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The smash-hit franchise that has earned more than $500 million at the box office was one of Hollywood's most unexpected hits when it came out in 2002.
Fans of the Robert Ludlum spy novels can breathe a sigh of relief that the highly anticipated third instalment breaks the mould of standard disappointing sequels. The Bourne Ultimatum is just as compelling as its predecessors, although the plot is a little confusing.
The Bourne Identity catapulted star Matt Damon from box-office failure to Hollywood's A-list.
Recalls Damon, an unlikely candidate to become an action hero: "Before The Bourne Identity came out my phone had stopped ringing.
"My previous movies - All the Pretty Horses and The Legend of Bagger Vance didn't do well at the box office.
"The funny thing is, the Bourne Identity was meant to be a total turkey. We were a year late on delivering the movie, we did four re-shoots, and Tony Gilroy, the writer, was the first writer in the history of Hollywood to arbitrate against himself.
"He didn't want sole credit for a movie that was going to bomb, so he shared credit with a guy who wrote the mini-series.
"It was insane. By the end of the opening weekend I had 20 offers."
Similarly, before Bourne, director Paul Greengrass had done only little-seen indie fare such as The Murder of Stephen Lawrence and Food, Trucks and Rock and Roll.
"Matt was filming The Brothers Grimm in Prague and I flew over there to meet him to offer him the part of Jason Bourne," Greengrass says.
"We had dinner and I was really worried he'd order the veal because I didn't have enough money to pay for it."
Financial woes now a thing of the past, Greengrass received an Academy award nomination for United 93.
The phenomenal success of the Bourne franchise sits primarily on the shoulders of Damon, who brings an authenticity that many of Hollywood's biggest hitters - such as Brad Pitt or George Clooney - wouldn't be able to pull off as convincingly.
Damon's star wattage is not as blinding as that of his peers, and his everyday activities are not as widely documented.
Greengrass agrees. "Matt is a very naturalistic actor. He's very low key both on screen and in his personal life. That makes watching him a very real experience. His everyman appeal is what makes it work."
At the time, his tabloid-afflicted buddy Ben Affleck (also going by the name Bennifer) starred in The Sum of All Fears , which was expected to be a huge success but was a huge flop.
Without taking away from the down-to-earth Damon's memorable performances last year in The Departed and The Good Shepherd, he is very much a working actor.
He doesn't carry on about the stunts he did or didn't do and he plays down the injuries.
"The stunts are really safe and you don't really get hit. But I did notice a difference from when I did The Bourne Identity. I was 29 when I did that and I'm 36 on this one, and I definitely noticed the stiffness in my neck. But besides that kind of expected soreness just from aging, there was nothing terrible. Nothing bad." Research played a major part in getting under the skin of a super-assassin. "Yeah, I met CIA agents. They are often very intelligent people and fascinating to talk to because of their geopolitical outlook.
"I met Delta Force guys as well, who are more the Jason Bourne guys, but I didn't have a private audience with a bunch of assassins." Although Damon has become one of Hollywood's hardest working actors, the Oscar-winning, happily married man and father of 1-year-old Isabella, is taking some time off to spend with his family, which includes a 9 year old stepdaughter.
"I do stay home more but this year especially was tough, having a baby, and all the travelling."
Like all proud fathers he's more than happy to discuss his children "We've had some tough flights. We recently returned from Paris and the studio flew us in first class. The plane had only four seats in that section so it was my wife with the baby, me and my stepdaughter.
And then there was this other woman.
"I looked at the ticket price. They were really expensive. This woman got on and she looked over and saw the baby. Well, my baby cried from the moment we took off to the moment we landed - the entire time.
"This woman read a book, ate her dinner, watched a movie, slept - unbelievable. And I was saying to my wife, Lucy, 'I think she's deaf. Maybe she's deaf?'
"So we went in the customs line and my curiosity got the best of me. I tapped her on the shoulder and said, 'Excuse me, we're the people who were sitting with you.' And she said, 'Yeah, I know who you are.'
"And I said, 'I just want to apologise if we disturbed your flight.' She looked at me and said, 'I have nine children.' She was about 60 years old and she said, 'I've spent 35 years raising kids. It was great'."
Having grown up in Boston with a single mother on a teacher's wage, it's heartening that Damon doesn't take his privileged lifestyle for granted.
That's unlike his onscreen persona who, Bond-like, is indestructible: Bourne can outfight any number of trained assassins simultaneously, and walk away from major car crashes without a scratch.
Damon laughs at the notion of defending himself in a real fight. "Well, that's where all the running in the movie comes in handy. I'm really good at running.
"The reality with any of those kinds of disciplines is that you have to study it for a long time. I just practise them enough to try to look like I know what I'm doing, but to really do them is very difficult."
Damon and Ben Affleck co-wrote Good Will Hunting, for which they won the 1997 Oscar for best original screenplay, and it has been rumoured that the childhood buddies are writing another script.
"I don't know where that came from," Damon says. "People saw us together and thought, 'Well, they must be writing something.'
"No, we're not. Ben has just written and directed his first film, Gone Baby Gone, which is phenomenal, and he's busy with that."
Looking back on the past 10 years, Damon says: "The dynamic of our partnership has changed. The last decade was about solidifying our careers, and now there's a lot more options available to us. Hopefully in the next decade it will be about doing more work together. I hope."
As for the future of Jason Bourne: "Well, the story is about the quest for this guy's identity and that's now been told. The reality is there would have to be some kind of re-imagining of the character," he says.
"But if Paul Greengrass wanted to do another one, that would change things significantly. We'll have to wait and see."
Lowdown
Who: Matt Damon
Born: October 8, 1970, Cambridge, Massachusetts
Key roles: Good Will Hunting (1997), Saving Private Ryan (1998), Dogma (1999), The Talented Mr Ripley (1999), Ocean's Eleven (2001), The Bourne Identity (2002), Stuck on You (2003), The Bourne Supremacy (2004), Ocean's Twelve (2004), Syriana (2005), The Departed (2006), The Good Shepherd (2006)
Latest: The Bourne Supremacy opens August 23
