's greatest asset is how much it's not just another connect-the-dots, spy-on-the-run picture. Read more

Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times: Laced with great shock moments, Bourne moves along smartly on its own steam, drawing us confidently into its orbit. Read more

Eric Harrison, Houston Chronicle: 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. Read more

Paul Clinton (CNN.com), CNN.com: The Bourne Identity, starring Matt Damon, is a blast from the past dressed up as current-day fare. But this retro thriller still packs a powerful punch. Read more

Steven Rosen, Denver Post: Overall, Liman has done a good job of making this old Cold War thriller seem born again. Read more

Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly: Plays like John Le Carre with a couple of burnt-out cylinders. Read more

Liam Lacey, Globe and Mail: Liman adds some brash, and occasionally subtle, touches to the spy-on-the-run formula, without ever quite managing to transcend the cliches. Read more

Philip Wuntch, Dallas Morning News: The Bourne Identity crackles with equal measures of efficiency and energy. Read more

Ella Taylor, L.A. Weekly: 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 on the side. Read more

Rex Reed, New York Observer: A film that is at best misguided, at worst stubbornly flashy, garbled and ready to file in the drawer labeled 'instantly forgettable.' Read more

Andrew Sarris, New York Observer: A rollicking adventure yarn. Read more

James Berardinelli, ReelViews: Nicely paced and fits the bill for those in search of two hours of spy-based action and martial arts. Read more

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: Doug Liman, the director of Bourne, directs the traffic well, gets a nice wintry look from his locations, absorbs us with the movie's spycraft and uses Damon's ability to be focused and sincere. Read more

Charles Taylor, Salon.com: A thriller with some brains and feeling behind it, more attuned to story and character than to spectacle. Read more

Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle: There are moments that feel just on the edge of silly, but that's the idea. Read more

David Edelstein, Slate: It moves quickly, adroitly, and without fuss; it doesn't give you time to reflect on the inanity -- and the Cold War datedness -- of its premise. Read more

Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune: Liman can uncork leap-out-of-your-seat shocks, draw out suspense scenes with malicious finesse and even ease a touch of romance and droll humor into the yarn. Read more

Peter Howell, Toronto Star: An entertaining thriller that eschews most of the usual spy gimmicks in favour of old-fashioned sleuthing. Read more

Time Out: Efficient set pieces come neatly spaced every ten to 15 minutes -- just often enough to keep you credulous -- and the trans-European settings lend a classy backdrop. Read more

Mike Clark, USA Today: The Bourne Identity is what summer screen escapism used to be in the decades when it was geared more to grownups. Read more

Todd McCarthy, Variety: A first-rate thriller with grit and intrigue to spare. Read more

J. Hoberman, Village Voice: Liman takes a giant step toward hackdom with his banal big-budget adaptation of Robert Ludlum's 1980 espionage thriller. Read more

Stephen Hunter, 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. Read more