Movie Review: Jason Bourne
I was a sophomore in high school when the last Bourne film was released and I remember thinking to myself that it was the best movie I had seen that entire summer. I thought it was the perfect ending to the series and Jason Bourne ended on a high note. I really didn’t see the need for any more Bourne films so when I heard they were releasing a new one with Matt Damon back in front of the camera, I thought to myself, “That’s cool, but is it really necessary?” To answer my own question, “Jason Bourne” is a cool movie that was a thrill to watch but also didn’t really seem necessary to even bother making in the first place.
It’s been ten years since Jason Bourne (Damon still as badass as ever) was last seen and since then he’s been living a life of isolation in Greece, earning his living by illegal street fighting. When he is found by his old friend, Nicky Parsons ( a returning Julia Stiles finally deciding to come back out of hiding), who informs him that the agency he spent so many years taking down has developed a new program similar to the one he was part of, he decides it’s time to make his return to the world and stop them before it’s too late.
I want to start off by saying that I liked this movie quite a bit. The Bourne series has always been known for its thrilling car chases and intense fight sequences and it delivers on all counts. Does anyone really look cooler than Damon speeding down a busy street avoiding the bad guy while riding a motorcycle? The climactic showdown delivers probably one of the coolest car chases I’ve seen in years and Bourne’s hand to hand combat with Vincent Cassel’s villain known only as “The Asset” is intense and cringe-worthy to watch in the best way possible. Just like the previous films, the hand-to-hand combat scenes lack music with the only sound being that of the men groaning and hitting one another which definitely delivered quite a few “ooh!” from the audience I was watching with. The action is just as thrilling as ever and you definitely feel like you’re watching a Bourne film. For those who grew up actually watching this series, it’s going to be a real pleasure to watch and even though it’s now in its fourth (technically fifth) entry in the series it still manages to wow, shock even, with a few clever plot twists that you don’t see coming.
The cast is fun to watch and they all sell it really well. Stiles manages to get a lot more action than we’re used to and it was nice to finally see her stand up and fight for herself. Tommy Lee Jones (looking older than ever!) can really stare you down like no one else can and the newest addition to the cast, Alicia Vikander, is annoyingly sexy and while she doesn’t quite reach the level of usefulness that Nicky has to Jason, she still manages to be alright, alright, alright. The real star of this movie though shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone that it’s once Damon carrying it on his back with ease. He’s always been the strongest point of each of these films and I think the reason people keep coming back to watch these movies a decade after they started has a lot to do with him and the character he’s created. Damon himself is starting to get up there in age but he still looks and fights just as good as he did when he appeared in the first movie sixteen years ago.
The only real complaint I have about this film was something I already said, which was this movie didn’t really seem necessary at all. At the center of it all, the movie kind of felt like the character of Bourne was simply suffering from a mid-life crisis and instead of buying a sports car he goes out and shoots a couple of corrupt CIA agents. I wouldn’t be all that surprised if I learned that Damon had picked up the phone one day, called up the film’s director, Paul Greengrass, and said, “Hey Paul I’m kind of bored, want to make another “Bourne” movie?” To which Paul replied, “Yeah okay sure I have nothing going on right now.”
“Jason Bourne” is a real tribute not just to the character but to the fans who have been with it since the beginning. When the movie ended, people hooted and clapped and you could tell everyone was in a really good mood as they walk out of the theater. I’m willing to bet if I was to see this movie again I’d like it a lot more than I did the first time around.
The bottom line, while not as strong as the third entry, “Jason Bourne” is still a really good, fun, action- packed spy thriller that is definitely one of the better sequels released this year.
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