Jason Bourne Changed Action Movies Forever, And These 10 Films Prove It

The Bourne franchise, starring Matt Damon as Jason Bourne, is credited with changing action movies by grounding espionage thrills in a more human, fallible protagonist. Audiences first met Bourne in 2002’s The Bourne Identity, where he is pulled from the water by a fishing boat, suffering from amnesia and gunshot wounds, and gradually discovers he’s a highly skilled operative. The write-up argues that subsequent films expanded the mythology while showing the consequences of trying to escape that life, pointing to The Bourne Supremacy. The article then lists related spy-and-conspiracy action picks, including Shooter (2007) with Mark Wahlberg as Bob Lee Swagger and Taken (2008), starring Liam Neeson as Bryan Mills, a former CIA agent tracking kidnappers after his daughter is abducted.