Let me start by saying I grew up as a fan of the Jason Bourne trilogy since I saw the first one around the time of The Bourne Supremacy release in theaters. I didn't get to catch the first one in theaters nor did I discover it until the release of the second one in which I watched it before going to see Supremacy. I thought it was a good action movie thriller with a solid concept. The idea of a lead character trying to find his identity while having his memory wiped made for a hero that was both relatable to the audience as well as vulnerable. I didn't love the first movie right away but I dug it. The Bourne Supremacy was a superior movie to The Bourne Identity in my eyes as it took everything great about the first movie and expanded on it with Matt Damon turning in a much stronger and convincing performance that the audience can truly buy this guy as being a trained assassin before his memory was wiped. Paul Greengrass slick camera work and fast pacing made it feel like one endless ride with this character as he fights to figure out who he is. It was essentially Total Recall mixed with the Fugitive. The Bourne Ultimatum to me was a perfect sequel to the Bourne trilogy and really should've been the last installment as it ended everything so nicely. Bourne not only got his memory back and remembered everything but he ended his journey exactly the way it started with him in the ocean evading the authorities compared to the opening scene of the first where the fishermen pull him out of the water. If one looks at the significance of those two scenes they realize that the series was perfect as just three films and really should've been left at that. The idea of continuing the series with a new character wasn't very promising as they did so but kept referencing Jason Bourne throughout that film making audiences care less about the new character and more curious about what Bourne was up to or if he was going to make a cameo at the end which never happened. The Bourne Legacy wasn't a terrible film but it failed to restart the series the way it wanted to with a newer character, because audiences to be brutally honest simply didn't care for a new character and wanted Bourne back on the big screen. Now 9 years after the events of The Bourne Ultimatum, Jason Bourne returns to the big screen after both Matt Damon and Paul Greengrass announced their return to the franchise in hopes of fixing it after the damage Legacy did to it. The question on many audiences minds is whether Matt Damon and Paul Greengrass did just that? The answer is a very disappointing negative.
Jason Bourne as a whole is a slight improvement over The Bourne Legacy but still comes across as an overall disappointment taken into account the promise it was delivering to fans as well as the potential it carried in regards to bringing back an iconic character and giving him a triumphant return. The story for the new film centers around former operative of the CIA named Jason Bourne whose forced out of hiding to uncover truths about his past which also involves his father and the reasons behind his death. Jason Bourne looks great on film directing and acting wise as everyone did good but it suffers from a really horrible cause of Deja Vu as the storyline is paper thin and feels directly like a remake of The Bourne Supremacy with Bourne once again on the run from an agency that wants to bring him out of hiding with a connection being led to his father from the past. It's not that Jason Bourne isn't exciting this time around as a character as Damon gives another strong performance given the circumstances he's surrounded by, the storyline is terrible and ultimately is what brings the movie down. The audience is once again treated to another story of Bourne on the run recycling the same subplots from previous movies and not daring to do anything new with its story or characters. The true standouts of this movie are Matt Damon as Bourne and Tommy Lee Jones as a sleazy CIA director, who attempts to force Bourne out of hiding. Julia Stiles makes her return as Nicky from the original Bourne trilogy but her character doesn't develop much further from where the audience last sees her and her character is wasted feeling like a setup for Bourne's character to jump back into action. She also looks like she didn't want to be in the film as her physical appearance is much different than the previous films making her look more tired and bored. It's a shame because her character actually comes across as more likeable as the films go once you learn about her association with Bourne. One wishes that the filmmakers elaborated more on her relationship with Bourne which was described as being romantic in a brief reference in The Bourne Ultimatum. Alicia Vikander does a serviceable job playing the new female accomplice to Bourne in this story as she assists him in his mission while having a few secrets of her own. While it's not the actress to blame for the character turning out to be bland but rather a dry script with cardboard new characters. Damon and Jones carry the film as everything else around them crumbles due to such a poor script. The