While James Bond was reinvented in 2006 with Casino Royale, chances are that it never would have happened without Jason Bourne. In 2002, Matt Damon brought Jason Bourne to life, and with him, ushered in an entirely new sort of spy to a world that had never seen his like.

Most of us were used to having our martinis served a particular way. Maybe you had seen Pierce Brosnan as Bond, or maybe you caught him in The Thomas Crown Affair before that – but it’s still the old-school spy. No longer. Spies have grown up. Or maybe they haven’t. Instead of being sauve and debonair, they are now rough and tumble, in step with what the younger movie-going crowd wants.

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I’m really a bit of a sucker for any apocalyptic tale. Perhaps the fact is that I just know we’re done for one of these days anyway, or maybe I’d like to hear the tale of the underdog who manages to scrape through in such circumstances. Then again, maybe I feel like I’ll never have the chance to experience the Old West, and it’s about as close as I might get – though it would be at the expense of a great deal of our society to get there. Not saying that I’m the one who’d be able to save the world or anything. I just find the stories more interesting than a Utopian future is all.

Nonetheless, this one focuses mostly on a generally reluctant hero – Theo Faron (the typically under-rated Clive Owen), thrust into the role of bringing the world back from the brink of destruction when he becomes the protector of a pregnant woman. This is significant because she is the first such instance in years, and while a single pregnancy may not save the world, it does offer some amount of hope.

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One day as Dan (Jude Law) is walking down the streets of London, he watches as a young lady is struck (Natalie Portman) by a taxi as she crosses the street. Being the nice guy that he is – or at least wants her to perceive, he helps her to the hospital to get stitched up, where she tells him that her name is Alice. They walk together as Dan heads to work, and she finds out about his girlfriend, but Dan seems interested anyway.

Fast-forward a bit (in real life, not in the movie), and Dan is having his picture taken by Anna (Julia Roberts) for a book cover. The subject of his novel is none other than Alice, who has replaced his former girlfriend, and it turns out that about a year has elapsed. This will be a recurring theme. As their photo shoot winds up, Dan tells Anna that she is beautiful and he simply must have her. Unfortunately, Alice overhears the conversation. Woops.

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I expected a lot out of this movie – mostly because it had really good reviews from what I had seen. I can’t say that I was completely disappointed, but it didn’t really live up to its billing either. It wasn’t exactly a bank heist, but it wasn’t exactly as advertised, either.

The actors that you’d expect to do something wonderful (Denzel Washington, Jodie Foster) didn’t. They were okay, just not great. The others weren’t notable at all. I think that the movie tried to do too much. Had it cut out the extra pieces unrelated to the heist (and probably 30 minutes of its length), it probably would have been a lot better.

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The most common comment I’ve seen about this movie is that a whole lot of people seem to complain that Steve Martin isn’t Peter Sellers. Maybe it’s just me, but that seems to be pretty obvious. I mean even if you haven’t seen the movie, even if you don’t know the two, you should be able to tell that.

While I think Peter Sellers was pretty funny, I happen to think that Steve Martin is pretty good too. And in fact, I think I may go so far as to say that I think that Steve Martin is pretty good as Clouseau. Is he as good as Sellers? That’s a tough call. He’s different, to be sure. But the movie is every bit as enjoyable as one of the Sellers’ films, perhaps more.

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