No doubt about it, Matt Damon has star power. Blessed with agreeable looks, pleasant demeanour, a sharp wit and intellect, the kid can also act. No wonder that the producers of The Bourne Identity wanted him back for another slice at the franchise. With the original director Doug Liman (Go!) now wearing producer’s shoes, little known Paul Greengrass (Bloody Sunday) was approached to put a fresh spin on the sequel. The Bourne Supremacy, marked by a robust cast and punchy script, picks up where Identity left off in Goa. Unhappily aware that he has a forgotten past, ex-spy Jason Bourne (Damon) and his girlfriend are tending their nightmares. When the past pays a visit in the form of a Russian hit-man (New Zealand’s studly Karl Urban), tragedy descends in a way that sends Bourne on a rampage of revenge that echoes to the top of the CIA. Colleagues Joan Allen and Brian Cox fight to bring him in as the action spins from India to Berlin to Moscow and back. There is something delightfully old-fashioned about The Bourne Supremacy that retains the Cold War thrill of Ludlum’s source material. This is a grey forbidding expression of Europe that is the perfect backdrop to Bourne’s own grim, forbidding expression. Damon lends Bourne a terrific physical and emotional presence expected of a crack killer who’s more just a little pissed off. Although Greengrass caves into a ridiculous car chase finale that virtually derails the film, the rest of this exciting production rides its audience on the edge of its seat. There are better sequels and better thrillers, but as a combination you’d go much further to find considerably less. // COLIN FRASER