a movie about a superspy that gets amnesia and has to figure out who he is and why tired assassins are trying to kill him. the premise is cool, but how did it translate to film? in a nutshell, i thought the first half was good, the second half was so-so. matt damon as a superspy? okay, i bought it. i'm not a big matt damon fan (although i thought he was really good in the talented mr.ripley), but i think he pulled it off. scenes where he instinctively dispenses cans after cans of spy training whoop-ass, he definitely has action star street cred now. franka potente as marie kreutz, the german love interest, she's okay, not a striking beauty, which makes it believeable (don't you hate spy movies where the spy always gets the hot girl? a la james bond). the audience giggled when it became obvious she was falling for this mysterious jason bourne who can't remember his own identity. i mean, who doesn't want a spy boyfriend?

this movie is going to give people mini fever, that oh-so-retro compact european car that's starting to make a splash here in the US. i had thoughts of wanting one many months ago, but now that the mini will be getting a lot of publicity by being the getaway vehicle in the requisite action movie car chase, i think too many people will be buying minis, which will make it not so cool anymore. anyway, if you're a mini fan, you'll like this movie.

casting decisions: julia stiles as nicolette, the parisian spy operator. what the hell is she doing in this movie, and in such an insignificant role? is she a medium star? save the last dance, 10 things i hate about you. her talents seem wasted in this movie. everytime she was on the screen i thought to maybe, "hey, that's julie stiles!" i found her appearance in the movie as a distraction. i wonder why she was even cast in the role. then there's adewale akinnuoye-agbaje as nykwana wombosi (what a mouthful!), assassination target. better known for his role as adebisi, resident oz penitentiary bigwig. i almost expected him to be selling tits the first time he was on the screen.

i had said that the second half of the movie was so-so. without giving anything away, i thought the ending wasn't spectacular enough, it just sort of happpened. and then after the ending, there's another ending, the special hollywood style conclusion where the guy gets the girl and everyone lives happily ever after. i like those endings, don't get me wrong, but i don't know, seems so formulaic. i like happy endings (as a matter of fact, i almost demand happy endings in my movies, i don't go see movies to feel all depressed and sad), but there's got to be a better way of doing one that doesn't seem so contrived. i don't have the solution, so i won't complain too much about it, just letting you know its there.

definitely see this film if you're into espionage and cloak and daggery. out of the three major films that were released this weekend - scooby-doo, windtalkers, the bourne identity - i think the bourne identity is the best out of those three (i make this claim without having seen those other two movies though). it's an exciting film, and although i found the ending to be weak, the ride to the conclusion wasn't so bad.

oh my god, did somebody break in? no, it's just a form of mullerian mimicry, where by making the apartment look unappetizing for would-be burglars, the place escapes from being robbed. that is how i would describe alex's interior decoration style, this free form bachelor living. i made it to malden today without getting lost or ending up in revere or everett like i usually do. alex will move out of this apartment by the end of the month to another malden apartment. his disdain for his current landlord and for the other tenants living in the building are reasons for him to be leaving the place after being here for a year. his new place is smaller but cheaper, and in a better neighborhood.

we went to go see the bourne identity at the showcase cinema in malden first. after the movie, he took me to see his new apartment, a condo complex called the highland. a studio space, he said it was 300 square feet but seemed a lot bigger (his current place is like 800-900 square feet), a main room with two smaller satellite rooms, a kitchen, and a bathroom. we went to the roof of the condo to soak in the view, a very cool area, we could even see boston on the horizon. it'd be a nice place to catch the fireworks on the 4th of july. after we left, i realized it's actually very close to where steve, my former screen house coworker, use to be when he lived in malden, the one time i visited for a summer barbecue.