07. THE BOURNE IDENTITY (2002)
Whoever first thought a Mini could make a great chase scene car is quite simply a genius! In
The Bourne Identity, the retro red Austin Mini Cooper that amnesiac spy Jason Bourne drives around Paris transforms from a comical old-fashioned car into an effective getaway vehicle. With the chase taking place through winding, narrow Paris streets, the Mini becomes the perfect vehicle to manoeuvre Bourne out of his predicament with the police. Highlights come in the form of driving the wrong way along one-way streets, speeding along busy pavements, gliding down steps and quickly edging through the restrictive, narrow back alleys of the city. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B8-CUJ1SVHk Bourne doesnt need any gadgets like other spies, instead demonstrating an adept skill for driving in a completely reckless but skilled way! The police are conventionally poor drivers, with a suitably inferior propensity to manoeuvre through the city landscape and the scene comes to a humorous climax when one of police motorcyclists in pursuit smashes into a Peugeot 405!
Doug Limans tight direction helps heighten the frantic sense of the scene, with the majority of the sequence filmed in restrictive close ups, giving it a sense of mystery and excitement.