I’m quite surprised there is even any debate here. Bourne is an upstanding, coffee drinking American, whereas Bond is a poncy little tea-drinking Brit. Of course, Bourne is going to win. Our studios can come with the bigger budget, and in American movies the English are villians, and therefore lose. Lets take this a step further.
Bourne’s initials are J B. That is only one step removed from J C, inferring Bourne may in a way be divine, whereas Bond’s initials J B, are BJ reversed which is what he will be offering to do to Bourne if only Jason would spare his pathetic life. “Please, Jason, don’t hurt me. I’ll do anything, I’ll suck your …” And you know that always sounds hotter with a Brittish accent.
Even looking at movie titles we have a clear winner. Bourne shows up in Bourne Identity, Bourne Supremacy, and Bourne Ultimatum, titles that clearly identify him as the center of the universe, while Bond is in movies like Goldfinger, Diamonds are Forever, or Goldeneye equating him with trinkets a lady would wear to the opera. Bond is about a tough as a drop pendant snuggled in the decollatage of some soceity stiff who couldn’t win a street fight against a paper bag.
See, for me, Bourne will always be the book Bourne. He was never a cold-blooded killer of innocents. But he did jump out of a plane into a storm that no plane should have been flying in, fight his way out of a trap and through enemy lines to save his brother, go undercover for 3 years to track down Carlos, and, with amnesia, evade both Carlos and the all the intelligence branches of the USA.
Bond will be shaken, stirred, folded spindled and mutilated.
Well, in general, especially with the Craig Bond, it’s too close to tell (of course, with Sean Connery, Jason Bourne will explode in sheer awe of Sean Connery’s excessive manly awesome essence).
This is, of course, unless he’s up against the Guillermo Bourne. Then it’s Bourne all the way kicking the UK’s ass worse than they’ve ever had their ass kicked since the War of 1812.
No offense intended to anyone, but I’d beat Roger Moore’s James Bond. I’d give Timothy Dalton and Pierce Brosnan’s version a run too, but I’d stay well clear of the rest, and that Bourne fella.
Bourne wins. Because Bond wlll leave a trail a mile long wherever he goes, driving some flashy sports car, sitting at a Baccarat table in a tuxedo with gorgeous women around him, etc. He’s the spy whose location is known to all at all times.
He’ll be asking for a martini (shaken, not stirred), when the nondescript gambler in the baseball cap will shoot him in the back of the head.
But as we’ve seen in You Only Live Twice, even automatic weapons at close range for an extended period of time against a restrained (trapped in a fold-up bed) James Bond have no permanent affects on him. At best, it makes him take a nap for a few movie-minutes.
When questions like this come up I always ask myself one question: Who has taken on more 7’2" unkillable mutants with stainless steel teeth? Jaws has survived an Egyptian structure’s collapse on top of him, being hit by a van, being thrown from a rapidly-moving train, sitting in the passenger seat of a car which drives off a cliff, a battle underwater with a shark, and the destruction of Stromberg’s lair. Then later he survives falling several thousand feet after accidentally disabling his own parachute (granted, he falls through a circus tent and lands in the trapeze net), a crash through a building inside a runaway cable car, and going over Iguazu Falls. And yet Bond can beat him. I have to give it to Bond here until such time that Bourne takes on at least Mr. Larson.
Well, buck up, matey. I’m sure if the question had been “Who would you rather be, Bond or Bourne?”, you’d have it something like 95% in favor of the Brit.
