The film begins with Bourne making his living in the Albanian border country, making a living as an itinerant fighter, traveling from one refugee camp to the next and suffering from flashbacks of all the people he’d killed while working for the American government. The past trailers have certainly done their job to create hype for the movie.
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This fourth instalment in the Jason Bourne film canon definitely isn’t the best of the series – but still offers up action fare a cut above most entries in the genre.
And then there is a man who, in a deft touch, is known only as “the Asset”, a relentless contract killer (convincingly played by Cassell) who has his own reasons for wanting Bourne in his sights. The beloved Bourne continues to battle his enemies and keep viewers at the edge of their seats with high-speed chases, almost impossible missions and a long-awaited reunion with his former colleague, Nicky Parsons (Julia Stiles). “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.
As his loyal soldier, Oscar victor Alicia Vikander (“The Danish Girl”) is steely determination with a cold, cunning vibe, as cybersecurity honcho Heather Lee. The CIA likewise dispatches an assassin (Vincent Cassel) to track Bourne, while the founder of a tech startup (Riz Ahmed) tries to calm the commotion by assuring investors that his network is secure from outside interference.
Bourne’s search for his identity gave us a connection to the character that is now largely gone, and this film is anchored instead with what it calls “the great question of our time:” personal rights vs. public safety. The cities of Athens and Rome are also featured but those sequences were filmed primarily in the versatile Canary Islands. It’s not long before the stunning action set pieces ensue, expertly (if sometimes too busily) directed by series veteran Paul Greengrass (who co-wrote with his editor, Christopher Rouse). Unfortunately, some of those sequences looks very familiar and often go on for extended periods. “I’m 45”, he said. When I opened my present, however, I got socks.
The scene will go down in Vegas movie history and, just by itself, is worth the price of admission.
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Now, 2016’s Jason Bourne sees Damon back in action, showing off the results of those intense gym sessions as he appears shirtless within the first five minutes of the film in a Fight Club-like scene. It’s not that fresh anymore. Both fit the cat-and-mouse structure of the film as a whole, and Greengrass stages them impressively using his trademark hand-held cameras to spotlight the exotic locales.
