JASON BOURNE – Review

Matt Damon re-teams with director Paul Greengrass to revitalize the Bourne franchise with JASON BOURNE. After Damon starred as amnesiac ex-CIA assassin Jason Bourne in the first three films and Greengrass directed the second and third films, both skipped the fourth one. For this fifth film, director Greengrass adds little touches to bring back some flavor of Doug Liman’s original THE BOURNE IDENTITY, starting (and finishing) with some of the music and including signature chases down narrow streets, but the new film then adds a real-world touch with a story built around government surveillance and hackers exposing them. It is fun but standard action film stuff, but it is an improvement on the last Bourne film and should satisfy fans eager to see Damon back as Bourne.

Bourne (Damon) is older, and looks like he’s had a tough life – which he has. In hiding and off the grid, he is making a living as a fighter in underground “Fight Club” like matches. But a chance to get more information about his past brings him back out of the shadows. Once he re-surfaces, the agency that made him an assassin takes note. Julia Stiles returns as Nicky Parsons, also ex-CIA and one of Bourne’s allies, now working with a Wikileaks-like group, which plans to expose information about a host of covert government projects, including Treadstone, the project in which Bourne took part.

When she discovers some surprising personal information about Bourne in those files, she contacts him and they arrange to meet during a political protest in Turkey. But the data hack and the plan to meet with Bourne  brings the attentions of CIA director Dewey (Tommy Lee Jones), who dispatches his new tech analyst Heather Lee (Alicia Vikander) and an assassin played by Vincent Cassel to hunt down the elusive Jason Bourne.

The story also involves a Mark Zuckerberg-type social media titan, played by Riz Ahmed, who has links to CIA head Dewey. Despite a plot that touches on issues of technology and privacy, the film is really all about Bourne and action.

The film has its problems: it opens with an overlong action sequence, which adds little before the story finally gets started, the energy occasionally sags, and it fails to much develop either the supporting characters or story depth. Still, it is nice to see Damon back in the role, along with a return to motorcycle chases through narrow old city streets, fighting adversaries by using whatever is at hand, and cleverly turning the tables on whoever is chasing him, in locations ranging from Turkey to London and finally Las Vegas.

While JASON BOURNE has its flaws, having Damon back means the film has been eagerly anticipated. This latest film is better than THE BOURNE LEGACY, the effort to reboot the Bourne franchise with a new, younger character, played by Jeremy Renner, but which did not capture the excitement of the previous films with Matt Damon and directors Doug Liman and Paul Greengrass.

Returning Damon to the part, as an older Bourne, works surprisingly well,  allowing the updating of the story for the age of government surveillance and Wikileaks, with gives the film a little intellectual meat too. In the film, Damon’s face look hardened and worn, although his physique remains buff – something emphasized by scenes with him shirtless, making his living as a back-alley fighter. Damon’s does still look good but the film underscores the passage of time by including several shots of the very boyish younger Damon in the Bourne passport photo, and a couple of flashback to his younger days when he was a new spy recruit.

JASON BOURNE seems sure to be a fan-pleaser, and probably a summer hit. If Damon and Greengrass are interested, there is sure to be another sequel but the question arises: what more is there for Jason Bourne to do? This is not to pick on Damon or Greengrass – both of whom deserve their success with the franchise – but one must ask the question. Bourne seems to have no goal outside of discovering his past identity, and mostly seems to want to just go off to live quietly. It appeared he was going to do just that at the end of the first film but the CIA and sequel-addicted Hollywood wouldn’t let him go. Now having battled his ex-employers through several films, killed off seemingly everyone involved in Treadstone, and uncovered his personal history, what is left? The studio recognize the problem and did try to go in a new director with BOURNE LEGACY but it didn’t take off. Although authors Robert Ludlum and then Eric Van Lustbader wrote 13 Bourne novels, the films diverged from the books early on, so the studio may not be able to draw on that material.

The quandary shows the limits of Hollywood’s sequel-itis: not all story-lines lend themselves to endless adventures with the lead character. Having played out this tale this far, what could be next for Bourne? It may not be good but fans will find out, when the inevitable next sequel comes out.

3 out of 5 stars