Ben Affleck has met his Matt-ch (From Western Telegraph)

Ben Affleck has met his Matt-ch

The Bourne Identity Directed by Doug Liman Starring, Matt Damon, Franka Potent, Chris Cooper, Clive Owen, Brian Cox. Cert. PG, Dur. 118 mins

Can you believe its already five years since Ben Affleck and Matt Damon burst into the ranks of stardom with a script they wrote themselves called Good Will Hunting. They also starred in the film and together took the stage on Oscar night. Their intelligence, talent and physical appeal has enabled them to convert the points into prizes, both having enjoyed successful and secure careers since. Affleck and Damon have enough bankable talent to see them through subsequent film failures (Pearl Harbour and All The Pretty Horses respectively) that might have ended some young stars careers.

This week though sees them pitted more closely against each other in the box office than ever before. A few weeks ago Affleck played Tom Clanceys CIA man Jack Ryan in The Sum Of All Fears, which is still riding high in the charts. This week his best mate, Matt Damon, plays the lead a the spy thriller, roughly adapted from Robert Ludlums novel, The Bourne Identity. Damon plays Jason Bourne, but Bourne does not know that that is his name when, on a stormy night, he is pulled out of the Mediterranean Sea by the crew of a fishing boat. Thinking the young man is dead, a curious fisherman with a scalpel finds two bullets in his back and a miniature laser device in his hip.

The laser reveals a Swiss bank account number. But our wet hero isnt dead, and soon finds himself in Zurich. In the bank vault, the young man discovers his name, Jason Bourne. In addition, he finds a baffling pile of different passports, all with his picture, and a huge pile of cash.

While this mild-mannered American tries to piece together his life, he is disturbed to discover he has almost super-human talents for killing people who are trying to kill him, though whether that would be more disturbing than realising that lots of people are trying to kill you in the first place is debatable.

Anyway, at the US Embassy, Jason Bourne discovers his love interest, Marie, played by Franka Potent. She accompanies him on his romp across Europe in search of Bournes true identity.

Its all rather silly if you look too closely, but if you find time to look too closely then the world of cinema is not for you, because this is one of the most exciting spy stories Ive seen in years. Damon is without the charisma of a silky spy but in this story his hometown-boy appeal works brilliantly in contrast to who he slowly discovers he is.

Doug Liman is not an experienced action director, having previously given us the likes of Swingers and Go, but his technique for reality cinema and getting very stylish interplay from his performers works brilliantly to ground a heady plot.

The Bourne Identity is movie escapism, action packed, excitement with just enough brainpower to set it above a shoot em up. Although I like Ben Affleck a great deal, I have to say that Damon whips him soundly in this battle of the buddy-blockbuster stars. This is worth a hundred of The Sum Of All Fears.

Is there room for a sequel? This is one of the rare occasions where youll hear me say I hope so because Matt Damon is fantastic as this gentle but frightening, fist-fighting, I could kill you with my pen! hero. Go and see it. VAUGHAN SIVELL