Is Bourne Better Than Bond?

"Ultimatum" Star, Director Say '60s Secret Agent Is An Imperial Relic

(AP)  Matt Damon's amnesiac assassin Jason Bourne shares initials with another notorious screen operative. But other than that, Damon doesn't see any similarities between Bourne and James Bond.

Bond is "an imperialist and he's a misogynist. He kills people and laughs and sips martinis and wisecracks about it," Damon, 36, told The Associated Press in an interview.

Damon's new film, "The Bourne Ultimatum," opens Aug. 3.

"Bourne is this paranoid guy. He's on the run. He's not the government. The government is after him. He's a serial monogamist who's in love with his dead girlfriend and can't stop thinking about her," Damon said. "He's the opposite of James Bond."

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Photos: Matt Damon

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The third movie in the series based on Robert Ludlum's books sends Damon's penitent killer back to his roots to uncover how he became such a perfect weapon and who was responsible.

Damon said he bumped into former Bond star Pierce Brosnan in London and they chatted briefly about how the British super-spy's movie handlers were trying to update the character with last fall's "Casino Royale," which introduced Daniel Craig as Bond.

Brosnan told him the aesthetics and style of Bond can be updated "but fundamentally, what the character is is something from the 1960s," Damon said.

Paul Greengrass, Damon's director on Universal's "Bourne Ultimatum" and its 2004 predecessor, "The Bourne Supremacy," agreed that Bond is a relic from a different era.

"He's an insider. He likes being a secret agent. He worships at the altar of technology. He loves his gadgets, and he embodies this whole set of misogynistic values," Greengrass said. "He likes violence. That's part of the appeal of the character. He has no guilt. He's essentially an imperial adventurer of a particularly English sort.

"Personally, I spit on those values. I think we've moved on a little bit from all that, the martini shaken, not stirred."

Bourne and Bond may be very different men, but that still leaves the big question: Which one would win in a fight?

"It's tough. I wouldn't bet against Bourne," Damon said. "Bond had all those gadgets, though."

[likeitis5050]

Tommy6860 While Bond did marry once and supposedly grieved for her, he goes through women like toilet paper. That's a misogynist through and through. He's not protective or supportive of any woman outside what he wants or needs from them. Bourne is devoted to the woman he loved and lost, so much so that just taking up with a woman for the self-satisfaction isn't appealing to him...at least at this point. A man doesn't have to be physically or emotionally abusive to be a misogynist...simply regarding their existence as 'here to serve man' is enough. That is Bond. He's a stinker. And women who find that attractive or something they can 'fix' are a dime a dozen. Bond will never be lonely.

[bombadil4]

As someone who's been READING James Bond avidly over the years, it's easy to tell that Damon, Brosnan,etc. (as well as many commenting here) are speaking of the movies when giving their opinions. While I acknowledge that movies are a different genre from books and that liberties must be taken, nevertheless except for a couple of the early movies (Goldfinger mostly) the movies have very little to do with the books. Sometimes the movies are a mish-mash of plot elements from several of the books. And actually it is the latest movie that most approximates Bond's book character and therefore has been the most enjoyable for me. I love Sean Connery, but even he did not come close to Bond's character and neither did Brosnan and certainly not Moore. The blatant wisecracking, "love" of violence, and misogyny play little part in the books, though certainly the attitude toward women shows the signs of being written in the 50's-60's.

[briansgirl2]

I love me some "Jason Bourne"!!! Way more exciting than James Bond - - - and I'm from the early James Bond era.

[tsumbra]

"Secrets from Amber Ray"
www.ilovepoetry.com/viewpoem.asp?id=83480

[jasbek]

Jason Bourne, by far. Someone thinks Bourne is more fake than Bond? Now there's a laugh!

[donnie900]

Well, Bond is notoriously devious with regards to his government. In a sense, he is running from it. But Bourne is about the government being these evil corrupt politicians (The CIA), where as Bond is about the government being more tolerant of his nature.

Just my opinion though. I'm sure its shyyt.. *eyeroll*

[track-vol]

Tommy6860, Well, the misogyny thing is actually quite well documented, I don't think there is any point in denying it.

I also prefer Jason Bourne over James Bond.
For that matter, I prefer yet another J.B. over James Bond - J.ack B.ower of 24.

I think Jack Bower and Jason Bourne make a better comparison than either does to James Bond.

I guess to be a bad-a$$, your initials have to be J.B.?

[lastdance2]

Bourne Rules -

As long as the main character : Jason Bourne
Is continued by : Matt Damon

Lastdance

[tommy6860]

The two characters and movies are totally unrelated in theme, that makes it difficult to make comparisons between the two. Bond has been around a long time, played by 6 different actors over the years (my favorite, I know many will disagree, being Pierce Brosnan)and has quite a long term following.

it will be hard to say how long Bourne will last, and if it then will go through the ever changing actors playing the role, only trime will tell.

I don't get where Matt Damon claims the Bond character is a misogynist though?

[likeitis5050]

Since I was totally unimpressed with the last Bond movie, I will weigh in on Bourne. But then Bourne hasn't been around long enough for someone to see fit to 'remake' him into something 'contemporary'. The last Bond movie was not for the die-hard fans of classic James Bond.

[sharncedar]

Bourne is more of a comic book character. I expect to see bullets bounce off his chest in the next "movie". James Bond was something of a comic book characterm but there was a greater attempt to make it seem plausible. Different time in history, before morons were in the majority.

You can't compare apples and oranges.