Jason Bourne
Starring Matt Damon, Alicia Vikander
Directed by Paul Greengrass
After nine years, Matt Damon reteams with director Paul Greengrass for another installment in the high-octane series that made the actor a bona fide action star. Jason Bourne’s story picks up a decade following 2007’s Ultimatum as the super spy is drawn out of the shadows once again because of yet another sinister threat.
The film features lots of frantic shaky-cam, extended car chases, clandestine CIA control rooms, and brooding, lots of brooding. Basically, the sequel provides many classic Bourne moments but that is part of the problem. An unnerving and frustrating undercurrent of familiarity plagues the movie and it winds up feeling like a mashup of the second and third films.
Working with a plot ripped right from today’s headlines (Russian hackers, economic instability in Greece) the movie is essentially an updated version of the original trilogy and feels at times like a reboot.
One more glaring issue is the dialogue; Jason Bourne has the unfortunate distinction of having perhaps the worst script of the previous movies. The other flicks at least made the audience work a bit to piece narrative elements together. This one lays it all out on a silver platter in rather rudimentary fashion.
However, Jason Bourne is not without its merit; plenty of suspense, character revelations, and pulse-pounding action abound throughout. Alicia Vikander, Tommy Lee Jones, and Vincent Cassel provide great supporting work and Damon is as formidable as ever. Yet, after so much time and so much anticipation, some of the magic is missing.
