(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . ICYMI series - 2: Bourne. And the fouls just kept coming [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.'] Date: 2023-10-05 So as not to appear down on anything-and-everything Bourne, the two good things about the Bourne franchise that I can see is that the storylines are not hard to follow. Since the first three movies are based on the three Robert Ludlum-authored companion books of the same name (Bourne Identity, Bourne Supremacy and Bourne Ultimatum) that would stand to reason. And, the storylines are both interesting and intriguing, so they have that going for them. But, where real-life substance authenticity is concerned, the series falls a little short. Hitting the mark on at least two of the three points, well, that ain’t half bad or in the immortal words of Pam Landy (played by Joan Allen), “I mean, if we’re cutting the crap.” So, enter the Bourne Supremacy, the second of five movies in the series. “Off the grid,” in the Bourne vernacular, is what Jason (played by Matt Damon) and Marie (played by Franka Potente) had been for two years. For two years! I can’t imagine. (I would need to verify, but that might be the space of time between when the first and the second films made their debuts). What, the intelligence agency had just given up?! That it had not a clue to go on?! Well, if you think about it, that’s exactly the message that comes across. This is how the Bourne Supremacy opens up. So, let’s pick up the story where Jason, then in his land-cruiser-type vehicle, in the shopping district, spots Marie. He has just learned of the presence of an on-site visitor who looks entirely out of place. Jason becomes highly suspicious of this person’s presence. While in the process of alerting Marie of a potential situation, by sounding the automobile’s horn, this action tips off Kirill (played by Karl Urban), the foreigner, who at this time was scoping out a nearby beach. And, the chase was on. Long story short, Kirill ends up shooting, with a high-powered, scoped rifle, Jason’s girlfriend of two years, Marie. How Kirill was even able to get the shot off and not be spotted is beyond me, especially with all of the people who, presumably, happened to be in the vicinity. Amazing! Kirill’s connection is that he is tied in with a Russian oil-conglomerate big-wig and has, apparently, another connection with the FSB. Working in cahoots with American intelligence-agency official Ward Abbott (played by Brian Cox), a price is put on Jason’s and Marie’s heads. Kirill is the hit hired to carry out that mission. When Marie was shot, she was behind the wheel of the land-cruiser-type vehicle (with, obviously, off-road capability), which, she understandably, lost control of. As a result the car plunged headlong off a bridge into the river below. Upon hitting the water Jason makes a valiant attempt at saving his partner’s life. But all was for naught. The questionable part in all of this was that while, presumably, being completely submerged in the water, miraculously Bourne found a pocket of air inside the car from which he could draw an extra breath. Yeah, right. And, who should be there among the rest of the curious onlookers on the bridge in question’s walkway? The assassin, Kirill. Of course, he was there to make sure there weren’t any survivors. Now, with his girlfriend out of the picture, for Bourne, it was all about getting even, and all of a sudden he became a man on a mission. In the meantime, while all of this was going on, completely unbeknownst to Bourne was that he was about to pick up another ally, this time, intelligence-agency staff member Nicolette (Nicky) Parsons (played by Julia Stiles). She apparently had a part in the “Treadstone” asset-inductee training program from the get-go. Bourne, now driven, purposely chose Naples, Italy as the place to re-emerge, and using his own passport, no less. This signaled to (what I understand were local port authority personnel) that Bourne should be detained. Bourne now had these officials exactly where he wanted them. And, the apprehending crew had absolutely no idea what or whom they were dealing with, with Bourne, or what he was capable of. The long and short of it was this master planner and detection sidestepper, once again, had his own up-his-sleeve tricks and both literally and figuratively dodged another bullet. But not before learning some additional key intelligence agency details. Bourne had been rebranded as an “agency high-priority target.” And like all the other times before, he got away. One thing leading to the next, he was able to learn more and more about his past (he had had a bout with amnesia, but that is a whole other story) by acquiring enough puzzle parts to begin piecing together and making more sense of the bigger picture. But no matter how hard he had tried, Jason could simply not undo that aspect of his life. In fact, later on in the movie, Abbot even told Bourne that there was nowhere that Bourne could go where his past wouldn’t catch up with him. That was going to be something that Bourne was never going to be able to free himself of, which, is what I believe makes his predicament such an interesting one and why you can’t help but be sympathetic toward the guy. In the end, after following lead after lead, Jason lands in Russia of all places. He was hoping to locate the daughter of Vladamir Neski, a then Russian politician, who was apparently going to blow the whistle on some higher ups. Bourne was tasked with executing orders to kill Neski. It turns out things went sideways and not only was Neski eliminated, but so too was his wife. Collateral damage, in other words. Bourne was in Moscow to explain to the Neski’s daughter what had really gone down and that he was their killer. Like when he ultimately explained to the girl that killing her parents was his job, but this encounter was not before meeting up with Kirill and dealing with him. So, meanwhile, when the lead character was fleeing Russian authorities, Bourne on foot finds himself on a footpath beneath an overpass at what looks in the movie to be at the very same time Kirill, driving an FSB car, happened upon the overhead. There was no possible way Kirill could have seen Bourne. But Hollywood being Hollywood, next thing we in the viewing crowd know, Kirill is firing his gun at Bourne hitting him in the shoulder from behind. And, thus begins the chase again. Bourne ultimately reigns victorious in the end, seeing to it that Kirill was stopped. That is, permanently. Wounded, Bourne managed to locate the Neski girl and proceeded to reveal to her that her parents were not responsible for their own deaths (it was staged to look like a murder-suicide). But I believe that was of little comfort to the younger Neski. This being the case, here again, one would think the agency would be aware of Bourne’s every move and always be one play ahead. But, that would be too logical. And, if that were the case, I can in no way see how that could make for either a good or suspenseful movie. Next time, I’ll give more of the same kind of lowdown for the three remaining Bourne movies. Stay tuned. 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