The Bourne Identity 10 Differences Between The Book And The Movie

The Bourne Identity: 10 Differences Between The Book And The Movie

The Bourne series has gained a ton of traction since debuting in 2004, but the movies aren’t always faithful to their source material.

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When The Bourne Identity was released back in 2004, it was well-received by both audiences and critics. The spy thriller film was adapted from Robert Ludlum’s novel of the same name. Ludlum’s novel was published in 1980, and, unfortunately, he never lived to see his works make it to the silver screen, as the renowned author died in 2001.

Both the movie and the book take viewers and readers through twisted and thrilling paths. But, while writing the screenplay, Tony Gilroy and William Blake Herron made some alterations to Ludlum’s work. Here are the main differences between the movies and the book.

10 Bourne’s Rescue From The Meditteranean Sea

The opening scenes in both the movie and Robert Ludlum’s novel initially play out in an identical manner. Jason Bourne is shot and falls into the sea where his unconscious body is left floating. He is then rescued when a fishing boat passes nearby.

This leads to the first difference. In the movie, the fishing boat captain tends to Bourne’s wounds all by himself and discovers a device under his skin with a bank account number. In the book, the captain sails with Bourne’s body to the shore of a french town before handing him over to a local doctor.

9 Bourne’s Treatment And Extent Of Injuries

In the movie, Bourne’s injuries aren’t that bad. It isn’t a surprise that a fishing boat captain is able to treat him. He manages to recover in a few weeks on the boat while the voyage continues. The people who shot him must have been really bad at their jobs.

In the book, he has way more bullets in him, including one lodged in his head. As a result, he spends a total of sixth months recovering from his injuries. Each detail about Bourne’s health is also explored in the book, including his retrograde amnesia, weakness, vomiting, and all forms of suffering that a recovering person endures.

8 Setting Off

Matt Damon’s character boards a train in the movie when he feels he is fully recovered. He sets off to Switzerland in an effort to locate a safe at the Gemeinschaft Bank that holds the only clue to his identity. In the book, the decision by the doctor to hospitalize an abusive fishing crew is what forces him to flee to the world.

Bourne borrows a passport from the doctor and goes to Marseille where he buys new clothes and checks into a hotel. After that, he goes to the Gemeinschaft Bank in Zurich where there is a safe that holds the only clue to who he really is. At the bank, he is attacked by an assassin, but he survives.

7 How Bourne Meets Marie

In the movie, Bourne approaches a German woman named Marie Kreutz and offers her $20,000 to drive him to Paris in her not-so-flashy but fast Mini Mayfair MKV. Off they go, not knowing that they will one day be lovebirds and that it’ll end tragically.

Ludlum’s book took a different approach. In it, Marie was a French-Canadian government economist, and she had a different surname. She was Marie St. Jacques. Another difference is that Bourne steals a car, takes Marie hostage and forces her to drive it.

6 Bourne And Marie’s Capture

The Matt Damon movie has no scene where Bourne and Marie get captured and tortured. However, in the book, Bourne and Marie get captured, tortured, and abused. Why do the bad guys keep doing this? They should know how it always ends.

Anyway, as expected, Bourne frees himself and kills his captors. He also saves Marie from men who are trying to sexually assault her. During the incident, he is shot (Oh no! Not again). The two then go to a hotel so Jason can tend to his wounds. By this time, Marie has developed Stockholm Syndrome.

5 Events That Set Up The Story

In the film, Bourne discovers that before getting shot and forgetting his identity, he was an assassin with the name John Michael Kane. He was sent to kill an African dictator named Nykwana Wombosi in his yacht. However, his conscience kicked in when he saw Wombosi with his children. He fled and was shot two times in the process, ending up in the sea.

In Robert Ludlum’s novel, Bourne discovers that he was an assassin with the fake name Cain. As part of a mission named Treadstone Seventy-One, Cane was tasked with challenging the international terrorist known as Carlos The Jackal. Carlos goes on to be Bourne’s main threat in the novel.

4 Driver Bourne

One of the most memorable scenes in the movie happens when Bourne is chased by the police in Paris. Here, he easily establishes himself as one of the best movie drivers of all time. The scene is almost similar to Tom Cruise’s Paris chase scene in Mission Impossible: Fallout. The only difference is that Cruise uses a motorbike.

Anyway, whereas the movie portrays Bourne as an efficient driver, there is no Paris chase scene in the novel. Ludlum clearly states that Bourne isn’t so good behind the wheel. That’s why he doesn’t drive the car himself after stealing. He holds Marie hostage and forces her to drive him out of Zurich.

3 Castel Hunting Down Bourne

When Bourne leaves the bank in the film, an employee notifies the CIA. The director of Operation Treadstone Alexander Conklin assigns three agents to hunt down Bourne. One of them is Castel. In Paris, Castel ambushes Bourne and Marie in their apartment.

What results is a pretty impressive fight scene but Bourne gets the better of him. To avoid being interrogated, Castel throws himself out of the window and dies. No such scene is present in the novel. Perhaps director Doug Liman only included it to provide the film with more action scenes.

2 Abbot And Conklin’s Meeting

In the movie, Treadstone director Alexander Conklin and CIA Deputy Director Ward Abbott meet to talk about Project Treadstone and Bourne. They both agree that Treadstone was a huge mistake and that they should never have signed off on it. Conklin later gets killed as per Abbott’s orders.

The two never meet in the novel. Their fates are quite different, too, as Conklin is the one who survives. Abbott ends up getting killed by Carlos The Jackal’s henchmen, and then Conklin is introduced as one of the few remaining people who knew about Project Treadstone

1 The Ending

By the end of both the movie and the novel, Bourne and Marie are deeply in love. In the novel, Bourne is living with Marie, but, since he is the only one to have ever seen Carlos The Jackal’s face, he has security guards around his home so that Marrie doesn’t get harmed.

In the movie, Bourne resigns from Treadstone and goes his own way. He tracks down Marie and finds her on the Greek island of Mykonos where she has set up a business renting scooters to tourists. The two reunite and… live happily ever after? No! Marie gets killed in the sequel.

Link Source : https://screenrant.com/bourne-identity-book-movie-differences/

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