The Bourne Supremacy (film)

"Bourne 2" redirects here. For the novel, see The Bourne Supremacy.
The Bourne Supremacy

Theatrical release poster
Directed by Paul Greengrass
Produced by
Screenplay by Tony Gilroy
Based on The Bourne Supremacy
by Robert Ludlum
Starring
Music by John Powell
Cinematography Oliver Wood
Edited by
Production
company
Distributed by Universal Pictures
Release dates
  • July 23, 2004 (2004-07-23)
Running time
 108 minutes
Country United States
Germany[1]
Language English
Italian
Russian
German
Budget $75 million[2]
Box office $288.5 million[2]

The Bourne Supremacy is a 2004 American-German thriller film starring Robert Ludlum's Jason Bourne character. Though it takes the name of the second Bourne novel, its plot is entirely different. The film was directed by Paul Greengrass from a screenplay by Tony Gilroy. Universal Pictures released the film to theaters in the United States on July 23, 2004. It is the second in the Jason Bourne film series. It is preceded by The Bourne Identity (2002) and followed by The Bourne Ultimatum (2007), The Bourne Legacy (2012), and Jason Bourne (2016).

The Bourne Supremacy continues the story of Jason Bourne, a former CIA assassin suffering from psychogenic amnesia.[3] Bourne is portrayed by Matt Damon. The film focuses on his attempt to learn more of his past as he is once more enveloped in a conspiracy involving the CIA and Operation Treadstone. The film also stars Brian Cox as Ward Abbott, Joan Allen as Pamela Landy and Julia Stiles as Nicky Parsons.

Plot

Two years after the events of the first film, Jason Bourne and Marie Kreutz are now in Goa, India. Still experiencing flashbacks about his former life as a CIA assassin, he records them in a notebook.

In Berlin, two CIA agents subordinate to Deputy Director Pamela Landy are paying US$3 million for the "Neski files", documents on the theft of $20 million in allocation money seven years prior. The deal is interrupted by Kirill, an agent for Russia's Federal Security Service who works for Russian oil oligarch Yuri Gretkov. Kirill plants Bourne's fingerprint at the scene, interrupts the deal, kills everyone involved and steals the files and money. He travels to Goa to kill Bourne, but Bourne spots him and flees with Marie. Kirill shoots and kills Marie instead of Bourne. Their vehicle plunges into a river and Bourne leaves after unsuccessfully attempting to revive Marie.

Bourne travels to Naples, Italy with money and passports. After finding Bourne's fingerprint that Kirill planted, Landy asks Deputy Director Ward Abbott about Operation Treadstone, the defunct CIA program to which Bourne belonged. She tells Abbott that the CIA agent who stole the $20 million was named in the Neski files. Some years previously, Russian politician Vladimir Neski was about to identify the thief when he was supposedly murdered by his wife in a Berlin hotel. Landy believes that Bourne and Treadstone's late supervisor, Alexander Conklin, were somehow involved and that Bourne killed her two agents. Both Abbott and Landy go to Berlin to capture Bourne.

In Naples, Bourne allows himself to be identified by security. He subdues his CIA interrogator and copies the SIM card from his cell phone. From the subsequent phone call, he learns about Landy and the frameup. Bourne goes to Munich to visit Jarda, the only other remaining Treadstone operative. Jarda informs Bourne that Treadstone was shut down after Conklin's death, and tries to incapacitate him. Bourne kills Jarda and escapes before the CIA arrives. Bourne follows Landy and Abbott as they meet former Treadstone support technician Nicky Parsons to question her about Bourne. Believing that the CIA is hunting him again, Bourne calls Landy from a nearby roof and is told of the reason for his pursuit. He demands a meet-up with Nicky and indicates to Landy that he can see her in the office, shocking the entire CIA team.

Bourne kidnaps Nicky at the meet-up in Alexanderplatz, and learns from her that Abbott was the head of Treadstone, not Conklin. He remembers that he murdered Neski in Berlin, but Nicky knows nothing about it, so he lets her go. Bourne then visits the hotel where the killing took place and recalls more of his mission—he killed Neski on Conklin's orders, and when Neski's wife showed up, he shot her to make it look like a murder–suicide.

