The Bourne Supremacy
When The Bourne Identity was getting ready to come out I learned that it was based on a book. “Cool,” I thought. It has long been my habit to read the book if a movie is based on it. This is because Ifind the books are always better than the movies. (Well there was one book I liked less than the movie, but that event has yet to repeat itself.)
So I read the Bourne Identity and thoroughly enjoyed it. Then I saw the movie and thoroughly enjoyed that as well. This, in spite of the fact the book and the movie shared a premise and character only and everything else was pretty much different.
As The Bourne Supremacy was approaching release I decided it was time to read that book, too. Unfortunately, I found the second book to be a little weaker than the first. The story line was still compelling and interesting, but I found the narrative difficult to get through in many places. Overall, it is still a good read with many exciting parts that will keep you engrossed for hours, but there are many parts that you just have to grit your teeth and slog through.
The plot is that a new killer has surfaced in the Far East who is calling himself Jason Bourne. The killer assassinates a high ranking Chinese official. This is set in the years just prior to the hand off of Hong Kong from England to China. American and English officials realize that the new killer is targetting officials to bring a dangerous scenario to the whole exchange and ultimately the whole Orient could be threatened. So they decide they need to take him out.
The problem is that they can’t find him so they decide to have the real Jason Bourne take on the fake Jason Bourne. To do this they have to convince David Webb, the real Jason Bourne, that he must assume the role of Bourne once more. Unfortunately, to do this they feel they need to trick him into it so that he will become Bourne again (pun intended). So they kidnap his wife and make it look like a Hong Kong crime boss is responsible for it.
Bourne then goes undercover to track down the fake Bourne and bring him to the crime boss in order to get his wife back. He then learns the real reason behind everything and goes on one last mission to take down the mastermind behind the assassination plot.
Overall, a pretty good story, but it could have been better. I still haven’t seen the movie (a side effect of having small children), I am looking forward to it coming out on DVD (December 7, 2004). I know it will be different than the book, but I hope that’s a good thing this time.