Supremacy

Bourne Supremacy is a wrap. As was the case with Identity the movie diverged from the book in major ways. What began to strike me, however, was the way that it stayed true to the theme of the book. Although Russia in the movie replaces China, the "big bad" in each case has the same MO and level of access. I still think that the movies went a wise route in cutting Jason Bourne off from the CIA and making his life one of running instead of teaching.

Partially this change was created by the age factor. In the books, Bourne starts in late middle age and runs quickly toward early old age. The switch to Matt Damon made the "old" Bourne a no-go and created a younger face for the franchise. It also helped to cut out the family man aspect of the books. This made the movies much more exciting to watch and faster paced.

The books in turn benefited from the older Bourne. Ludlum's Bourne wrote better about Bourne as he made him older and more of a family man. In Bourne Supremacy Ludlum's Bourne is altogether more readable than he was in Identity. I'll follow up on this theme in my review on Bourne Ultimatum, but briefly, as Bourne became more like Ludlum the writing of his character became more and more nuanced. As these details increased, Bourne as a character became more and more readable.

Identity

I finished up Bourne Identity two days ago. I found it a passable thriller, but not as good as Le Carre or sadly, the movie. In the long time that I've read books and seen spin off movies this has only happened once before. In that case it was The Hunt for Red October. A vastly more enjoyable movie than book. Something about the way that the submarines moved in the ocean was much clearer in the movie than it was on the printed page. Usually I prefer my own vision of what a novel's events are, and most of my favorite writers are damn good at helping me to create that vision. The submarines in Red October defied my ability to see them as well as the movie could present them to me.

In this case Identity the film was close to but not lifted straight from the source book. They moved the movie to a two sided affair instead of the three way game of intrigue in the book. This allowed the film to concentrate much more on the two things that made it stand out so well from the pack. First, it brought to the forefront the relationship between Bourne and Marie. This humanized Bourne and made him a character that was much easier to root for than the Bourne in the book.

The second focus was the real winner for the movie over the book. The flashbacks that Bourne underwent as he tried to regain his memory. In the book Ludlum rushes through these moments, concentrating on using them to push along the plot of the book. The movie humanizes these moments, they become personal experiences of Bourne that the viewer gets to share. These interactions drew me into the movie and made me relate with the characters. It also made the plot much more vivid. Bourne's unknowing was the key to the film, in the book it's discarded whenever it becomes inconvenient.

There be Dragons

I finished up the first three books in Naomi Novik's Temeraire series last week. They were enjoyable if fluff filled books that reminded me of the Dauntless series that I wrote about earlier. This is a fantasy historical adventure in the same vein. There were good books but I can't say that I'd reread them. For a book I find that worrisome. I enjoy rereading my novels. If I didn't I'd run out of books far to quickly. But I just can't find a reason to reread them. They were fun and tasty, but like a sculpture made of sugar, they melted away once I was done with them.

I also got the new Bourne books for my birthday, given the difference between the books and the movies (and there are some BIG ones) I'm thinking I need to go back and read the novels. The movies have taken up to much of my consciousness of the series and they have very little in common with the books. And while I suspect that these will be made into movies, I think that they'll only be loosely related to the titles.