The Bourne Identity is a 2002 film based on a Robert Ludlum novel of the same name. Jason Bourne, played by Matt Damon, is an American-accented amnesiac desperate to discover who he is and how he ended up in the Mediterranean Sea with two bullets in his back.

Recovered unconscious by a boat of Italian fishermen, the then unidentified, yet assumed titular character discovers he’s not without skills – a talented knot tier and polyglot, the only skill he cares for is the one he’s missing: the recollection of how he became so talented. After two weeks at sea, he’s motivated to find answers – a laser pointer found grafted under his skin points to a safe deposit box located in Zurich. Upon arriving at the financial hub, a split second reaction renders two patrolling policemen unconscious – an event that gives him, and the audience an inkling that there’s more to his skills than initially thought.

The safe deposit box contains passports, thousands of dollars in cash and a loaded pistol – it also hints at his name, Jason Bourne, and an established life in Paris. After a futile attempt at embassy sanctuary, and seamlessly eluding some menacing cross hairs, he buys carriage into France from a German gypsy. Marie, played by Franka Potenta, while initially uneasy about her cash incentive, warms to her amnesic passenger after volunteering information about his forgetful predicament. Initially cynical about his amnesia, Marie grows to like Bourne through his almost youthful sincerity – a sentiment easily shared and a credit to Damon’s acting ability.

When an assortment of police, security guards and assassins attempt to capture/ kill Bourne, for reasons still unknown, Marie is presented with a choice: either go to the police, confessing the truth about Bourne – or stick with him. Marie and Bourne ultimately complement each other, both giving the other a sense of understanding and clarity in a world filled with chaos and peril. This understanding helps advocate the importance of choices made: both good and bad.

Calling the shots against Bourne and Marie is Conklin, played by Chris Cooper – a CIA coordinator who spends most of his screen time orchestrating Bourne’s demise from across the Atlantic. Unlike other movie villains, his motivation sprouts from desperation, making him an all the more treacherous foe. Complete with an armada of CIA agents/assassins at his disposal, he’s compelled to salvage his career at all costs – a career that Bourne may tarnish just by asking questions. One could easily mistake him for an office manager trying to cover up a dodgy transaction on his corporate card, a notion overlooked when witnessing the excessive power he abuses. Conklin is fixated on cleaning up his enigmatic disaster, and his failure to accept any responsibility echoes a number of stories to come out of the media in recent years: he’s made a colossal error in judgement and is intent on hiding that fact, regardless of who gets hurt.

A handful of assassins are sent to stop Bourne, all encounters prove a fresh angle on the cat and mouse idiom – or rather, the cobra and the mongoose, as the hired guns are equally matched with Bourne. The final moments with two of the assassins are varied yet equally poignant: one choosing not to accept defeat and taking matters into his own hands – the other coming to the ultimate realisation that he’s been asked to give too much. Damon is exceptional at the less-is-more model of acting – despite almost no physical reaction, you can see Bourne’s mind going at a million miles an hour, frantically trying to contemplate the avalanche of madness he repeatedly finds himself in. Yet his fresh view on the world, essentially reset to zero, has him as the film’s moral compass – his confrontations with said assassins impel him to appreciate the value and frailty of a human life.

A few clichés of the spy thriller apply: exotic locations, overzealous villains, and a 'license to kill' – while not shying away from known formulae, The Bourne Identity doesn’t use these characteristics for the sake of spectacle. Take the crippling snow-covered streets of Paris or Zurich in winter – these aspects don’t just aid the story aesthetically: they serve to better its tension. Europe’s cold and hazy appearance helps to escalate our protagonist’s desperation, sharing said desperation with the audience – regardless of who he is you can’t help but pity him. Bourne’s lost, has no identity, and at one brief point is literally freezing while trying to put the pieces of his life together. Metaphorically, we’ve all been there – I know I have. It’s not all sympathy though – he can certainly hold his own when confronted with a challenge. It’s his ability to up the ante with little consideration that kept me on the edge of my seat.

