The Bourne Supremacy
Director: Paul Greengrass
Writer: Tony Gilroy
Based on: Robert Ludlum‘s novel
Sequel to: The Bourne Identity
Cast: Matt Damon, Franka Potente, Brian Cox, Julia Stiles, Karl Urban, Joan Allen, Marton Csokas, Michelle Monaghan

Plot:
Jason (Matt Damon) and Marie (Franka Potente) have been hiding for quite a while, but Jason’s past, while still not entirely clear for him, catches up with them in the form of assassin Kirill (Karl Urban) who, instead of killing Jason, ends up killing Marie. So Jason goes after him and the Treadstone project, trying again to figure out what the hell happened.

The Bourne Supremacy might not be quite as good as The Bourne Identity, but it’s still a pretty decent film with a very good cast.

I think where this movie was weakest, compared to the first one, was in the plotting. Some points just seemed pretty forced – like the whole storyline with the Russian daughter. Or the role they forced on Nicky (Julia Stiles), where she’s suddenly in the middle of the action and then dropped out again as quickly. [Not that I didn’t enjoy seeing Julia Stiles – she is usually wonderful.]

I would have loved to get to see a little more of Karl Urban instead – his character was interesting, but he just keeps on disappearing and re-appearing as if he was drawn out of the hat whenever Tony Gilroy got stuck and needed something else to prompt the plot along. [Also, I’m pretty impressed by Karl Urban’s Russian. Mine is not strong enough to really judge, but it sounded right.]

I also got a bit exasperated with Bourne and Bourne’s flashbacks that were just a little too overdirected and flashy.

But apart from those things, the movie holds up the quality of the first film really well. The pacing might not be quite as spot-on, but it’s serviceable and the movie doesn’t get boring, but remains entertaining. And the cast is still pretty damn awesome.

Summarising: Decent follow-up.