Intermission: 'Bourne Supremacy' : cure for insomnia?

Jim Wunderle owns Wunderle Sound Services and is a Springfield free-lance writer and musician.

"The Bourne Supremacy" is the second movie in what the filmmakers hope becomes a "franchise."

Franchise filmmaking isn't really a new idea there were the "Thin Man" movies in the 30s and 40s, the James Bond series that began in the 60s and continues even now, and the "Star Wars," "Star Trek," "Batman," "Superman," "Spiderman" series that seem to be endless.

Popular novels are rife with the trend. Publishers, editors and writers spend a lot of time coming up with a franchise theme. Janet Evanovich has the "number" theme going with books like "One for the Money," "Two for the Dough," and her latest, "Ten Big Ones."

Sue Grafton uses the alphabet ("A is for Alibi," "B is for Burglar," etc.) and John MacDonald with his Travis McGee character has a color scheme.

Robert Ludlum has written a number of thrillers that stand on their own, but somewhere along the line, he, or his publishing company, decided he needed a franchise and the "Bourne" series was born.

The first film featuring agent Jason Bourne was "The Bourne Identity" from 2002.

It was a taut thriller and a well-executed translation of the novel. Second in the series, "The Bourne Supremacy," brings back Matt Damon in the lead role, the underrated Franka Potente (who was incredible in "Run, Lola, Run") as his girlfriend and other characters from the first film.

New to the mix is Agent Landy, played by Joan Allen, who is revisiting the perfect ice queen screen persona she perfected in films such as "Nixon" and "The Ice Storm." Like Potente, Allen is a great actress who seems to be overlooked in the Hollywood scheme of things.

Fans of Ludlum's series may be satisfied with this second chapter the third, "The Bourne Ultimatum" is in the works but the average moviegoer may be befuddled by the constant onslaught of what proves to be one of the most boring thrillers ever made.

Damon, as Jason Bourne, is still in his same fix. He doesn't really know who he is or what he's done.

The agency is still trying to kill him, and the film is merely an endless manifestation of this plot point.

Jason Bourne's amnesia is central to these stories, and Damon can't be faulted for his realization of the role. As he proved in "Good Will Hunting," he's an actor who can be believed as having some sort of brain disorder.

In "Supremacy," Bourne is living an idyllic life in India with Marie (Potente) who he met in the first film. But the powers that be are still after him and they seemingly will stop at nothing.

The scenes that clue the audience in to what is actually going on are urgent, herky-jerky dream sequences. I appreciated being told what was happening and why, but the style is so annoying that it distracts from the message.

Besides all of his other problems, Bourne has been framed by who else? someone in the agency.

It's apparent from the first act who has done it, so the from that point on, one of the things that make a thriller "thrilling" is already gone.

Director Paul Greengrass, an Australian whose main work has been in the TV realm, overplays nearly every scene, and even the car chases and gunfights become boring and pedantic.

The chase scene in the final act is particularly annoying, as it seems to exist for the sole purpose of being a movie chase scene. Nothing (such as the obvious number of deaths that occurred because of the chase) is ever morally dealt with or even remotely justified.

Joan Allen as Agent Landy is the only thing that kept me interested. She's an actress who plays her roles with a restrained subtlety that always stands out by means of the sheer understatement of the performance.

Her scenes in "The Bourne Supremacy" were riveting.

Having not read the "Bourne" books, I guess it's not exactly fair for me to comment on what I thought was a complete snore of a film. Ludlum fans may love it, but fans of the thriller genre will be bored to tears.