The Bourne Sanction

The Bourne Identity (2002) revitalized the action genre in thrilling, consequential fashion. Matt Damon’s “Jason Bourne”—an alias for a man with no memory, but a ferocious set of fighting skills—upped the ante for gritty, imaginative, pulse-pounding action as well as emotional depth and sophistication, leading to a hugely successful franchise. The Bourne Identity was directed by Doug Liman, whose background in indie film (Swingers, Go) made him the perfect filmmaker to reinvent the genre. For the score, Liman found a willing partner in John Powell, who had started his career working for Hans Zimmer. But Powell, too, wanted to try something different from his previous action films (Face/Off).

General Boris Karpov, head of the feared Russian FSB, is dead. But Karpov has reached out from the grave with an unstoppable cyber operation he conceived before his murder, aimed at the heart of the United States–a way to steal the president's nuclear launch codes. Who has taken over the operation? Karpov trusted only one man: Jason Bourne. But can Bourne be working against his own country? The U.S. Government is convinced of his treason, and is doing everything in its power to kill him…