..Gary Dretzka
..Noah Forrest
..Leonard Klady
..R.J. Matson
..David Poland
..Douglas Pratt
..Ray Pride
..Michael Wilmington

The Bourne Supremacy

Directed by Paul Greengrass
Universal Pictures

Sean Connery made five Bond movies in five years as that franchise launched. The first three were all released here in the U.S. within a 20-month period… faster than any trilogy ever, including the Lord of the Rings films. After Cubby Broccoli messed around with George Lazenby, he got back to business and made one more Bond with Connery. Next was Roger Moore and while I liked the Moore Bonds, they were not the same as the Connery Bonds. Bond became infinitely more self-absorbed as a character, they kept raising the action stakes, and eventually got silly.

Matt Damon's Jason Bourne is the post-millennial answer to Connery's Bond. Jack Ryan had his shot, but he came up short and, with three actors as Ryan in the franchise's four movies, killed off any hope of touching the clouds. The character was, ironically, created by Robert Ludlum almost 25 years ago. But the Reagan era anti-hero still fits perfectly in this post-Cold War, single world-power political grid. Jason Bourne is a character that fits America's sense of political reluctance while blaming individuals, not institutionsm for horrible missteps, making Bourne the ultimate guilt-free American hero of this generation. And Matt Damon's performance as Bourne looks to be as inescapably defining of his acting career as Bond was for Connery.

All of this comes to mind after seeing The Bourne Supremacy, Universal's follow-up to The Bourne Identity. But this film doesn't feel like a sequel… it feels like the start of a powerful adult franchise of slightly greater box office reach than the Jack Ryan series, but of a definitively superior quality. Most of the Jack Ryan films are of quality, but there is something already apparent on Bourne… the freedom offered by the studio to be as dark and brooding and harsh as it need be. My bet is that audiences will respond with thanks and repeat ticket purchases. I've seen The Bourne Supremacy twice and I would be happy to go back a third time in the near future.

In the legacy of the Alien series, which took a turn for the confusing (despite two great directors at the helm) after getting past Aliens, Bourne has now had two directors in two goes. Barring personality conflicts that we know nothing about, it is hard to imagine Universal not fighting to keep Paul Greengrass on board for as many Bourne films as he is willing to shoot. His work here puts him right into the A-list category for action filmmaking while, like the other top directors in the group, he doesn't lose the humanity of his characters for all the special effects.

In just his second feature film Greengrass, whose other effort was the cinema verite-style Bloody Sunday, has delivered one of the most memorable car chases in movie history, surely the best since Frankenheimer's last great one in Ronin. The chase is one of the major elements that people are going to be talking about when you start hearing the word of mouth. But the skills that Greengrass brings to the car chase is on display through the entire film.

Greengrass' cinematographer, Oliver Wood, was on Bourne Identity, but the pro he is, he adapts to Greengrass' style of shooting a lot of coverage from a lot of angles, surprising and expected, and then making it into something special in the cutting room. Wood has shot for a number of action stylists, from Woo (Face/Off) to Mostow (U-571) to Sonnenfeld (For Love or Money) to Renny Harlin (Die Hard 2 and Ford Fairlane). And he doesn't disappoint here.

In the editing room, Bourne Identity editor Christopher Rouse, who became a hot action cutter on town off of that film, is back. Replacing Saar Klein, who seems to be focused on commercial cutting these days, in the co-editor chair is Richard Pearson, who is coming off of actioners Men in Black II and The Rundown. I bring them up because the editing in the film is nothing short of magnificent. Their work is so integrated into Greengrass' camera style that it is impossible from this vantage point to figure out who is contributing what… but it is just about perfect. It certainly is seamless.

Also back on board Bourne is Tony Gilroy, a screenwriter who has shown a real flair for complex movie storytelling and crisp, memorable dialogue. He can go subtle, but strong, as he did in the terribly undervalued Delores Clairborne, or he can go way over the top, as with the wild, brilliant dialogue runs by Al Pacino in The Devil's Advocate. (Both films were directed by Taylor Hackford, who wouldn't be a bad choice as a director for the third Bourne film… even more so if Universal's Oscar hopes for Ray - Jamie Foxx in Ray Charles' life story - pan out.) The dialogue in Bourne is often like a strong slap in the face. It braces you. The dialogue between Franka Potente and Damon… Brian Cox and Joan Allen… Damon and the gorgeous Oksana Okinshina (who you may know from Lilya 4-Ever) … and especially a dialogue scene between Damon and Marton Csokas that just crackles and pops like great fried food and is just as tasty.

The story… well I shouldn't tell you a thing. Universal's marketing department has done an excellent job of getting across the feel of the film while completely misleading potential ticket buyers about the story itself. This is a good thing. It's not a shock that it's different, but since the film is about a puzzle of Bourne's life being slowly solved, your ignorance should be bliss.

I will say this… Damon is terrific… this is Joan Allen's best role in a while… Brian Cox is as great as always… Franka Potente, Karl Urban, Gabriel Mann and the entire cast delivers. The storytelling is relentless… one of the most jam-packed hour and fifty minutes you'll find. The international vistas are incredibly well shot and distinct… a throwback to the great travelogue movies of the past, though without the crummy blue screen as the principals drive along.

It was about 20 minutes into the film that I realized that this was more than a sequel. I care about Jason Bourne's future. There is one more novel already and a fourth in the series about to be released. And one has to wonder how many films they can make around the theme of Bourne as an amnesiac. And a fully aware Bourne might be a series shark jumper, much like Roger Moore's hair. Bourne Identity did about $214 million worldwide, as opposed to Die Another Day's $432 million. But this is a series and a character that deserves to be explored fully. I expect Supremacy to push past the $250 million mark, at worst, and that should be enough water in that cash pool to float the next boat.

If The Manchurian Candidate delivers, these next three weekends will be one of the best runs of movies for adults ever seen in any summer. But more on that in tomorrow's 15 Weeks of Summer column.

- David Poland