Starring Richard Chamberlain as Jason Bourne (see what a difference casting can make?) and Jaclyn Smith as Marie (a far cry from Franka Potente, indeed), this Bourne ostensibly hews a little closer to the book (I've never read it, but I've been told that the only thing the book and the Damon film have in common is the title). In this version, Bourne is helped by a kindly old doctor named Washburn (the ever-remarkable Denholm Elliot) and meets up with Marie while he is trying to escape being gunned down by sinister Swiss spies (led by Wolf Kahler, better known as slimy Nazi Dietrich from Raiders of the Lost Ark). There's a whole lot more going on (at three hours, there'd better be), but there's also a snorefest of details about international finance that the Damon version wisely condensed to a single tense scene at a Swiss bank. This Bourne is longer on plot, and there's even more going on behind the scenes at Treadstone and so on. There's also a ludicrous and maudlin revelation near the end about who Jason really is (compared with the tag-on at the end of Supremacy delivered by Pam Landy, this is positively Harlequin-esque).
Granted, it's damned hard for a TV miniseries to compare with a fairly-big budget film, and both of the new Bourne films play much better to the short attention span of modern sensibilities. This Bourne delves into a lot more character and takes a much longer time developing the relationship between Jason and Marie (though it's never half as believable as the Damon-Potente one). The films also had very different aims, so in a way comparing them isn't fair, but since they are interpretations of the same material, one can't help but see how they match up.
I'd only recommend this film for serious Ludlum fans or people like me who simply loved the two modern movies and wanted to see how an older stab at the material would play. Most people would find this version needlessly talky and slow I did and at three hours, I really can't suggest this to anyone. It's far longer and far slower than it needs to be, and it compares most unfavorably to Damon's films. There is a neat plot in this film that they could use for a potential third movie Bourne sort of fighting the anti-Bourne, an uber-terrorist named Carlos but it's certainly not worth sitting through this whole film to get to. A passably interesting exercise for Bourne die-hards, but certainly one to be skipped by anyone else.
Granted, it's damned hard for a TV miniseries to compare with a fairly-big budget film, and both of the new Bourne films play much better to the short attention span of modern sensibilities. This Bourne delves into a lot more character and takes a much longer time developing the relationship between Jason and Marie (though it's never half as believable as the Damon-Potente one). The films also had very different aims, so in a way comparing them isn't fair, but since they are interpretations of the same material, one can't help but see how they match up.
I'd only recommend this film for serious Ludlum fans or people like me who simply loved the two modern movies and wanted to see how an older stab at the material would play. Most people would find this version needlessly talky and slow I did and at three hours, I really can't suggest this to anyone. It's far longer and far slower than it needs to be, and it compares most unfavorably to Damon's films. There is a neat plot in this film that they could use for a potential third movie Bourne sort of fighting the anti-Bourne, an uber-terrorist named Carlos but it's certainly not worth sitting through this whole film to get to. A passably interesting exercise for Bourne die-hards, but certainly one to be skipped by anyone else.