After the movie was released in the U.S., the movie got generally good reviews from several critics, especially for the acting of Matt Damon and the direction of Doug Liman. Peter Howell of the "Toronto Star" said, "An entertaining thriller that eschews most of the usual spy gimmicks in favour of old-fashioned sleuthing." Eric Harrison of the "Houston Chronicle" praised the direction of Liman: "The Bourne Identity shouldn’t be half as entertaining as it is, but director Doug Liman and his colleagues have managed to pack it with enough action to satisfy the boom-bam crowd without a huge sacrifice of character and mood." Matt Damon also got praise from Stephen Hunter of the "Washington Post": "Great fights. You wouldn’t think of Damon as a tough guy, but he’s worked really hard on the physical stuff here and it shows."