The Bourne Supremacy: Scene by Scene

When Greengrass cuts back to the interrogation room, Abbott’s character is developed further using a combination of acting and dialogue. “I’ve given thirty years and two marriages to this agency,” he says aggressively. “I’ve shovelled shit on four continents. I’m due to retire next year. But if you think I’m gonna sit here and let you dangle me with this, you can go to hell and Marshall too.”

Before Landy heads upstairs to discuss the case, Greengrass cuts away to a brief series of shots showing Bourne being apprehended in Naples. The scene begins with an establishing shot of London. Greengrass cuts to an interior shot of an intelligence analyst at a computer. The camera pans rapidly between two photographs of Bourne on the screen, an incessant alarm ringing in the background. The camera pans to the words ‘JASON BOURNE’ flashing on the screen. Cutting to a wider shot, the analyst picks up the telephone. In Naples, there is a close up of Bourne’s passport as a custom official taps it against his hand. Greengrass cuts to a close up of Bourne, two police officers appearing in the background. There is a brief shot of Bourne leaving the terminal before Greengrass cuts to a shot of him being led into a small room. In this moment, editing plays a key role in conveying to the audience that Bourne has been found and captured in a short sequence of shots.

In the subsequent scene, Greengrass continues to develop the antagonism between Landy and Abbott through the use of dialogue and acting.

Landy: Seven years ago, $20 million of C.I.A. funds disappeared during a wire transfer through Moscow. In the investigation that followed, we were contacted by a Russian politician, Vladimir Neski. Neski claimed we had a leak and that we’d been ripped off by one of our own.
Agent: And were we? We never found out.
Landy: We were negotiating a meet with mr. Neski when he was killed.
Agent: By who?
Marshall: His wife.
Landy: The case had gone cold until a month ago when we found a source. Another Russian in Berlin who claimed to have access to the Neski murder files. We thought we had another bite at the apple. Turns out the assassin was one of our own… Jason Bourne. I know Treadstone’s not a very popular subject around here but we found some interesting things when we dug a little deeper. This is Conklin’s personal computer. His Treadstone files are bloated with code keys and case files that he neither needed nor had clearance for. Buried in the hard drive, we found a deleted file with an account number to a bank in Zurich. At the time ofhis death, he was sitting on a personal account in the amount of $ 760,000.
Abbott: You know what his budget was? We were throwing money at him and asking him to keep it dark.
Landy: It was his own account. He was up to something.
Abbott: This is supposed to be definitive?
Landy: What’s definitive is that I just lost two people in Berlin.
Abbott: So what’s your theory? Conklin’s reaching out from the grave to protect his good name? The man is dead.
Marshall: No one’s disputing that, Ward.
Abbott: For Christ’s sake, Marty, you knew Conklin. Does this scan? I mean, at all?
Marshall: Cut to the chase, Pam.
Landy: I think that Bourne and Conklin were in business together, that Bourne’s still involved and that whatever information I was trying to buy in Berlin was big enough to bring Bourne out from hiding to kill again. How’s that scan?

The scene ends with the revelation that Bourne has been apprehended in Naples. In addition to developing the antagonism between Landy and Abbott, this scene is filmed largely with handheld cameras. When Landy displays images on the screen, they are often obscured by other characters. This documentary, fly-on-the-wall approach to the scene helps to make otherwise dull exposition more exciting. In his commentary for The Bourne Supremacy, Greengrass talks about using this approach to “bring the scene alive”. At the end of the scene, Landy sends a field agent to apprehend Bourne.

In the next scene, a combination of acting and sound are used to engage the audience as an officious CIA field agent attempts to interrogate Bourne. The scene begins with a series of handheld shots as the field agent arrives at the interrogation room. When he walks into the room, the camera tilts down suddenly revealing Bourne. There is non-diegetic impact as Bourne is revealed, staring motionless at the table. This music helps to convey that Bourne is a “concealed ball of energy” beneath his stony expression. The field agent introduces himself as John Nevins (Tom Griffin). Acting helps to establish this character as officious. When he sits down, he clears his throat and flicks through Bourne’s passport. “What’s the nature of your visit to Naples?” he asks, pursing his lips in dissatisfaction. Greengrass cuts to Bourne for a moment who remains motionless, then cuts back to Nevins who shoots a scornful glance at the other guard. He crosses the room and perches on the edge of the desk, hitching up his jacket and sighing. He snaps his fingers in front of Bourne impatiently. “Look, I don’t know what you did, and i don’t know who you’re working for,” he says snidely. “But I promise you this, you’re gonna play ball one way or the other.” He turns to answer his phone but before he can remove his sidearm, there is a sudden explosion of non-diegetic music and loud punches as Bourne savagely disarms both of the men. The resolution of this scene is satisfying for the audience because Nevins was established as such a condescending and unlikeable character.

Driving music and a series of rapid jump cuts are used to condense time as Bourne clones Nevin’s cellphone. There is a rapid series of extreme close ups as Bourne removes the sim, inserts it into another device, replaces it and drops the phone on Nevin’s motionless body, barring the door as he leaves. These abrupt jump cuts give this moment a feeling of urgency. When the CIA discovers that Bourne has escaped, Marshall announces that they’re going to “find this son of a bitch and take him down.”