Jason Bourne Review

We've had Identity, Supremacy and then Ultimatum, and now nine years later we finally have a fourth Bourne film, and this time it’s just Bourne, Jason Bourne. Of course, we did actually have a fourth Bourne film back in 2012, only without Paul Greengrass behind the camera and Matt Damon in front of it, it turned out The Bourne Legacy was as much a Bourne film as Austin Powers was a Bond film. This dual return to the world of espionage and all things Blackbriar, Treadstone and Bourne must be seen as a conscious reaction to the disaster of the so called legacy film, but with The Bourne Ultimatum being such a strong closer to the original trilogy coming back for another outing could have spelled trouble.

In this latest venture Bourne has been off the radar for some time and has taken up the not so nice hobby of bare knuckle fighting. Nicky Parsons (Julia Stiles) brings Bourne back in after she hacks the CIA and uncovers something unknown to Bourne about his past. The hack and Nicky end up leading the CIA to Bourne and the usual ensues. Writers Greengrass and Rouse have attempted to provide the film with some timely commentary as a Mark Zuckerberg type figure, performed pathetically well by Riz Ahmed, is in cahoots with Tommy Lee Jones shadowy CIA figure, so that the social media platform that Riz Ahmed creates can be used by the CIA to provide information.

The greatest achievement that Greengrass accomplishes here is that he makes you forget all the terribleness of the spin off and reminds you why these films are so great. When it gets going it really gets going, an early motorbike escape and a Vegas car chase are really edge of your seat brilliant. As bombastic as those bravura sequences are, it’s also the smoothness and slickness of the covert Bourne sneaking past people and watching them from a distance that is incredibly difficult to achieve but looks effortless in the hands of Greengrass.

Matt Damon has owned this part for almost 15 years now and his performance as Bourne is now completely weathered in, Bourne obviously looks older, but he also looks worn down and with very little dialogue Damon conveys so much just through the way he carries himself. Performances elsewhere are good, but Nicky Parsons aside, they're all new characters and unfortunately don't feel fully developed. Tommy Lee Jones' Robert Dewey and Alicia Vikander's Heather Lee are the two CIA directors at odd over to handle The Bourne Situation (that would have made a good title). The problem is, though Tommy Lee Jones is as craggy as ever Robert Dewey just feels like diet Brian Cox from the earlier films. At one point he says about Bourne “he was always coming for me”, but there's been nothing to suggest over any of the previous films that he even existed so it rings entirely hollow. The same goes for Alicia Vikander, though she could comfortably act anyone in the film off the screen, there's so much of Heather Lee that feels false, maybe that's supposed to play on her CIA status, but small things such as people calling her a rookie despite clearly being in charge of a very large team end up feeling quite annoying. Then there's Vincent Cassell's agent, known only as The Asset. Vincent Cassell brings it his all and in the film he's a force to be reckoned with, however with a name like The Asset, his character should remain far more ambiguous, yet they choose instead to give both Bourne and The Asset personal vendettas against each other, the film longed for Joey Ansah's Desh, or Karl Urban's Kirill, they were brilliant because they were dangerous and wanted to kill Bourne, only because they'd been told to.

There's this desperate sense in Jason Bourne that its trying to be as relevant as possible, which as admirable but when it’s trying to shoehorn references to Edward Snowden and makes social media a central plot point yet clearly doesn't really understand what social media is, it feels like a dad at a teenagers party trying to name as many of the latest pop stars his brain can struggle to mention.

It can never be understated how influential the Bourne films were on cinema, they were the films that forced the Bond franchise to up their game and change their style, and inspired a trend in action style that allowed the likes of Liam Neeson to become stars of the genre. This does definitely feel like Bourne is back, but it more aptly feels like Bourne again (another good title). It feels as though it’s returned about a decade too late. It’s a lot more fun and gripping than any other films you're likely to see this summer, but if that what you want, just go back and watch the original trilogy. (High 3 Stars)