Bourne again

Director Paul Greengrass brings a grittiness that serves as a nice contrast to overproduced action extravaganzas of recent years | Andrew Coffin

The Bourne Supremacy (rated PG-13 for violence and intense action, and for brief language) is the sequel to 2002’s surprisingly successful The Bourne Identity. Both are based on Robert Ludlum’s novels, filmed once before as a television mini-series in 1988. Protagonist Jason Bourne (Matt Damon, giving a beautifully controlled performance) is a highly trained ex-CIA special agent (and possible assassin) suffering from amnesia after a botched job. The first film had Bourne on the run from a host of people who’d like him dead as he tries to figure out who he is and why he’s being pursued.

In Supremacy, Bourne is more proactive. He comes out of hiding to face his enemy—which may or may not be the CIA itself—hoping to once and for all drop off “the grid.” Several key characters are back from the first film, including the excellent Brian Cox as a CIA boss of questionable intent. New to this venture is the equally adept Joan Allen, playing a relentless but sharply intelligent agent in charge of tracking Bourne.