Today on TV: This revolutionary action thriller served as a template for 5 (!) James Bond films

The longest-running cinema franchise of all time has had to reinvent itself regularly over the decades: when Sean Connery temporarily gave up his increasingly unpopular role as James Bond after “You Only Live Twice” and George Lazenby followed in his oversized footsteps, “007” would then almost disappeared. After Roger Moore’s space travel in “Moonraker”, which was heavily inspired by “Star Wars” in the late 1970s, the spectacle could hardly be staged. And after Pierce Brosnan’s increasingly distant stints as Britain’s MI6 agent, filmmakers hit the reset button shortly after the turn of the millennium to put the franchise back in the more believable here and now after the escapist Die Another Day.

Shortly before Pierce Brosnan’s last Bond movie, “The Bourne Identity” to packed theaters, garnered a strong audience response and promptly ushered in a new era of spy movies. The Bond makers have always known how to respond to the signs of the times without undermining their brand core too much: they oriented the realignment of the five films to Daniel Craig, who made his debut in the 2006 reboot.” Casino Royale” and 2021 in “No Time To Die” relinquished, also based on the success principle of Doug Liman’s gripping action thriller, premiering today, February 1 at 8:15 PM on Nitro.

What Bourne’s identity is all about

Italian fishermen in the Mediterranean Sea retrieve the body of a man who has two bullets in his back but is still alive. When the seriously injured regains consciousness below deck, he is shocked to discover that he has lost his memory. Who is this man – and why did you want to kill him? The recovered man disembarks in Marseille. He reached Zurich through an implant in his hip bearing the number of a Swiss bank account. In the safe, which he apparently rented there, he discovers numerous fake passports, thick wads of money and a gun. What does all this mean?

We enjoy a knowledge advantage over the Nameless: Jason Bourne (Matt Damon) is a highly trained elite operative, a killing machine stationed in Paris as part of the CIA’s “Treadstone” program. In the car of globetrotter Marie Helena Kreutz (Franka Potente), whom Bourne meets during an incident at the American embassy, ​​he flees to Paris from the police and his clients, for whom he has become a ticking time bomb. But he is already expected there…

This is how Bourne inspired Bond and Bond Bourne

Jason Bourne and James Bond both have their first and last names that start with the same two letters – but that’s not the only thing the successful series have in common. Bond inspired Bourne and vice versa. When “The Bourne Identity” was released in cinemas in September 2002, the 007 series was on the cusp of the much-needed reboot mentioned at the outset: two months later, Bond roared across the cinema screen in an invisible car over frozen lakes, the villain in “Die to another day” lives in an ice palace! Jason Bourne’s first adventure is a more credible alternative to the 007 cosmos: no bombast, no futuristic gadgets and no exuberant visual effects, but rather grounded sets and hard-hitting action that anchor the events in reality.

The loss of his memory also makes Bourne more human. He’s not always a superior superhero as 007 often was, but a sensitive, likeable man. Uncertain, he reveals himself to his companion (Franka Potente as the counterpart to the classic “Bond Girl”), almost reluctantly, he finds himself in the immaculate body of a fighting machine. We feel and suffer with him. A similar pattern characterizes the Bond films with Craig: 007 had to get by almost numb until the 90s – exceptions like the underrated “On Her Majesty’s Secret Service” confirm the rule – Bond mourns the death of Craig’s first film “Casino Royale” lover Vesper Lynd (Eva Green) and embarks on a vendetta in Quantum of Solace.

As in the Craig films, the fight scenes in the first Bourne adventure also seem very grounded, which does not make them any less exciting: instead of relying on tricky gimmicks, as we know from the older Bond comics, these sequences are incredibly physical. After his arrival in Zurich, Bourne not only berates two patrol officers, but also other officers who are supposed to take him out of circulation. His reflexes surprise any opponent, he fights with the precision of a robot. And yet it seems real.

Conversely, the creators of Bourne were inspired here and there by 007: the breakneck pursuit in the red Mini Cooper through oncoming traffic in Paris is reminiscent of the Bond film “A View to a Kill”, in which Roger Moore, who lived far over At the time, 50 raced around the Eiffel Tower in a not exactly brand new Renault on his last assignment for the Bond franchise. We also know from Bond adventures the worldwide network of agents who work for the same secret service and who can never keep up with the main character in an emergency. And of course the renegade elite cop who gets into a fight with his employer.

That’s why the first Bourne adventure is so worth it

The Bourne identity has aged incredibly well and not only inspired the 007 movies, but also started its own franchise with four sequels. There are only a few breathers: accompanied by a strong soundtrack, it goes through Zurich and Paris at breakneck speed. But the emotional world of Bourne and his companion is given enough space. The characters gain depth and the film does not degenerate into a soulless action spectacle. Those who are not yet familiar with the Bourne series can also join the search for clues in the past: what happened before the elite agent fell into the Mediterranean? And what is behind the program “Treadstone”, which later even got its own spin-off series?

The fact that Bourne’s superiors – especially the stressed-out Alexander Conklin (Chris Cooper) – leave headquarters late in this movie and seem quite woodcut-esque as characters is, on balance, easy to digest: “The Bourne Identity” offers a highly entertaining, fast-paced game of hide and seek in the heart of Europe, laced with fine humorous nuances. Netflix therefore offers a great alternative for those who always found the older James Bond films too distant.