10 Underrated Movies Everyone Loved At First (But Now Dislikes)

5. The Bourne Identity

The Awesome Movie: Paul Greengrass' return to Bourne this year with the oddly titled Jason Bourne is being treated as a return to the series' status quo after the tangential Legacy, although that misses that it was the British English maestro who kicked the whole thing off.

No, it began with Doug Liman, whose The Bourne Identity sold Matt Damon as a capable action star and Robert Ludlum's amnesiac secret agent as a viable competition for Bond. It remains a great film, with a well-thought out conspiracy plot and rounded characterisation; he may have remembered more as the series went on (in increasingly contrived ways), but the essence of David Webb is all here.

What Happened? Greengrass took over the franchise for the sequels and it was his meticulous shaky-cam that the series has become known for - it was so successful that even Bond tried to ape it for a time. Despite having only directed half of the current entries it's viewed as his series. Fair play his directing style perfectly fits this down-and-dirty spy thriller and he executes it better than anyone else (and there have been a lot of emulators), but to define the franchise by that alone discredits much of the thrill of the original.

Doug Liman is now a powerful name, having directed the beloved (somewhat inexplicably if you ask me) Edge Of Tomorrow and set to helm Gambit (if that ever happens), so hopefully his contribution to the Bourne legacy will be reconsidered in the coming years.