"The Bourne Identity" is a fast-paced, twisting, turning mystery similar in style to the "Mission: Impossible" movies. Based on the novel by Robert Ludlum, "The Bourne Identity" gives us two great reasons to love spy thrillers -- an original story with lots of intrigue and the memorable characters to give the story personality.

The "Bourne" of the title is Jason Bourne (Matt Damon), a multi-lingual, seemingly highly trained agent who is faced with one problem, he's got amnesia. He cannot remember who he is, what he is supposed to be doing, who he is working for and why so many people are out to get him.

In his rush to escape the law's pursuit, Bourne pays a young woman $20,000 to drive him from Zurich, Switzerland, to Paris. This woman, Marie Helena Kreutz, ends up accompanying Bourne on his journey to not only evade police but to find out who, in fact, he is. She becomes his link to the outer world, his partner, and the one who can cut through all of the secret agent-type protocol to provide Bourne with what he really needs -- an identity and a reality in which he can live.

Matt Damon is an excellent Jason Bourne. He is built like a secret agent should be -- solid, unflinching and able to defend the attack of pretty much anyone, especially the never-ending string of other agents assigned to kill him. He gives the role the intelligence to make Bourne the type of agent who can not only outmuscle but outsmart his opponent. And where Damon stands out is in giving Bourne the innocence needed to show he really doesn't know why he is doing what he's doing, that all he's concerned with is finding out his own identity. The audience doesn't even know all the details of Bourne's duty, but we like him anyway. It doesn't matter who he is or what he's doing, we root for Damon's Bourne because his innocence makes us trust that whatever he's doing, he's right.

Though she is playing partner to Damon's title character, Kreutz is played beautifully by German actress Franka Potente in her first American film role. As she does in her other films ("Run Lola Run," "The Princess and the Warrior"), Potente adds a subtle individualistic charm to her character. In this case, Potente takes Kreutz from a woman caught in the wrong place at the wrong time to a willing partcipant in Bourne's adventure and an integral part in the movie.

An adventure is the most accurate description, since the CIA and its operatives use any and all ways to corner Bourne and Kreutz. They are ambushed, staked out, and tracked throughout Paris, as well as chased in Kreutz's Austin Mini down sidewalks, staircases and narrow back alleys. This last example, though not matching the intensity of the car chase scenes of "The French Connection" or "Bullit," does score points with its originality of making up in tight squeezes what it lacks in pure power and speed.

All in all, "The Bourne Identity" gives you what it should. It's an intriguing enough mystery to give the edge of your seat a lot of business, and it has Damon and Potente who give the characters real identities.