[Quick Summary: Bourne, a guy on the run with amnesia, goes back to his roots to find out how he became an assassin.]
Though the Bourne films varied for me,* all the scripts are good to excellent.
I admire the writers for continuing to find ways to create new obstacles for Bourne. It's tough to surprise today's audiences, who are often wise to genre tropes.
Thrillers have a lot of fast paced action, but I'm always impressed when there's a twist that relies more on brains than brawn.
For example, today's script had a small, clever detail that snuck by me.
Yes, it's a small, but the devil IS in the details, isn't it?
EXT. UPPER EAST SIDE -- LATE AFTERNOON
Bourne exits from the subway. Bourne walks north.
INT. HUB
Wills pacing...Bourne's profile is up on Screen 2. It says "David Webb (AKA Jason Bourne)" on the profile. A tech comes to Wills.
TECH: Sir, this may be nothing but, look at Bourne's birthday.
Wills looks at the profile. Bourne's birthdate is listed as 9/13/70.
WILLS: What about it?
TECH: Well, Landy told Bourne his birthday was 4/15/71 so...
Wills gets it instantly.
WILLS: Everything stops. (to the room now) EVERYTHING STOPS! LISTEN UP! (they're listening) New assignment. Numbers. Four. Fifteen. Seventy-one. What do they mean?
Wills grabs his headset --
EXT. CRASH SITE -- DAY
A CRI agent approaches Vosen.
CRI AGENT: Landy gave Bourne a false birthday. Wills thinks it's a code.
It sinks in for Vosen...oh...shit...
WHAT I'VE LEARNED: I liked this twist because it relied on observation, not having superior gadgets.
The Bourne Identity (2007)(final shooting script, 7/20/2007)
by Tony Gilroy and Scott Z. Burns and George Nolfi
Story by Tony Gilroy
Based on the novels by Robert Ludlum and Universal's "The Bourne Identity" and "The Bourne Ultimatum"
* How I ranked the Bourne films:
- Bourne Identity: It's the freshest and most original.
- Bourne Supremacy: I wanted to see what happened to Marie.
- Bourne Utlimatum: I'd lost patience with the "guy on the run with amnesia."
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