Jason Bourne film review

 

 

Went to see this at the Leeds/Bradford Odeon today with my friends Bev and Sarah.

 

IMDB says: The CIA's most dangerous former operative is drawn out of hiding to uncover more explosive truths about his past.

 

In this Paul Greengrass (Captain Phillips, United 3) directed and written (with Christopher Rouse: The Bourne Ultimatum, The Italian Job and Robert Ludlum for characters) film, Matt Damon (We Bought a Zoo, Good Will Hunting) reprises his role as Jason Bourne.  Brought back in to the CIAs watch list by Nicky Parsons (Julia Stiles: 10 Things I Hate About You, Silver Linings Playbook), he must get answers before CIA Director Robert Dewey (Tommy Lee Jones: Men in Black, The Fugitive), the man behind the Black Ops or his Asset (Vincent Cassel: Black Swan, Irreversible) take him out.

 

Director NI Edwin Russell (Scott Shepherd: Bridge of Spies, Side Effects) agrees that Agent Heather Lee (Alicia Vikander: Ex Machina, The Danish Girl) can try to bring Bourne back into the fold but can she trust her team, including Craig Jeffers (Ato Essandoh: Django Unchained, Blood Diamond), when Bourne tracks down Malcolm Smith (Bill Camp: Midnight Special, Loving)?

 

It seems that Bourne is digging into his history, yet his research leads him to the future, social media tycoon Aaron Kalloor (Riz Ahmed: Four Lions, Nightcrawler).

 

 

In this fast-paced action thriller, the fights and vehicle chases pull you straight back in to the world of Bourne from the beginning.  Yes, the plot is familiar 'Bourne wants to take down a new CIA Black Ops named Ironhand (see Treadstone and Blackbriar previously) and anyone and everyone is expendable to keep this a secret.  Bourne struggles with his amnesia and past deeds, whilst the best agents and assets look confused and unskilled as he takes them out or fools them at every turn' but in this steamroller ride, the action pieces and spy elements keep you on the edge of your seat.  You want to know how he does it, psychological damage and top-notch training aside, when there are so many more of them.

 

The fighting and crashes are not believable, but then neither is Bond and at least the female roles are kick ass rather than for love interest, Vikander especially delivers convincingly despite her years for such a high-profile position in the CIA.  Strong performances also from Damon and Jones lend gravitas to a weak storyline and a lack of good twists.

 

I hope that if there is to be another with Damon, that we get more thriller and equal thrills.  This one sadly, more action than thriller.

 

 

Trivia:  The Las Vegas car chase sequence took five weeks to shoot and at the end, the sequence wrecked 170 cars, and City officials and the producers reached an agreement to only shoot the Las Vegas car chase sequence from midnight to sunrise.  Matt Damon has stated numerous times that he would only return to the Bourne franchise to reprise his role as Jason Bourne if Paul Greengrass would return for directorial duties on the project.  Damon & Greengrass announced their return to the franchise in November 2014 for a new instalment.  This movie is the first Bourne film Tony Gilroy wasn't involved in and he wrote none of the script.

 

Tagline: You know his name.                                                                              7/10

 



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