Danny Zorn (Conklin's assistant) suspects that Bourne was not involved. He explains his theory to Abbott, who kills him. Bourne breaks into Abbott's hotel room and records a conversation between him and Gretkov that incriminates them in the theft of the $20 million. Abbott admits to Bourne that he stole the money, ordered Bourne to murder Neski, ordered Kirill to retrieve the files, and have Bourne framed and silenced in Goa. Abbott expects Bourne to kill him, but Bourne, thinking of Marie, refuses, leaving his gun on the table. After Bourne leaves, Landy confronts Abbott about her suspicions and he commits suicide. Later, Landy returns to her hotel room where she finds an envelope that Bourne has delivered to her room containing the tape of Abbott's conversations with Gretkov and Bourne. Listening to the tape, she realizes that Bourne is now vindicated.

Bourne goes to Moscow to find Irena Neski, the daughter of Vladimir Neski. Kirill, tasked once again by Gretkov with killing Bourne, finds and wounds him. Bourne flees in a stolen taxi and Kirill chases him. After a long high-speed chase also involving police vehicles, Bourne forces Kirill's vehicle into a concrete divider. Bourne walks away, leaving a mortally wounded Kirill. Gretkov is subsequently arrested. Bourne locates Irena and confesses to murdering her parents; after apologizing, he leaves.

Later in New York, Bourne calls Landy; she thanks him for the tape, reveals to him his original name and date of birth, and asks him to meet her. Bourne then says, "Get some rest, Pam. You look tired", indicating that he is in New York and watching her.

Cast

Production

There were no plans to make a sequel to The Bourne Identity (2002) when it was conceived. Matt Damon commented, "When The Bourne Identity came out I said, 'There is very little chance we will do a second film, just because nobody on the team who made the first wants to make another movie if it can't be as good as, or better than, the first one.'" According to producer Frank Marshall, the plot point of Marie's kidnapping to force Bourne back into his assassin persona in the novel The Bourne Supremacy and Bourne's threat to come after the CIA if they came after him again in the previous film, were the inspiration for the plot. Marshall said that screenwriter Tony Gilroy thought of an idea that Bourne "would go on what amounts to the samurai's journey, this journey of atonement." Producer Paul L. Sandberg felt that Gilroy's "veering away from the plot of the book" was necessary "because so much of the world has changed since the book's publication." The producers replaced director Doug Liman. This was mainly due to the difficulties Liman had with the studio when making the first film, and their unwillingness to work with him again. British director Paul Greengrass was selected to direct the film after the producers saw Bloody Sunday (2002), Greengrass' depiction of the Bloody Sunday shootings in Northern Ireland, at Gilroy's suggestion. Producer Patrick Crowley liked Greengrass' "sense of the camera as participatory viewer", a visual style Crowley thought would work well for The Bourne Supremacy.[4] The film was shot in reverse order of its settings: some portions of the car chase and the film's ending were shot in Moscow, then most of the rest of the film was shot in and around Berlin, and the opening scenes in Goa were filmed last.[5][6]

According to a June 2008 article from The Guardian, "Two weeks before [the film's] release, [Greengrass] got together with its star, Matt Damon, came up with a new ending and phoned the producers saying the new idea was way better. And it would cost $200,000 and involve pulling Damon from the set of Ocean's 12 for a re-shoot. Reluctantly the producers agreed—the movie tested 10 points higher with the new ending".[7]

Reception

The Bourne Supremacy grossed $288,500,217.[2]

The film received positive reviews from critics. Review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes gives the film a score of 81% based on reviews from 189 critics, with an average score of 7.2/10. The site's consensus reads "A well-made sequel that delivers the thrills."[8] At Metacritic, which assigns a normalised rating out of 100 based on individual reviews, the film achieved an average of 73 based on 39 reviews, indicating generally favorable reviews.[9]

