Plenty of frantic running and chasing and shooting, taking out nondescript bit part actors, a climactic hand to hand combat scene and a humungous car chase are what this fifth Jason Bourne movie are all about. I say the fifth and that is correct, but it is only the fourth starring Matt Damon because he decided he was done with Bourne after the third installment (The Bourne Ultimatum in 2007). They then put Jeremy Renner into the fourth movie and now Damon returns. In fact, it seems there is still going to be a sequel to Renner’s time as Bourne and his alter ego Aaron Cross, but a date for that hasn’t yet been set.
Anyway, back to the present … the director of The Bourne Supremacy and The Bourne Ultimatum, Paul Greengrass, again joins Damon for this next chapter, which finds the CIA’s most lethal former operative drawn out of the shadows. Almost two decades ago, a brilliant young soldier volunteered for an experimental special-ops program after he was told that terrorists killed his father. He was promised he could honour his family and country by evolving an already impressive intellect, deft agility and adaptable skill-set into the unimaginable … but it was all a lie. Subjected to brutal training he doesn’t remember by people he couldn’t identify, the elite-trained assassin who came to be called Jason Bourne was molded into a $100 million human weapon who, according to his designers, malfunctioned.
When Bourne tracked his makers to learn their end game, they tried to erase him and took away the only woman he ever loved. Once he found revenge, learned his real identity and what he believed was the goal of his creators’ campaign, Bourne felt a semblance of peace and vanished … for what he hoped was forever. Now a new high tech program is being activated by the CIA. It and other top secret programs have been hacked into by an agent on Bourne’s side (a role filled by Julia Stiles), but that act alone again exposes Bourne (and her) to mortal danger. The man who most wants Bourne eliminated is CIA head Tommy Lee Jones. He covertly engages a ruthless assassin to seek him out and eliminate him. It is the task assigned to Vincent Cassell. Jones’ “point man”, who can seemingly find and track anyone anywhere in a matter of seconds, is CIA tech wizard Alicia Vikander, who has a different view of the world from the director.
First up, like its predecessors Jason Bourne the movie is a good-looking turkey. The sets, the settings, the action, the stunts and the acting are all top shelf. Adding the gravitas of a Tommy Lee Jones was a master stroke, while Vikander has fast established herself as one of the IT actors of our time. Matt Damon is his solid, reliable and bankable self as he reestablishes the role he first took on in 2002. Quite frankly, it looks and feels like he never left.
The concept of the truth being illusive is a good one to continue to build a story around. Somehow though, the constant referrals back to computer screens with writing on them and incessant running around chasing after Bourne started to get to me after a while. It was information overload and then simply felt like more of the same – Groundhog Day, if you like. The car chase at the end has to be seen to be believed as the filmmakers keep on upping the ante. It is almost like you have to top yourself from your previous endeavours to truly succeed and in that regard they certainly have. Perhaps an unexpected, second-string storyline might have made for a welcome surprise, but it was not to be.
I left feeling satisfied but not totally rewarded and I am an unashamed Bourne fan. Rated M, Jason Bourne scores a 7 out of 10.
Jason Bourne is now available on DVD, Blu-ray and via on-demand.
Alex First
David Edwards is the editor of The Blurb and a contributor on film and television