Gone are the days of the glamorous kill-for-hire movie – The Bourne Identity smartly takes the known formula of the no-questions-asked spy thriller and turns it on its head.  Ultimately, it’s about the choices we make and the varied levels of ability to cope with the fallout: some choose acceptance and honesty – others choose falsehoods and fabrications. This is an intelligent, masterful and exhilarating chase movie that never abandons its heart.

Two slightly forgetful, adrenaline-fuelled thumbs up.

Back in 2008, the world was crippled with The Dark Knight fever – Heath Ledger died from an accidental overdose (going on to win an Oscar posthumously), the film was critically lauded the world over and it grossed over a billion dollars in ticket sales alone – it even forced the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to alter its number of Best Picture nominations from five to ten.  In short, director Christopher Nolan had the world at his feet.

But instead of rushing the final Batman instalment into production, he took some time off.  He refused to confirm a 'part three', remaining vague when approached by the media.  His continued ambiguity fuelled speculation that TDK had taken its toll on the director and that he was planning on hanging up the cowl and utility belt for good. 

Turns out, Nolan was negotiating a secret deal with Warner Brothers that would see his long-time dream project come to life (in exchange for an eventual Batman 3) – that project being Inception.

Dom Cobb (Leonardo DiCaprio) is a thief on-the-run – he doesn’t steal what you can see or touch, but rather what is thought of.  He calls himself an 'extractor', a professional criminal skilled at stealing a person's most valuable secrets.  He does so when a mind is at its most vulnerable – when 'the mark' is dreaming – Cobb's clients are generally those evil corporations who love to steal trade secrets.

Turning the procedure on its head is Saito (Ken Watanabe), a shady businessman who requests for Cobb and his team to not extract an idea from his competitor (Nolan regular Cillian Murphy), but to implant one – a process referred to as 'inception'.  Initially sceptical, Saito guarantees Cobb that when the job is successful, he'll ensure his free passage back to his children in America – his record wiped clean.  Assembling his team from across the globe, Cobb recruits those skilled in surveillance, architecture, forgery and chemistry.  Oh, and weapons training (naturally).

Crafted from nothing but his imagination, Nolan has taken a simple idea and crafted it into something grand, elaborate and inspiring.

He's wonderful at writing complex and deeply troubled characters struggling with inner-turmoil – Leonard in Memento, Detective Dormer in Insomnia, both magicians in The Prestige, Bruce Wayne/Two-Face – all revealing their demons gradually to the audience.  Dom Cobb is no different – DiCaprio does an astonishing job at simultaneously keeping the viewer at arms-length, while ensuring not to alienate them.  We know he does bad things, but we don’t think he’s a bad person, which is no easy feat – a credit to his acting ability.

Other cast members do not disappoint – Cillian Murphy as 'the mark' is cold yet vulnerable, Ken Watanabe is threatening yet likable.  Cobb’s team are perfectly cast.  Ellen Page is wonderful as always as his super-intelligent (as usual) protégé architect – the sort of I-was-like-you-at-your-age role.  Page is an actor that I would pay to see her read the phone book.

The rest of the team do an admirable job – Dileep Rao plays another scientist (he was Sigourney's right-hand man in Avatar) and Tom Hardy as a sharp-tongued, scruffy version of 007 – the latter’s playful animosity with a fellow team-mate is fun to watch.

A special mention should be made to Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Cobb's 'point man' – an actor who has come such a long way since his breakout role in 3rd Rock from the Sun.  I've still not seen 300 Days of Summer, but from what I've heard he did a remarkable job in it.  I went into this not expecting much from him but I left pleasantly surprised – I relish seeing what else he’s capable of (The Riddler – anyone?).

And finally to Marion Cotillard – the film's central love interest.  Femme Fatale, loving mother, tragic muse – her character embodies such mystery and sensuality that it's understandable Nolan cast a French actress.  She is wonderfully beautiful and beautifully wonderful.

