Edelman on The Bourne Paranoia

Fascinating post on David Louis Edelman's blog about the Bourne movies, which he calls "the most intelligent, well-crafted, thoughtful thrillers about American paranoia" that he's ever seen.

I just don’t believe this paranoid worldview is sustainable. And director Paul Greengrass doesn’t either. Like Poe’s Tell-Tale Heart or Irving’s Headless Horseman, these things come back to haunt us. And for Greengrass, in The Bourne Supremacy and The Bourne Ultimatum, that Headless Horseman is Jason Bourne.

Notice the look of fear in the eyes of the various intelligence impresarios that Bourne runs across (played ably by Brian Cox, Chris Cooper, Joan Allen, and David Straitharn). Bourne isn’t just a renegade spy; he’s the twitch of conscience that you feel in the middle of the night, he’s the thing that haunts you after you’ve just violated international law in the name of the United States of America. Soil the Constitution, and Jason Bourne will get you.

(snip)

When does the American paranoia end? And who will stand up and apologize once it’s over?

Good question, Dave.

Go read.