Accolades

At the 2005 Taurus World Stunt Awards, veteran Russian stunt coordinator Viktor Ivanov and Scottish stunt driver Gillie McKenzie won the "Best Vehicle" award for their driving in the Moscow car chase scene. Dan Bradley, the film's second unit director won the overall award for stunt coordinator.[10] The film ranks 454th on Empire magazine's 2008 list of the 500 greatest movies of all time.[11]

Year Organization Award Category/Recipient Result
2005ASCAP Film and Television Music AwardsASCAP AwardTop Box Office Films: John PowellWon[12]
2005Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films, USASaturn AwardBest Actor — Matt DamonNominated[12]
2005Broadcast Film Critics AssociationCritics Choice AwardBest Film – PopularNominated[12]
2005Cinema Audio Society AwardsC.A.S. AwardOutstanding Achievement in Sound Mixing for Motion PicturesNominated[12]
2005Edgar Allan Poe AwardsEdgarBest Motion Picture ScreenplayNominated[12]
2005Empire Awards, UKEmpire AwardBest Actor – Matt Damon and Best FilmWon[12]
2005Empire Awards, UKEmpire AwardBest British Director of the Year — Paul GreengrassNominated[12]
2005London Critics Circle Film AwardsALFS AwardBest British Director — Paul Greengrass and Scene of the Year – The Moscow Car Chase SequenceNominated[12]
2005MTV Movie AwardMTV Movie AwardBest Action Sequence – The Moscow Car Chase Sequence and Best Male Performance – Matt DamonNominated[12]
2005Motion Picture Sound Editors, USAGolden Reel AwardBest Sound Editing in Domestic Features – Dialogue & ADR and Best Sound Editing in Domestic Features – Sound Effects & FoleyNominated[12]
2005People's Choice Awards, USAPeople's Choice AwardFavorite Movie DramaNominated[12]
2005Teen Choice AwardTeen Choice AwardChoice Movie Actor: Action – Matt Damon and Choice Movie: ActionNominated[12]
2005USC Scripter AwardUSC Scripter AwardTony Gilroy (Screenwriter) and Robert Ludlum (Author)Nominated[12]
2005World Soundtrack AwardWorld Soundtrack AwardBest Original Soundtrack of the Year — John Powell and Soundtrack Composer of the Year — John PowellNominated[12]
2005World Stunt AwardsTaurus AwardBest Stunt Coordinator and/or 2nd Unit Director and Best Work with a VehicleWon[12]
2005World Stunt AwardsTaurus AwardBest Fight – Darrin Prescott and Chris O'Hara Nominated[12]

Soundtrack

See also

References

  1. ↑ "The Bourne Supremacy". British Film Institute. London. Retrieved September 30, 2012.
  2. 1 2 3 "The Bourne Supremacy (2004)". Box Office Mojo. Amazon.com. Retrieved 2007-08-06.
  3. ↑ Bennett, Bruce (2008-05-28). "Jason Bourne Takes His Case to MoMA". NYSun.com. Retrieved 2009-09-10.
  4. ↑ "Picking Up the Thread". Production notes. The Bourne Supremacy (2004). Retrieved 2010-07-16.
  5. ↑ "Setting Bourne's World". Production notes. The Bourne Supremacy (2004). Retrieved 2010-07-16.
  6. ↑ "'The Bourne Supremacy' Production Notes". MadeinAtlantis.com. Retrieved 2011-11-09.
  7. ↑ Armstrong, Stephen (June 8, 2008). "A whirlwind in action". The Guardian. Retrieved August 20, 2012.
  8. ↑ http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/bourne_supremacy/
  9. ↑ http://www.metacritic.com/movie/the-bourne-supremacy
  10. ↑ "2007 Taurus World Stunt Awards". TaurusWorldStundAwards.com. Retrieved 2011-11-09.
  11. ↑ "Empire Features". EmpireOnline.com. Retrieved 2010-08-24.
  12. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 "The Bourne Supremacy (2004) – Awards". IMDb. Amazon.com. Retrieved August 24, 2007.

External links

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