Bourne stuck in a rut
Jason Bourne (M) 123 mins ★★★1⁄2
The Bourne franchise has long been my favourite action series, topping Bond only because 007 has increasingly gone a bit Bourne himself in recent years (which shows the unsmiling one’s enduring influence).
Director Paul Greengrass contributed the brilliant second and third instalments in the canon, before jumping ship to helm the multi-Oscar-nominated Captain Phillips.
He and star Matt Damon weren’t slated to return – a solid but underwhelming sequel followed (The Bourne Legacy), with which neither was involved – and then, in 2016 our prayers were answered: Jason Bourne returns, with director and star intact.
You can’t fault the casting, either. Damon does what he always does, eternally straightfaced and almost dialogue-free, as Jason Bourne yet again seeks revelation and retribution against the government agency which made him into the cold-blooded assassin we know and love (it has always been a fascinating aspect to Bourne that we have a hero whom the baddies laud for his murderous exploits, while he rejects those tendencies wholeheartedly – while continuing to kill in order to meet his ends. Somehow despite, rather than because of, this behaviour, we root for him all the way).
Top of the latest bill is BritSwede rising star, Alicia Vikander (The Man from UNCLE, The Danish Girl), who is extremely assured up against wrinkly oldtimer Tommy Lee Jones. But the best of the newbies is Riz Ahmed, whose supporting roles shone in Nightcrawler and Four Lions, and who does a superbly natural impression of a young internet entrepreneur with dubious morals.
They all contribute to a dependable action thriller which unequivocally demonstrates all the Bourne tropes: the vertiginous camerawork; the city-hopping from Athens to Berlin, London and Las Vegas; the thrillingly consistent strains of the Bourne soundtrack. Good people die; bad people die; motorcycles are ridden up and down flights of stairs.
Perhaps the reason this isn’t quite the eagerly anticipated fivestar movie is largely down to the fact that this time Greengrass and his long-time editor co-wrote the script.
The movie trailer implies it’s veering into the murky world of government invasion of privacy (it cleverly evokes Edward Snowden), but the action film rapidly morphs into the familiar cat-and-mouse plot with Bourne still haunted by flashbacks and in endless peril.
Sadly, Jason Bourne doesn’t therefore advance much on what we’ve seen before, and although it ticks all the boxes, its lack of novelty means it’s probably only a must-see for the fans. – Sarah Watt