Another rockin’ thriller. With the change in director from Identity to Supremacy, there are changes in approach to film, but the changes are more or less a wash to me. I enjoyed the film.
A plus in this film is the technique. Greengrass amps up the handheld camera here, always giving the viewer a sense of participation. Sometimes the POV is though the eye of Bourne, but the camera is often the eye of an independent viewer who is right in the action, trying to see what’s going on, to see where the danger is. So Supremacy is constantly pulling us in but also disorienting us, making us strain to see what’s happening while the camera jogs through the action. It’s an extremely effective technique, and it’s coupled with editing that reinforces the participant view. There are rapid cuts in action sequences and longer takes in meetings, though the latter use editing to keep us involved in the film. In one CIA meeting, while the handheld camera follows what’s happening, there are a several cuts to close-ups and super close-ups, surprising us in their contrast from wide shot to close-up but also duplicating the way a spectator would look to study a reaction. I think of music video when I think of a technique like this, and in Supremacy, the hand-held camera and fast editing keep you involved throughout. You’re never lost in chaos, either, even in the chase scenes and fights. Greengrass skillfully follows the narrative line as he cuts and jostles the camera though the fights and chases.
Supremacy is also strong on the level of image. The opening sequences in Goa are bathed in warm reds, oranges and browns with bits of more saturated colors dribbled in, and you appreciate this pallet even more because it’s contrasted with the cold blues and greens of Berlin that it’s intercut with. Greengrass also uses architectural elements to create bold patterns across the screen, like the banks of windows outside the temporary CIA office. And though there are many woman-underwater-with-floating-hair scenes in film, that scene in Supremacy feels like it owes a special debt to the parallel scene in Night of the Hunter. Greengrass clearly has a skill at creating strong images.
As skillful and engaging as Greengrass’ technique is here, there is one loss in the move from Identity to Supremacy – a loss of warmth and personality. In Identity, there is at least some psychology to Bourne, and viewers can feel some empathy with him. In Supremacy, though, narrative has top billing, and there is little real character development. Even scenes that should involve some audience sympathy, like the time Bourne spends at the site of his earlier crime and his later visit to the girl, fail to involve us as much as the action and meeting sequences. Maybe that's a limitation of Greengrass’ technique since you don’t get much intimacy or empathy if you’re at the mercy of an active camera and active editor.
Still, Bourne Supremacy is a great, fun action movie, clearly a notch above much of what is around.
