A tour de force by Cox
same character for the remainder of the movie.
In fact, the only thing going on in Jason Bourne that doesn’t feel like it has come out of the spare parts bin from films two and three is a hastily bolted on sub-plot concerning the CIA having access to all the personal info a Facebook– type social media site is gathering. Which sounds promising, but is so ineptly and dismissively handled that it never generates a skerrick of interest or tension. You could have left this entire storyline in the editor’s bin and all that Jason Bourne would have lost is about 20 minutes of running time. Which might have been no bad thing.
Thinking about the film the morning after I saw it, I’m not sure whether the Bourne character was actually aware that this other storyline was even going on. That’s how disposable it is.
Jason Bourne is an efficient and mostly competent Friday night action flick, with a small handful of good set-pieces to commend it. And, perhaps, that’ll be enough to make you happy. But frankly, Greengrass’ pseudo-frontline-doco camera style is about as hip and edgy as your dad’s dancing now, while his insistence on having the orchestra’s string and percussion sections give themselves RSI whenever anyone on screen so much as scratches their arse is just tiring and intrusive.
Worst of all, a decade ago this franchise yielded three very good films. Bourne was the serious, vaguely credible, counterpoint to the silliness and excess of the Bond franchise. These days, Bond is playing to its strengths and looking healthier than ever, while Bourne has fallen into being just as daft and lazy as Bond once was, but not nearly so much fun. Pity. Graeme Tuckett
The Carer (M, 88mins) Directed by Janos Edelenyi
Brian Cox is at his bellicose best in this low-key drama, clearly inspired by the success of The Intouchables and Me Before You.
The Scottish-born Bourne and Braveheart actor plays Sir Michael Gifford, a former acting legend who has withdrawn from public life in order to hide the increasing indignities of Parkinson’s Disease.
Instead of sharing his Lear with thousands, he spends his days venting his spleen at his longsuffering chauffeur (Karl Johnson) and daughter (Emilia Fox), as well as a succession of short-lived carers.
The latest of these is young Hungarian Dorottya (Coco Konig). However, not only does she have experience from her time at the local Oak Court Private Care Facility, but she’s also able to withstand Sir Michael’s withering remarks and quote Shakespeare right back at him. But while her demeanour and methods seem to help him break out of his cosseted existence, there are those who wonder if she is more interested in how her association with him might help her budding acting career.
While somewhat predictable, there’s a lot to like about Hungarian writer-director Janos Edelenyi’s dramedy.
There’s a similarity in the central relationship to that in cowriter Gilbert Adair’s much-loved Love and Death on Long Island, with Cox and Konig displaying a genuine chemistry as they spark off one another.
Cox, in particular, delivers a tour de force, throwing himself into the meaty role, boots and all, whether its ‘‘raging against the dying of his light’’, or delivering a barnstorming speech – ‘‘if revenge is a dish best served cold, I’ve lost my appetite’’.
The pair are surrounded by a solid supporting cast that also includes Anna Chancellor and Roger Moore. At times, the proHungarian references become a little cumbersome, and a rant about popular culture only choosing to focus on ‘‘the good bits – youth and beauty, passion and sex’’ seems a little contrived, but older movie fans will lap up this relationship black comedy – slapstick, scatological references and all. James Croot