My rating ****
Imdb link
This is an excellent character driven action spy thriller which races across Europe but spends most of its time in Paris. Although those involved in the production keep repeating in the DVD extras what a new kind of film this is, it actually harks back to the style of 1960s European co-productions set during World War II or during the Cold War. These kinds of films not only have great European settings but also feature coolly composed characters and complex double crosses and plot twists. Of course, it must be said that the martial arts style action and the high tech immediately distinguishes The Bourne Identity from its earlier counterparts. The car chase through Paris is fabulous. Another fantastic – and even better – car chase through Paris comes to mind, namely the one in Ronin (1998), an earlier high quality uber cool Euro spy action thriller not a million miles away in style from this film.
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For shorter but certainly stylish Parisian chases there is the opening scene of Subway (beginning in mid-chase), and the classic car/foot versus mobilette chase in Diva.
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I had a look at the car chase from Subway on youtube. I haven’t seen the film since it originally came out. I have to say ipods are definitely a step up from tapedecks in cars. The scene with Christopher Lambert extracting the mangled cassette is all too familiar… And he was right – you can’t drive without music.
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