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We know his name. Jason Bourne has a whole book and movie series to his name, cementing Matt Damon's performance as an iconic character on par with Daniel Craig's Bond or Kiefer Sutherland's Jack Bauer. From The Bourne Identity to The Bourne Ultimatum, Jason Bourne went through a complete story arc that focused on his struggle to understand who he is, as a lost ex-spy and as a human being.
Now, we have a fourth film in the arc (fifth if you count the stand-alone Bourne Legacy, which I barely remember and has no bearing on this film). Jason Bourne finds the man off the grid again, drifting place to place as if in a trance, making ends meet through the exquisite art of bare-knuckle boxing. Of course, something happens that pulls him back into the CIA's crosshairs. He's forced to run from Greece to London to Vegas, outrunning and outsmarting spies and assassins as he searches for the truth. Again.
There's absolutely nothing new to Jason Bourne. For a movie that bears the man's full name, as if to suggest this will be a definitive character-defining adventure, it's rather disappointing. There's only one relevant point to the movie that makes it relevant: another piece to Bourne's past. This revelation serves solely to villainize the villains and give Bourne a reason to kill them. It doesn't change anything before or after: Bourne is nothing more than a golem in this movie who smashes his enemies and comes out totally unscathed and unchanged. There is no real danger or peril to be felt, and there's little-to-no reason to cling to Bourne as a character (other than sheer badassery). He's a total rock, who confronts equally-flat characters.
The story itself seems to prove that all the Bourne movies now have a formula: movie starts with Bourne off the grid, something happens, he gets chased, he chases and outsmarts people, then repeat five times in five different countries until he confronts the guy in charge. The end. Guess what? That's pretty much all that happens here: the movie goes through three or four different repetitions of the exact same spy game with big setpieces in exotic locales, but it amounts to a predictable outcome. The only stakes at hand is the threadbare piece of personal history. The movie crams in some current issues ripped from yesterday's headlines (such as mass surveillance conspiracies, finding back doors in communication technology, name-dropping Snowden ad nauseam), which gives some fairly interesting social stakes, but it comes off as stuffy and droll. It's a thrilling experience in the moment, but when I take a step back, I have to ask, this is it? Didn't we see this stuff already with Supremacy and Ultimatum?
Fans may be pleased to know that with Paul Greengrass back in the director's chair, the film is on-par with previous Bourne entries. That means, for better or for worse, an onslaught of hyperkenetic action scenes with horrendous camera shake and rapid-fire editing. When the camera isn't shaking, the film is as dark and drab as they come, and most shots are quite pedestrian. Fortunately, performances are decent. Matt Damon still embodies Jason Bourne with impressive physical and emotional intensity. Tommy Lee Jones is fitting as the stiff CIA director. Alicia Vikander can't seem to hold an American accent, but it hardly bothered me—I enjoyed her performance just as well as the rest of the cast. Vincent Cassel is just as menacing here as he was staring in Mesrine. Writing is fairly understated—dialogue is scant, but does its job aptly of giving information and letting the story and characters fill in the blanks. This production is one of the most creditable-looking spy movies around: all the locales, sets, props, and costumes look gritty, realistic, and palpable. Music is okay (although, despite my adoration of Moby's work, "Extreme Ways" continues to grate on me personally, even with a new remix).
In fact, the end-credits song may as well embody what this movie is all about: the same old thing with heavier beats. But while the original three movies had a character arc worth exploring, this movie draws out a rather thin thread to string the formulaic plot along. And in the end, I realize there's little reason for me to care about Bourne or what happens to him in this pointless entry in the series.
If you're a fan, see it, by all means, you might love it. But unless filmmakers break out of the standard Bourne mold, the original three movies will remain where the series begins and ends for me.
2.5/5
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