Robert Ludlum

1. The Bourne Identity (DVD)
2. The Bourne Supremacy
3. The Bourne Ultimatum
4. The Bourne Legacy

I was fairly disappointed in this adaptation. Ludlum is an author who excels at plotting, rather than writing style or characterization. While the first adaptation ("The Bourne Identity") tossed out a fair bit of the original plot, it also went to some lengths to avoid directly contradicting the book. With this movie they completely tossed out that principle, along with most of the original plot. What's left is a skeleton hanging from wires -- enough to hang the plot of a mediocre action movie on, but not enough to retain any of the good qualities from Ludlum's novel.

As a pure action movie, rather than an adaptation, it isn't bad. But it's not wonderful, either. The plot, without Ludlum's influence, doesn't hold together well; there are loose ends and unexplained elements all over the place. There are two car chase sequences, but neither one is all that great. There are two hand-to-hand sequences, and again, neither is exceptional; the camera work for the fight scenes in particular suffered by comparison to the first movie. But it's still a fairly high-gloss piece of action-adventure-espionage, and it's got a fair number of good moments.

One element they cover really, really well in this adaptation is the aspect of Bourne's training and skills that covers dealing with enemy opposition. In the novels, he's an infiltrator and saboteur; his skills are greatest in penetrating an organization, tracking it from the foot soldiers to the rear echelons, and then taking out the people in charge. Those skills are displayed to excellent effect. The way that Bourne systematically provokes a response, then analyzes the nature of that response to locate and identify the person running it, is an extremely accurate depiction of Bourne's methods as displayed in the first and third novels (but less so in the first movie).

But overall, if you're hoping for a good adaptation of the book, skip it. If you can stomach a decent, but not exceptional, action movie, then it's worth your money. To get an idea of what I was hoping to get out of this movie, check out my review of the book.

1. The Bourne Identity (DVD)
2. The Bourne Supremacy
3. The Bourne Ultimatum
4. The Bourne Legacy

Continuing my reread of Ludlum's Jason Bourne series, I went through The Bourne Supremacy over the course of a weekend. This novel steps away from the question of identity, and instead puts Bourne in the midst of a complex maze of interwoven plots. An imposter has taken the name and reputation of "Jason Bourne", deadly assassin for hire, and revived it for his own purposes. The assassin who was created to trap Carlos must now return to the land of his birth to trap himself.

I have no complaints about this book; it's well-written, fast-paced, and delivers most of the things I liked about the The Bourne Identity. The plot is, if anything, even more convoluted than before, and the reader is offered the chance to view Bourne at his best: alone, outnumbered, faced with an equally-lethal adversary, and utterly deadly despite it all.

Internal conflict has been replaced with external conflict, however, which means the thought-provoking elements of the first novel are less present. Instead, the reader is invited to explore moral questions: to what extent is our government justified in using men like Bourne to advance their policies? Does the magnitude of a threat justify the use of deceit, kidnapping, blackmail and murder to achieve a desirable outcome? Is it just to assassinate a man who employs assassins -- and if so, what of those who employ Bourne himself?

With regard to the upcoming movie version (scheduled for a July 23rd release), I'm not sure how exactly they are going to make the plots coincide. Sources indicate that they aren't changing much; since the first movie tossed out the whole issue of whether Jason Bourne was really an assassin (versus simply a lure for Carlos), that aspect of events in The Bourne Supremacy won't get much play.

But it's still possible for someone to assume Bourne's identity as an assassin, and doing so would draw Webb's attention even without the plot elements left out of the first movie. I suspect they'll keep the action fast and gloss over the issue as much as possible, trusting people to accept the premise without explanation if they haven't read the books.

Another possibility, since there are plans to film The Bourne Ultimatum as well, would be for the scriptwriters to draw out the revelation of Bourne's real purpose slowly, with hints in the second movie, and the revelation itself in the third. That would be tricky to handle, but they haven't set up anything in the first movie to make it impossible -- just tricky.

UPDATE: Now that the movie is out, you can read my review and see how it turned out. (Short version: poorly).

1. The Bourne Identity
2. The Bourne Supremacy
3. The Bourne Ultimatum
4. The Bourne Legacy

The Bourne Ultimatum is the third book in Ludlum's Jason Bourne series. It's five years after the events in Hong Kong, and 13 years after Paris. Bourne has aged (he's now 50) and settled into life with his wife and children. But when Carlos the Jackal uncovers his real identity, the final confrontation is upon them both.

Neither one of the pair are operating at their best. Bourne struggles to retain his deadly persona, while the onset of age has driven the Jackal into obsession. They circle each other, desperately pressing for advantage, setting and springing trap after convoluted trap.

Although there is as much action in this novel as in the prior two, the emphasis has changed. Bourne is hobbled by his age and wounds sustained early in the narrative to a far greater degree than in The Bourne Supremacy; enough so that the complaints become tiresome. This is supposed to be a novel about deadly assassins, not old men. Yet the core is still present, and the power of the narrative is sufficient. The chase takes us across the globe as the battle evolves -- a battle based on wits more than guns.

I rate this novel as the worst of the three, primarily because the age and wounds of Jason Bourne are an ever-present and distracting factor. Yet it is by no means bad, and provides a credible finish to the series.

This is a reread, primarily because the sequel, The Bourne Supremacy has been given the movie treatment. I liked the movie adaptation of The Bourne Identity which did a remarkably good job without simplifying the story too much. I do confess to being a little bit concerned about the sequel, since the movie version removed what could be described as the central tension in the book and didn't exactly leave any of the loose ends that Ludlum used in his sequels.

With that said, the basic plotline of The Bourne Identity is simple enough. A man is pulled from the Mediterranean with no memory, several bullet holes in his body, and a microfilm implant with the number of a Swiss bank account. Lacking any other clues, he goes back to the bank to try to rediscover his identity, only to find that his account contains about 5 million dollars (in various European currencies)... and as soon as he tries to access it, people start trying to kill him.

From that moment on, Bourne races to stay one step ahead of his enemies while trying to discover who and what he was, and in the process discovers skills and talents that lead him ever closer to the conclusion that he was an international assassin. What he is remains to be seen.

The execution of the plot is complex and fast-paced. The reader races to keep up with what Bourne discovers about himself and about those hunting him. There is never any opportunity to pause and take stock of the situation; something is always happening to drive events forward. The result is a solidly entertaining action-adventure with enough hints of greater depth to satisfy the discerning or speculative reader.