Not a lot of people know that the character Jason Bourne made famous in 2002 by Matt Damon was actually remade. The original ‘Bourne Identity’ was a two part made for T.V. movie back in 1988 and it starred actor Richard Chamberlain as Bourne. Both films are adapted from series of novels by a man named Robert Ludlum. Ludlum released ‘The Bourne Identity’ novel in 1980. The book series has a total of 8 books (the 8th releasing in sometime in 2010). Ludlam wrote the first three in the series (The Bourne Identity, The Bourne Supremacy, and The Bourne Ultimatum) and author Eric Van Lustbader took over writing the stories for the last 5 novels (The Bourne Legacy, The Bourne Betrayal, The Bourne Sanction, The Bourne Deception, and The Bourne Objective). Lets get to the reviews so we can suit up the two super spies for a battle to the death!

The Original (1988)

A man is shot while on a boat and falls in the water. That man as we come to learn is named Jason Bourne and he has amnesia. He has the skills of a killing machine but has no memory of how he learned them or who to use them on at first. Be basically bluffs his way around and kidnaps a woman that turns out to have some connections with the Canadian government. The movie is very long (185 mins) and quite boring most of the time. Richard Chamberlain doesn’t come across like a badass at all and really, Jason Bourne is supposed to be a world class spy/assassin for a top level, super hush-hush branch of the CIA called ‘Treadstone-71′. Jason Bourne is actually a man named David Webb that has undertaken facial re-constructive surgery to alter his face to a appear like a cold blooded killer named Jason Bourne. The whole plan is devised by the CIA backed group Treadstone-71 to flush out a world-class assassin named simply as Carlos.

Much of the movie you are lead to believe that Jason IS Carlos because of how he kills people, but as more information surfaces we find that is not the case. Over time his female hostage Marie develops an attachment to him and she won’t leave, which I would have to blame on a disorder called the ‘Stockholm syndrome’ and less on the fact that Richard Chamberlain is a cool guy but I digress. At the end of the movie after David Webb/Jason Bourne’s superior spills his guts (no pun intended) in more ways than one we find out the true story about his creation and he then succeeds in his mission by killing Carlos. After killing his target it’s implied that he goes back to his ‘real life’ as a professor of linguistics in Vermont with Marie, and live happily ever after.

This movie was a good idea, but it wasn’t really that entertaining. Apparently this version follows the novel pretty closely, but I have not read the novel to verify. I rate this movie a 5/10 for it’s slow moving plot.

The Remake (2002)

This movie has a similar story with some changes. This movie has taken the dated feel of the first and re-vamped it and also accelerated the action and story to make it more watchable. This movie has no facial plastic surgery, it doesn’t place Jason Bourne in a special tactical mission named Medusa during the Vietnam war, and it also doesn’t suck. Jason Bourne is a heavily trained Green Beret that moved into the tip top of Delta Force. After Delta he volunteered for Treadstone which was a super secret CIA branch that performed assassination missions that ‘never happened’ aka Black Ops.

Jason Bourne is found after a botched mission floating face up in the ocean unconscious, shot full of holes and suffering from amnesia. A laser pointer is found by the fishing boat’s make-shift physician while removing the bullets from his back. The laser pointer has bank information for a bank in Switzerland where he discovers his identity and several other passports to almost every country under false names. He can speak like every language fluently and has the unmistakable ability to kick the ass of anyone who gets in his way. While traveling to the address on his main passport he enters a bank where out of nowhere he is to be detained. He kicks the crap out of the entire security staff, disarms the guards and escapes by climbing down the side of a building and simply walking away.

The guy is a total badass and Matt Damon actually pulls this off believably. Treadstone wants Bourne dead almost immediately which amps the action up a notch and makes this more watchable. Treadstone activates all of the available assassins called ‘assets’ with the mission of taking down their number 1 operative Jason Bourne. After walking away from the bank he pays a woman named Marie to drive him to Paris. The assets track him down and try to kill him. He disarms one that came in guns blazing with a ball point pen for instance, the man is lethal! This movie has so much action in it, that it will leave your head spinning. Jason Bourne is one of the most kick ass characters of the last 100 years. With his intimate knowledge of damn near every language, his amazing fighting talent, his ability to evade the people that trained him and drive as if Ken Block was playing Grand Theft Auto, he can easily be put on the same level as James Bond. I rate this movie a 9/10 for it’s epic action.

The Battle

This movie duo was based on a book that really wanted to tell you a great story involving a few things.
1. Struggling to find an identity while suffering from amnesia.
2. Running from the authorities.
3. How the agency deals with the Jason Bourne threat.
4. Showing the skills of a trained killer surface and the character’s reaction.

It also has to entertain you with a few things.
1. Over all Story.
2. Entertaining lead actors.
3. Over all action sequences.

Struggling to find an identity while suffering from amnesia:
Winner = The Original
Why? Because more of the story is based on looking for his identity. Sure we know he’s Jason Bourne but the original has the added twist of him thinking he was Carlos as well.

Running from the authorities:
Winner = The Remake.
Why? Because Jason Bourne simply kicks more ass and does a more impressive job of fleeing under almost certain capture.

How the agency deals with the Jason Bourne threat:
Winner = The Remake.
Why? Because Bourne’s mission is from Treadstone, which is a hush-hush branch of the CIA and he appeared to be deviating from his mission. It’s more believable that the agency would try to take Bourne out in attempts to sweep it under the metaphorical rug.

Showing the skills of a trained killer surface and the character’s reaction:
Winner = The Remake
Why? Lets say you just woke up one day and you had no idea who you were and you kicked people’s asses under auto pilot and spoke languages you didn’t know you knew. You’d be as surprised and mystified as Matt Damon’s character did.

Over all Story:
Winner = The Original
Why? Because you learn more about Jason Bourne and his back story in a single movie.

Entertaining lead actors:
Winner = The Remake
Why? Because Matt Damon actually looks like he could do the things he does. Unless you think watching someone kick ass that looks like a strange male secretary entertaining… ok it is a bit lol!

Over all action sequences:
Winner = The Remake
Why? Because of the budget to make the film I’d assume. There is simply better quality action, and more of it.

Remake Wins!

The 2002 Remake starring Matt Damon takes the prize with 5/7 or 71% of the wins.