I had high hopes for this film, since I had enjoyed Bourne Identity so much. Unfortunately it was quite a let down!

Whilst the first film was predominantly an action film, there were enough plot twists and surprises to give it an edge of mystery.

I wouldn’t say I didn’t enjoy Bourne Supremacy, because I did. There was just nothing special about it. It felt rather formulaic.

To begin with we have a rather haggard looking Matt Damon once again taking the role of Jason Borne, the amnesiac assassin. I couldn’t work out if he was supposed to look haggard for the part, or if it was the actor himself who has seen better days…

But I’m getting away from the point.

Don’t get me wrong; I prefer a film with good dialogue, great plot, and preferably a few surprises along the way…

But I’m as much of a sadistic degenerate as the next psychopath, so can see the entertainment value of seeing the bad guys being beaten to a pulp, along with lots of running, chasing, explosions and gratuitous violence along the way… As long as it aids plot development of course

Bourne Identity had all of that. Bourne Supremacy fails miserably!

Other than disarming and rendering unconscious a couple of policemen (with two punches I hasten to add) there was only one proper fight scene throughout the entire film, and even that had an excessively scripted feel about it, with none of the dramatic excitement you would expect when a lead character is fighting for his life.

Then there were the chases, a couple were on foot, and two were in a car. Both felt formulaic and somewhat old.

Then there was catching up with a fellow assassin sent to kill him, which sounds strangely like the first film…

Julia Stiles returns to the role of Nicky, who as superfluous as she was in the first instalment. I can’t help but wonder why they didn’t either make more of her part, or save money by just using a pretty extra in the background and just get her to move papers and bustle around.

Karl Urban made a very convincing villain, but, like most of the characters, he was underused.

I do feel that the cast was very good, and did remarkably well with such a poor script. Had they been given a half-way decent plot and better (or perhaps that should simply be more) dialogue, that the film could have easily outclassed the first one…

I’m wondering if I’m the only one who noticed that nobody really seemed to talk much during the film?

All in all, a rather tired and obvious story, no twists or turns, pretty much average action and fight scenes, certainly nothing to grab the attention.

If you like tame action films, then you’ll enjoy it, if you liked Bourne Identity, chances are you’ll be disappointed with this as the sequel. I only hope they manage to get back on track with the announced third instalment “The Bourne Ultimatum”!