Even movie stars are sometimes unhappy with their passport photos.

Quick scenario:

A young man is pulled aboard a Greek fishing boat, two bullet holes in his back, a Swiss bank account number on a strip of film embedded in his hip, no memory of who he is. Some kind of secret agent, right? Of course he is. So if we get it that quickly, why the hell does it take the amnesiac Jason Bourne so long to figure it out? Well, to be fair, we have the advantage of sitting in the audience and seeing his CIA bosses talking about him, but still.

Actually, for a movie with such a silly premise I liked The Bourne Identity quite a lot. It's good at what it sets out to be: a plot-driven action/mystery movie. Even though we know Jason Bourne's identity, it's still interesting to watch him figure it out. I particularly liked the moment he first realized he was good — I mean, really good — at fighting. Matt Damon played the moment with just the right amount of surprise at his own abilities combined with a certain grimness at having to use them. Damon's boyish likeability and deadpan humor go a long way towards making the audience root for a character we suspect early on isn't all that nice a guy.

Give it up, Damon, Tobey Maguire got Spiderman.

I also liked Franka Potente (Run, Lola, Run) as free-spirited Marie, a girl who gets more than she bargained for when she agrees to drive him to Paris. She brings charm and intelligence to a role that could have been just another under-written girlfriend. Director Doug Liman stages some stylish action scenes, especially a chase through the streets of Paris. And the script by Tony Gilroy and W. Blake Herron does a good job of ratcheting up the suspense as Bourne's enemies circle ever closer to him.

My biggest complaint has to do with the casting of Julia Stiles as one of the agents tracking down Bourne. I like Julia Stiles, I really do, but wasn't it just last year she was saving the last dance in a high school love story? Now she's a high-level operative, running the Paris office of a covert division of the CIA? I don't buy it. It seems like that kind of role requires the maturity and sophistication of a Jennifer Love Hewitt or possibly that chick who played Felicity.

The Bourne Identity isn't going to revolutionize the film world; ultimately, it's pretty forgettable. But for the two hours you're in the theater, it's a thrilling ride that takes you exactly where it promised it would.

Gorilla Pants rating: 3 out of 4 bananas