Went to see The Bourne Identity tonight for three main reasons. First up, I'd read the Robert Ludlum novel back in the 80s and always thought it'd make a decent movie; secondly, the trailer looked promising (even if it did give away a key plot element of the book within the first sentence uttered) and thirdly, I often find myself drawn to films that deal with memory loss and/or identity crisis.

The film is certainly well made, the editing is zippy, the action scenes are snappy (too much so for me to recommend parents to take young children to see this) and the camerawork lingers lovingly over the contours of Matt Damon's two leading ladies - Panasonic and Motorola respectively. Damon acquits himself well in the fight scenes, but I think the film would have been more interesting if Clive Owen (wasted here in what is no more than a glorified cameo as a taciturn hitman) had been in the lead role, he'd have made for a more troubled and troubling (anti)hero.

But that leads to the biggest disappointment of the film - given that the Damon character's amnesia is the unique selling point of what is a fairly hackneyed plot, the film-makers seem to display no intent to do anything interesting with it. From the opening scenes in, we're expected to take for granted that he can remember several different languages, bank account numbers, fight techniques etc. without having a clue who he is. Bourne's memory doesn't even come back gradually, and when the truth finally emerges it's dealt with in a throwaway fashion as just a precursor to the movie's main raison d'etre - another flashy, bone-crunching action scene.

It's not a bad film as such, just one that needs to be approached with your expectations low.