I don't believe in destiny, but I do believe in the enormous power one's history has over shaping their future – this is like Nolan's interpretation of an 'idea'.  Cobb refers to it as a parasite, one that starts small and grows and gestates and becomes something that will eventually kill us or make us stronger.  Inception is a summer blockbuster that retains its heart, presents the audience with interesting ideas and blow lots of stuff up – all doing so without sacrificing its integrity.

I used to boast to people that I had an eye for spotting special effects – I would proudly protest that if something wasn't real that I could always 'see the joins'.  We're in the age of photo-realistic effects and Inception is so remarkable, that I didn't even question said effects – even when it's obvious that we're looking at a 'dream'.  The zero-gravity scenes are a sight to behold.

Something remarkable about Inception is that without feeling confused or unfulfilled, I'm pretty sure that I didn't take away all that I could from it – fine details that I hope to discover from repeated viewings.  I have no doubt that I will.

With a cup of The Matrix, a dash of 007 and a tonne of original thought, Inception is story fundamentally about love – longed-for, lost and denied – and even though all the fancy dream stuff may initially seem like a lot to take in, stick with it.  Inception pays off with its thought-provoking and highly affecting climax – not to mention the final shot being an absolute killer, which is well worth the price of admission.

Congratulations Mr Nolan, you've managed to do what we all thought impossible – you've constructed an original, well-made, unpretentious, highly intelligent Hollywood blockbuster.  Now, if you please – The Dark Knight Returns?

Two – or is it four – or six – wait... are these hands even real?  Let's just say – a lot of thumbs up.

At a New York comic-book store, teenage nerd Dave Lizewski (Aaron Johnson) starts to question why the superheros from his comic books have never existed in real life, lamenting that they should.  Fed up with too much injustice going unpunished, Lizewski takes matters into his own hands by re-inventing himself: as the wetsuit-wearing, baton-wielding, masked do-gooder Kick-Ass.  But after online exposure encourages a wake of bloody carnage, Lizewski starts to wonder if Kick-Ass is in over his head.  Along for the bloody ride are other superheros Hit-Girl (Chloë Grace Moretz), Big Daddy (Nicolas Cage) and Red Mist (Christopher Mintz-Plasse - aka McLovin from Superbad).  Mark Strong also features as menacing mob-boss Frank D'Amico.  The film is directed by Matthew Vaughn (Layer Cake, Stardust) and based on the comic by Mark Millar (Marvel: Civil War, Superman: Red Son).

First, let's address the elephant in the room: Kick-Ass is foul-mouthed, violent and excessive in all meanings of the word.  It is relentless in its execution (sorry), and doesn't paint 11-year-old girls, or their single-parent fathers, in a very good light; on the surface at least.  I'll touch on this later.

Lizewski has no powers or no special skills, other than 'invisibility to girls' – he's a normal comic book reading, masturbation-fixated teenage male.  He has friends, goes to school, and lives with his night-shift working dad; nothing out of the ordinary here.  One day, like any other, he walks home from the comic book store to again be robbed at knifepoint, during which he witnesses a stranger observing from a window, only to close the curtains and walk away.  Lizewski's frustration in having to hand over cash he'd (or rather his Dad had) worked hard to earn, along with the impassive reaction of said witness, are the genesis for Kick-Ass.

Grounding fantastic stories in reality is the new black.  Taking an idea that seems far-fetched and eccentric, and placing it in a world an audience can relate to has proven lucrative in the last few years.  From Jason Bourne, to James Bond, to masked men, both Bat and Iron-like – in a world where everything has been tried and tested and is always accessible, audiences are warming to tales that seem familiar yet fanciful.  The film features sites like MySpace and YouTube, both familiar to those who don't live under rocks – a hero twists his ankle during a grand entrance ergo deeming him relatable – to date, this film is the best example of a superhero film keeping the story believable, without the need to invent some far-out quirk that allows for the occasional bending of realism.  Granted, some weapon re-loading techniques seem impossible, but the character's approaches to certain impasses do not.  There are no radioactive accidents, no lasers, no villain-invented high-tech weaponry that will doom us all; there are fists, knives, guns and a whole lot o' bullets.  Oh, and a bazooka.

