THE PLOT IN CASE YOU'RE TOO DAMN LAZY TO USE IMDB: Matt Damon is found floating in the Meditteranean Sea, suffering amnesia. Turns out he can kick ass for the Lord. Turns out also that some CIA spooks want him dead.
This should have been a generic-as-fuck movie. It really should have been.
I mean, the trailers sure sold it as such. Plus, it had the GOOD WILL HUNTING guy and occasional Ben Affleck butt buddy trying to be an action star. Pfft.
Instead, it became the sleeper hit of that summer, and did insane business on DVD. But why?
Robert Ludlum's novel was Cold War spyfare about a middle-aged guy fighting in divided Europe for his identity. But director Doug Liman and scripter Tony Gilroy re-evaluated the book and the post-Cold War world, and in doing so, they deliver the freshest thriller in spy cinema since the Fall of the Wall.
The devil is in the details. If Brad Pitt had done the film as he was supposed to, before injury forced him to drop out, the film wouldn't have worked as well. We accept Tyler Durden beating up assassins but Matt FUCKING Damon?
And that folks, is why he works so well for the film. Damon isn't a natural born action personality, and we buy his own confusion and fear when by trained instinct, he can become the calmest killing machine alive. Plus, Damon seems of the right age-frame to which he could have been recruited by the CIA and 5 years later after insane training and field work, he would be probably that damn efficient.
Plus, he gives off a sort of innocent charisma thats him an easy person to root for as an underdog against the CIA and its covert army. It explains why Franka Potente would indeed stick with him despite not knowing who he really is, nor if he might easily snap her neck to save himself.
Then there are other details that Hollywood has already been highly influenced by. The hero's own knowledge and automatic reactive measures obviously made a notice on the Bond franchise with CASINO ROYALE, and I bet Doug Liman's own-shot action sequences gave Christopher Nolan the guts to helm BATMAN BEGINS' own 2nd-unit shooting.
OFF-NOTE: Blibble, you triple dog-dared me. You owe me money.
