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The Rewatchables ·

The Bourne Identity

year 2002decade 00sdirector Doug Limangenre Actiongenre Thriller
host Bill Simmonshost Chris Ryanproducer Craig Horlbeck
All 16 categories

Most Rewatchable Scene · 4:15

The farmhouse sequence (one final choice)

Bill Simmons: The opening fishing-boat rescue throws the audience directly into the mystery, with bullets and a bank-account projector removed from Bourne's body.

Bill Simmons: Bourne opening the Swiss security-deposit box works because its passports, money, and weapon reveal a past he cannot remember.

The film

The Bourne Identity (2002)

Directed by Doug Liman · Action

119 minutes

IMDb Letterboxd JustWatch Find on Rotten Tomatoes
Cast

Selected cast credits · Film reference

Matt Damon Jason Bourne
Franka Potente Marie Kreutz
Chris Cooper Alexander Conklin
Clive Owen The Professor
Brian Cox Ward Abbott

Everything from the episode

In the order the hosts got to it. Open a row for the discussion.

22:52

Roger Ebert's review
In the discussion (4)
Approx. transcript time · 00:22:52Read transcript
  • The episode states that Roger Ebert gave the film three stars. — Chris Ryan
  • Ebert is reported to have praised Matt Damon as focused and sincere. — Chris Ryan
  • His conclusion is summarized as calling the film unnecessary but not unskilled. — Chris Ryan
  • The panel treats that phrase as a memorable backhanded compliment rather than agreement with his lukewarm tone. — Chris Ryan
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55:36

Casting What-Ifs

Burt Reynolds was attached to an earlier version; Liman later approached Brad Pitt, Russell Crowe, Arnold Schwarzeneg...

Burt Reynolds was attached to an earlier version; Liman later approached Brad Pitt, Russell Crowe, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Tom Cruise, Sylvester Stallone, and Sarah Polley before the final casting.

This discussion recalls a choice from an earlier episode.

In the discussion (10)
Approx. transcript time · 00:55:36Read transcript
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1:02:36

Recasting Couch

Cole Hauser or Casey Affleck in Clive Owen’s role; Amy Adams or the transcript-observed “Chloe 70” in Julia Stiles’s ...

Cole Hauser or Casey Affleck in Clive Owen’s role; Amy Adams or the transcript-observed “Chloe 70” in Julia Stiles’s role; Al Pacino as Conklin

In the discussion (7)
Approx. transcript time · 01:02:36Read transcript
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1:04:36

Half-Assed Internet Research

Damon's stunts and combat training, the red bag, the death count, Liman's family history, Prague locations, Swiss-ban...

Damon's stunts and combat training, the red bag, the death count, Liman's family history, Prague locations, Swiss-bank tropes, and Tony Gilroy's later scripts

In the discussion (13)
Approx. transcript time · 01:04:36Read transcript
  • Damon performed many stunts after three months of weapons, boxing, and martial-arts training. — Chris Ryan
  • He performed the hand-to-hand combat and climbed the safe-house walls. — Chris Ryan
  • The red bag later appears as a hanging planter in Marie's scooter-rental shop. — Chris Ryan
  • The panel counts eight deaths in the film. — Chris Ryan
  • Liman's father served as chief counsel during the Iran-Contra hearings. — Chris Ryan
  • Chris Cooper's character was allegedly modeled on Oliver North because Liman's father interrogated him. — Chris Ryan
  • Much of the film was shot in Prague while representing Switzerland and Paris. — Chris Ryan
  • The panel questions whether Swiss banks are as anonymous and permissive as movie convention suggests. — Chris Ryan
  • Tony Gilroy made a one-draft, no-notes, no-rewrites deal for the third film and was paid an amount Damon called exorbitant. — Chris Ryan
  • Damon publicly called that draft unreadable and embarrassing while blaming the studio for accepting the deal. — Chris Ryan
  • Gilroy later directed the non-Damon franchise entry. — Bill Simmons
  • The panel speculates that making the non-Damon entry helped prompt Damon and Greengrass to return for Jason Bourne. — Bill Simmons
  • One participant ranks Identity above Supremacy, Legacy, and Ultimatum despite calling Supremacy technically better made. — Bill Simmons
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1:11:00

Picking Nits

Bourne's survival and recovery, Paris geography, Marie staying with him, killing Clive Owen's character, and the unre...

Bourne's survival and recovery, Paris geography, Marie staying with him, killing Clive Owen's character, and the unrealized chance to make that assassin a recurring rival

In the discussion (13)
Approx. transcript time · 01:11:00Read transcript
  • Bourne surviving unconscious in the sea after two back wounds is the first major nitpick. — Chris Ryan
  • His rapid recovery and ability to work on the fishing boat and fight assassins are also questioned. — Chris Ryan
  • Liman admitted that the Paris car chase uses streets that do not connect logically. — Chris Ryan
  • The geographic mistake is compared with illogical Boston routes in Blown Away. — Chris Ryan
  • Marie not fleeing a dangerous stranger at the first opportunity is questioned. — Bill Simmons
  • Marie is quickly shown on a wanted poster and is aiding and abetting an assassin, making it harder to untangle herself as she falls for him. — Bill Simmons
  • The panel asks whether killing Clive Owen's assassin wasted a possible recurring adversary for the franchise. — Bill Simmons
  • The alternatives are for the assassin to fake his death, get away wounded, or team up with Bourne to take the whole thing down. — Bill Simmons
  • The Carlos the Jackal antagonist from the Ludlum book is offered as a model for an equally powerful recurring assassin. — Bill Simmons
  • Karl Urban is described as effectively replacing Clive Owen's assassin function in the next film. — Bill Simmons
  • Clive Owen is reported to have been expected to become James Bond. — Bill Simmons
  • The Clive Owen discussion broadens into uncertainty about why his apparent path to major stardom did not last. — Chris Ryan
  • Inside Man and Closer are cited as evidence of Owen's leading-man ability. — Chris Ryan
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1:18:25

Probably Unanswerable Questions

Marie’s hair lengths; Josh Hamilton’s character as Grover from Kicking and Screaming; Matt Damon’s delivery of the pr...

Marie’s hair lengths; Josh Hamilton’s character as Grover from Kicking and Screaming; Matt Damon’s delivery of the profane line

In the discussion (5)
Approx. transcript time · 01:18:25Read transcript
  • Both participants prefer Marie's longer hair, although the shorter style is also praised. — Chris Ryan
  • The panel asks whether the movie is more fun if Josh Hamilton's character is secretly Grover from Kicking and Screaming. — Chris Ryan
  • The imagined story has Grover stay in Europe after heartbreak and take a data-entry job that leads to Conklin. — Chris Ryan
  • A later question asks whether Damon is the greatest actor at delivering the words 'fuck it.' — Bill Simmons
  • Examples from Rounders and this film lead the panel to answer that Damon probably is the best at that delivery. — Bill Simmons
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