Doing her worst with the knives and guns is the threatening yet lovable Hit-Girl – an 11-year-old assassin raised by her father, Big Daddy, to raise hell when required. Big Daddy knows a thing or two about the law, and firmly believes that the system is broken and in desperate need of assistance.  We meet the two unmasked, as Damon & Mindy Macready, during a bullet-proof vest test – a scene that will horrify many, guaranteed!  Chemistry is apparent between the two, which helps to swell pathos in later scenes – Big Daddy is protective of his daughter, and only wants to prepare her for the horrors life is sure to throw at her.  And prepared she is.  Moretz is wonderful as Hit-Girl, a character worthy of her own movie, and she steals the show in every scene she features.  Cage is notable as Big Daddy, but his role is more of an extended cameo, something Cage-o-philes may lament at.

Entering the fray from left field is Red-Mist – a financially-supported hero who isn't quite as he seems. Mintz-Plasse does a modest job at a conflicted wannabe hero, a role that the director could have used a more experienced actor for.  Why Red-Mist is conflicted, I’ll leave for you to discover yourself.

Someone once told me that they couldn't understand why superheros would only knock out their enemy, ensuring they remained incapacitated until the law arrived – "it would just clog up the prison system" and they recommended "taking the perpetrator out", or "at least teaching them a (bloody) lesson".  This film uses that mentality in spades: if a bad guy is a bad guy, he/she gets killed.  My only criticism of this is that when suited, some of the characters felt oddly one-dimensional, only rectified when there's not a mask in sight.  However, this could easily be seen as a reflection on super-heros of the past who've graced our screens (Cage seems strangley Adam West-like when suited up).

I'd hoped that the character of Katie (Lyndsy Fonseca), the film's mandatory love-interest, had received more development and screen-time.  Perhaps her stance on the greyness of good and bad, made clear by where she volunteers, could have been used to balance the black & white elements of the story.  Hopefully she gets more screen time in the inevitable sequel  – maybe even an alter-ego? 

Back to Hit-Girl – some critics believe her character to be of bad taste, some sort of gore-porn or paedophilic fodder.  I don't think that Hit-Girl is intended as a sexualised super-heroine – she, along with the entire premise, has clearly been conceived with tongue firmly in cheek.  The 21st Century has seen kids despicably sexualised, and often left to fend for themselves – but with correct parenting, there is a good chance that they'll come out the other end relatively unscathed, a message that is driven home via Big Daddy.  Some family groups have said that the (Australian) MA15+ rating is too soft, and that it should be slapped with an R18+ rating.  Every film classification in Australia comes with a description of why it’s rated the way it is – Kick-Ass lists 'strong violence, coarse language and sexual references'.  As a parent, make the call – if you don’t want your kid watching this movie and being influenced by it, stop them from seeing it.  'Nuff said.

It's endearing to think that Big Daddy had put eons of time and dedication into ensuring his daughter is prepared for the outside world – self-reliance is a skill seldom taught.  But centrally, the film is not about Hit-Girl and Big Daddy – it's about Kick-Ass, a walking reminder that not all of us need a specific reason or desire (or limitless bank balance) to do good.  He knows he's running head on into a situation he'll probably not return from, but he does so anyway, proudly proclaiming that it's okay to just want to help. This made me question what I'd do if presented with someone else's struggle.  Would I run straight in, stand and watch, or bolt for the nearest hiding spot?  Alas, probably the latter.

Kick-Ass is an excessively violent, terribly obscene and exhilaratingly fresh take on the superhero movie, which even The Dark Knight only hinted at*.  The violence is excessive but not unjustified – should superheros exist in real life, they would probably be stabbed or shot at.  If I were a superhero, I’d be dropping c-bombs at anyone who threatened me with implied death – I'd just ensure to keep a swear jar back at the nerd-cave.

Two bloodied, broken and bruised thumbs up.

*Okay haters, before you get up in arms, I loved The Dark Knight and proudly declare it as the first Blu-ray I ever bought.  For me, it’s up there with The Godfather II and The Empire Strikes Back as films far superior to their respective 'part one'.