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. However, with four films packed with double-crosses, memory wipes, and shady government conspiracies, it can be hard to keep track of everything that led up to this week’s fifth installment of the franchise.
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Director Paul Greengrass and actor Matt Damon return to their roles behind and in front of the camera, providing consistency to a series that has frequently put the exploits of James Bond in the shade. Those four films have grossed over $1 billion in their worldwide theatrical run, so the fact that they are bringing Damon back in as Bourne this weekend isn’t really shocking.
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. “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.
Even in 90 seconds it’s easy to lose yourself in all the twists and turns involving secret Central Intelligence Agency programs like Treadstone or Blackbriar, and it’s obvious that the main M.O. of these movies is to cast any semi-distinguished British or American actor to be the stuffed-shirt government stooge that has to be the scapegoat for what was done to Bourne to make his brain into scrambled eggs.
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The script for Jason Bourne was penned by Greengrass and Christopher Rouse, who served as an editor on The Bourne Supremacy and The Bourne Ultimatum. According to one Forbes review of the latest installment, which hits theaters on Friday (Jul. 29), that’s exactly what they should have called it.