opening chase sequence involving one of the assassins assigned to kill Bourne played by Vincent Cassel who has a personal score to settle with Bourne, and both Bourne and Nicky riding on a motorcycle from both the antagonist and authorities. While the sequence itself is exciting and well filmed with Greengrass intense directing and never-ending shaky camera style of filming, it serves as a been there and done that familiar tone to it as audiences have seen this sequence before in all the previous Bourne movies. Whereas the movie falls apart in certain places such as the middle portion, John Powells electrifying score picks up the pieces adding to the excitement and intensity of the film. One can almost figure out the filmmakers pattern of making such movies as Bourne goes on the run with female sidekick (which in this case is both Julia Stiles then switches to Alicia Vikander in the latter half of the film as she aids Bourne in his quest) as the general plotline and it's guaranteed that there is always a motorcycle chase and a key hand to hand fight scene that occurs in the movie between Bourne and someone else trying to kill him. I'm not saying that those key scenes don't work in the film, I'm saying that the film feels like the filmmakers seem to find themselves retracing their own steps in regards to choosing where to take the story next with this character. What makes the new film less compelling, is that Bourne no longer feels vulnerable as a character now that he has his memory back and remembers everything. There's no hook to the story or his character to make us truly care about his journey this time as his legacy has already been cemented. If you ask me, his journey was finished with the end of Ultimatum and seeing all the film's that came after that one almost feels that the filmmakers feel the same way but won't admit it. It seemed as if the movie was gasping for straws in regards to telling it's story because the fact that Bourne remembers everything makes his journey complete and him trying to find out information that he never even knew about prior is pointless and shows desperation to milk a franchise that's already past it's prime. Bringing Bourne's father into the mix and having him connected to the same agency as Jason and having him be the reason he was killed is pretty far fetched as none of that information was ever mentioned in the previous three films. I'm not saying that Jason Bourne is a terrible movie but it's a movie that didn't need to happen with a story that's been told and completed to absolute perfection with the original Bourne trilogy. The film does try to tackle themes that pertain to today's world such as the issue of privacy as it suggests the whole world is being watched with other topics being touched upon such as surveillance, advancing technology, CIA tactics, covert operations, assassins, world domination, induced amnesia, manipulation, control, power, greed, living off the grid, patriotism, and moral convictions. While these themes are strong enough to make for a compelling story, one wishes the filmmakers didn't try to repeat past events and pivotal plotlines as Deja Vu is the greatest enemy of this film.
Overall Jason Bourne is a mildly entertaining yet forgettable entry in the Bourne series that should've ended with The Bourne Ultimatium as the story opened and concluded with Bourne in the water and his journey in between returning to the ocean was him slowly regaining not just his memory back but his humanity as well. The films strong points such as Damon and Jones performance as well as Greengrass intense directing and cinematography aren't enough to make up for the films boring and useless storyline. For Damon and Greengrass alone, the film is only worth watching once if you're a fan of the series but then it should be forgotten about as it doesn't hold up to the first three installments which got progressively better as they went. The message behind the film is that government agencies can use extreme tactics and strategies while harming their own operatives at times. The biggest problem with the series post Ultimatium, is that it gives fans more of what they come to expect and that also ends up being it's weakness because the story does nothing to change the fact that Bourne is consistently running from the authorities in each movie and the film essentially feels like a remake of the original films meshed together especially The Bourne Supremacy. Outside of Damon and Greengrass talents which make the movie bearable (The pacing gets painful in the middle section as the story reveals itself and becomes rather uninteresting), this movie is not really worth watching in theaters outside of a couple of impressive yet too few action sequences and one should pretend that the series finished on a high note with The Bourne Ultimatium. The Bourne series has officially become a case of the studio figuring that they could but didn't stop to think of whether they should. Thumbs down, the best thing that can be said about this sequel is that it pretends as if Bourne Legacy doesn't exist.
6/10
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