“We love (Bourne) just as much as everybody else”, Damon says, “and we were leery of putting the cart before the horse and making another Bourne movie before we were ready with a good story-it was a case of waiting for the world to change a bit”.
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While Damon will eventually get back in the saddle, he’s looking forward to giving his body a break after having endured grueling workouts to prepare for his fourth go-around as Bourne.
Jason Bourne wants us to be thinking about the most pressing issues of our age – even the current USA elections are turning on the issue of secrecy and hacking – but can it can’t get away from the blunt instrument that is Bourne. “Could be worse than Snowden”, agent Craig Jeffers (Ato Essandoh) informs his boss, Central Intelligence Agency director Robert Dewey (Tommy Lee Jones), once the breach is detected.
Riz Ahmed (Rogue One: A Star Wars Story) Scott Shepherd (Bridge of Spies) and Ato Essandoh (Django Unchained) are among other newcomers installed as Central Intelligence Agency operatives, while Julia Stiles is once more Bourne’s ex-handler and confidant Nicky Parsons. I find it to be really helpful for this character, in particular.
Instead of the usual convoluted plot interspersed with gunfights and vehicle chases, Doug Liman (The Bourne Identity) and then Paul Greengrass (The Bourne Supremacy and The Bourne Ultimatum) fused narrative and action into a single kinetic arc that left us breathless but never bewildered.
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It’s basically set around four set-pieces – a cracking Athens intro followed by further major scenes in Berlin, London and Las Vegas – that are nicely pieced together with the usual accomplished direction of helmer Paul Greengrass (who directed the aforementioned Supremacy and Ultimatum), even though you could argue each scene has been touched upon in previous entries, thus providing nothing ground-breakingly new. 123 minutes. Rated PG-13 for intense sequences of violence and action, and brief strong language.
