MOVIE REVIEW: JASON BOURNE
Director:
Paul Greengrass
Cast:
Matt Damon, Tommy Lee Jones, Alicia Vikander, Julia Stiles
“The most dangerous former operative of the CIA is drawn out of hiding to uncover hidden truths about his past.”-IMDB
Matt Damon returns to the franchise that made him an action star. Jason Bourne managed to survive all the turmoil from the last film and has been off the grid for years. Julia Stiles also returns as formal Treadstone employee, Nicky Parsons, who tracks down Bourne and delivers some stolen information to him, so he can really, REALLY get to the truth this time.
The way things left off in the “Bourne Ultimatum”, I was pretty psyched to have some adventures come back in another movie. Be careful what you wish for.
“Jason Bourne” is the equivalent of “Live Free or Die Hard”. It’s an action movie that’s goes right up against all the original ideas that made the first film a unique experience. The plot here is so simplistic, I’m baffled that this is the storyline that brought Paul Greengrass and Matt Damon back together again after they publicly left the franchise. Not surprisingly, this is first “Bourne” movie to not have Tony Gilroy on the script.
This time, the head of the government department that holds the secrets to Jason Bourne’s past is Tommy Lee Jones, NOT Chris Cooper/David Strathairn. The female officer who is in charge, but is dubious of her boss’ intentions is Alice Vikander, NOT Joan Allen. The assassin that’s hot on the trail is Vincent Cassel NOT Clive Owen/Edgar Martinez.
Where the other movies divided the time between chase scenes and fight scenes, while trying to unravel the mystery, this movie feels like it spends 80% of its time showing CIA agents using surveillance to find Bourne. Somewhere in the mix is a side plot involving a social media mogul and the government’s plan to use his technology. I had almost no interest in seeing how that story played out.
When the action scenes finally do come, they fall into the same cinematic language that turns a lot of people away from these films, that “Shaky Cam”. I think Greengrass decided he would make it a bit more chaotic by having some super quick editing to go along with the camera moves. This may be the most incomprehensible of all the Bourne movies. Although things get smashed up real good in a Las Vegas chase scene.
Some staggering plot holes and not a real interesting payoff, easily makes this the worst of the Bourne movie (with Damon as the lead). It’s too bad too because this is probably the last one. At least I got to see credits set to the Moby song one more time.
Grade: 1.5 out of 5 Stars
by Markellus
