I, like millions of other people, love a good action movie. These movies showcase incredible, often insane stunt work, intense action and on the whole events which we would never see in real life. However, just because I like them, doesn't mean I can ignore the fact that some of them have ridiculous, non-sensical plots which drive the action even taking place. That's why I appreciate it so much when a movie with an intelligent plot comes along. One franchise which has (mainly) done this, is the Bourne franchise. I say "mainly" because 2012's "The Bourne Legacy" was a bad movie, but the rest of the franchise before that, led by Matt Damon as Jason Bourne, are all great movies, with the third movie in that series ("The Bourne Ultimatum") being particularly well made. The reason I hold these movies in such high regard is because they are a perfect blend of intense action, excellent acting, and smart, engaging stories. It was a shame when that trilogy ended in 2007 and both star Damon and director Paul Greengrass seemed adamant that they would not be returning to make another instalment for a long time. That is why it was a great reveal at the Super Bowl this year when a new Bourne movie was shown off, reuniting Damon and Greengrass once again. After the disappointment that was Jeremy Renner's "Legacy," the trailers made this movie look to be more of what we loved from the Damon movies from 9 years ago. So, did "Jason Bourne" live up the hype that had been built up around it? The short answer is yes. The long answer? Well, let's take a look.
Like I just said, the Bourne movies are known for their intelligent plotting. The movie of the series have never just been generic action movies, but have also included some interesting detective and spy elements, with Jason attempting to both figure out the secrets of his past and bring down some corrupt government operations. Thankfully, this newest instalment continues this trend. Now, the trailers, like the one above, have been pretty vague on story details, so I'm not going to spoil them here. What I will say is that events occur at the start of the movie which cause Bourne to come back into the CIA's crosshairs as he goes on a personal journey to uncover more details about his past. This main plot is an engaging one, to be sure. Early on in the movie, emotional depth is added to the story to make the audience care about Bourne getting to the truth of what happened in his past. This is also cleverly linked into the characters we meet throughout the film, giving them all compelling character arcs and backstories as well. However, the other side of this coin is the irritating and downright absurd subplot revolving around social media and privacy online. It's natural that the writers would have felt the need to implement technology into the story somehow since it has evolved so much since 2007 when the last Matt Damon Bourne movie was released. Some uses of this, though, are outright silly and unbelievable, which only breaks the audiences immersion in the movie, while also slowing the pacing of the story down drastically. This story should have been removed, or at the very least cut down.
Look, people hate on "The Bourne Legacy" a lot, and that's not what this review is meant to do, but this movie only emphasises how much this series requires Matt Damon at the head. Jeremy Renner just does not have the same charisma as Damon on screen, and it goes without saying that Damon is just much better at making the character seem appropriately haunted both by the fact that he can't remember anything in his life from before the events of "The Bourne Identity" and the actions he can remember and has carried out over the 3 films that have come before. The actor is on form in this movie and, although he does not have a lot of lines and only around 290 words to say in the whole movie, he is easily watchable and interesting every moment he is on screen. However, he is not the only great performance in the movie. Both Julia Stiles and Vincent Cassel make the most of their limited screen time and lines and both have interesting character arcs, particularly Cassel's assassin character who has an unexpected relationship with another character in the movie. Tommy Lee Jones, on the other hand, has much more to do in the movie. Jones delivers a brilliantly sinister performance that makes the audience hate his actions, but at the same time understand his motivations at all times. Make no mistake though, you'll never root for him over Bourne. However, possibly the best performance in the movie is the one I was most excited to see, and that is Alicia Vikander's performance as Heather Lee, a tech analyst at the CIA who is the franchise's new link between Bourne and the CIA. The reason Vikander is so interesting to watch throughout the movie is because her true allegiances are cleverly kept ambiguous, while she also goes through an engaging character arc which sees her go from a naive agent to a battle-hardened member of the agency.
That's enough about the story and acting though. Important though they are, the aspect of the movie that most people will probably be going for is the ferocious action that the Bourne franchise is known for. Director Paul Greengrass has thankfully delivered on this. Every single action scene is packed full of tension, with you fearing for the safety and lives of all the main characters, even in early action beats like the motorcycle chase sequence through the Athens riot. The close combat and hand-to-hand fight sequences featured throughout the movie are also very intense and continue the brutality that the Bourne franchise has become renowned for. The stunt work in the movie is also fantastic and deserves to be commended. It's great to see Matt Damon once again performing all of his stunts where possible, which helps all of the action to seem far more realistic than if an obvious stunt double can be seen at different points throughout the movie.
In addition to the action, the technical aspects of the film's production are also on point, especially the cinematography. If you are firmly against the use of shaky cam in a movie, then just get out now and don't bother with this one, since you're going to be mortified. The camera is constantly on the move throughout the movie, especially during the fight scenes. I'm not complaining since the use of shaky cam in a movie can actually improve the audience's immersion in the events to an extent, with it adding to the intensity of the action, as well as tense sequences where characters are attempting to go unnoticed or escape from their pursuers. I've mentioned before my respect for movies when they largely use practical effects over the tempting prospect of CGI in modern filmmaking. As with all the entries in this series so far, "Jason Bourne" uses practical effects for the majority of the movie, with only a few natural uses of computer generated effects here and there, and even they are difficult to pick out due to how realistic they look. Once again, the heavy use of practical effects add to the realism of the movie, something that is often hard to achieve as action set pieces are forced to become much more elaborate and large-scale.
There are a few other aspects of the movie, which I would like to give a mention to as well. Costume design, while only a small part of the movie itself, is excellent and suits the different situations of the characters. Set design is also brilliantly executed, with the inside locations all seeming very realistic, but it is the different locations around the world that Bourne is visiting that is the real draw. Just like many other spy franchises, the movie features a great deal of cities and towns from many different continents are all extremely interesting to watch and gives each act and set piece in the movie a unique flavour and feel to it. However, the main part o the movie which I wanted to mention was the soundtrack. The music of the movie by John Powell and David Buckley is fantastic and may be my favourite soundtrack of the year so far. Needless to say, that the iconic theme of the series, Moby's "Extreme Ways," also makes a return at the finale of the movie and makes for one of the best movie moments of the year so far.
So, is "Jason Bourne" the best movie in the franchise? No, it's not. Is it the worst though? Definitely not. In my opinion, it's not even the worst of the Matt Damon Bourne movies. It's true there's a slight issue here in the technology and social media subplot. It's dull, ridiculous and drags on for far too long through the movie's runtime. However, there's plenty to love here. The acting from all the actors in the movie is superb, and the story is equally compelling when it is focused on further exploring the character of Jason Bourne. The action set pieces scattered throughout the movie are once again the highlight here, with them being just as brutal and ferocious as the previous movies, if not more so. The cinematography and visuals of the movie as a whole as on point, as well. It's refreshing to see this kind of movie in a summer blockbuster when we're getting absurd and stupid movies like Ghostbusters at the same time. It's good to have Jason Bourn back and I hope that this is the beginning of a whole new chapter of the series. This franchise has been Bourne again. Sorry.
Pros
Brutal and intense action sequences
Great acting across the board
An engaging story
Cinematography
Fantastic soundtrack
Cons
A few ridiculous plot points and one boring subplot
Rating: 8/10
Release Date: 27th of July, 2016
Starring Matt Damon, Alicia Vikander, Tommy Lee Jones, Vincent Cassel, Julia Stiles, Riz Ahmed, Ato Essandoh, and Scott Shepherd
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