‘BOURNE’ AGAIN
Matt Damon’s ex-agent resurfaces to hunt for dark truths in spy thriller
Not the most original Jason Bourne film, “Jason Bourne” starts out like “Fight Club” on the Greek-Albanian border and ends up like “Diamonds Are Forever” on the Strip in Los Angeles. But in between it’s an often compelling look at the post-WikiLeaks-Edward Snowden universe and our collective concerns about such institutions as Facebook and Apple selling us out to the government.
Bourne is a one-punch-knockout artist and fighter, living (a bit out of character, if you ask me) off the grid when the action starts, and he seems to wake up from a dream. In Reykjavik, activist and former CIA operative Nicky Parson (Julia Stiles) steals top secret files about CIA “dark ops,” planning to put them online for the world to see.
At Langley, ambitious CIA internet whiz Heather Lee (Alicia Vikander) tracks Nicky under the guidance of evil CIA Director Robert Dewey (Tommy Lee Jones, who resembles Dobby the House Elf at this point). Satanic Dewey wants Bourne dead, and he has a diabolical “asset” (Vincent Cassel), who wants it even more because Bourne caused the asset to be captured in Syria and tortured for years.
In Athens, Bourne and Parsons flee Dewey's “alpha team” and the asset on the back of a police motorcycle in scenes in which director Paul Greengrass appears to say, “So you don't like shaky cam? How about whiplash cam?” Go to hell, Greengrass.
These scenes are prelude to set pieces we associate with Bourne movies — the fight scenes, foot and car chases, high-tech dexterity, in-transit assault teams and shootouts. The specter haunting Bourne is his late father, Richard Webb (Gregg Henry), who confesses something to his son in flashbacks and is killed in a fiery explosion by an unidentified assassin.
The screenplay by Greengrass and Oscar-winning series editor Christopher Rouse is nothing if not routine. When Robert Ludlum's Jason Bourne first appeared in the film series in 2002, Damon was in his early 30s and still looked like the boy next door. Here, he is haggard looking, heavier if also heavily muscled. But the aura of choirboy innocence is gone. This Bourne has a hunted as well as haunted expression on his face. “You torture yourself,” Nicky tells him. But he doesn't know the whole truth, she adds. Jones glowers, while Vikander's Lee schemes to get ahead, mobilizing all the eyes in the skies to track Bourne down and turning on the civil servant obsequiousness when necessary. Cassel has a few scenes recalling his great work in the “Mesrine” gangster film series from director Jean-Francois Richet. Yes, I was going to scream if one more person in the film said, “Copy that.”
In Berlin, Steve JobsMark Zuckerberg-like Aaron Kalloor (a very good Riz Ahmed) introduces a new platform and tries to extricate himself from Dewey's clutches. By the time the asset steals a SWAT truck, effortlessly tossing cars into the air on the Strip in the finale with Bourne in hot pursuit in a black Dodge Charger, I was ready to hop off this latest Bourne train, but I was glad I took the ride. (“Jason Bourne” contains violence and profanity.)