Bourne again? Sure, why not.
This fifth dip into the well-worn well of super-soldier “Jason Bourne” has nothing going for it if not brand identity. Like Bond and Marvel and “Star Trek,” you go into a “Bourne” film knowing just what you will get – a predictable exercise in adrenaline.
“Jason Bourne” marks the return of Matt Damon in the role he originated in a trilogy of films, the last two directed by Paul Greengrass, who brought the visual immediacy of his documentary background to the screen.
Greengrass returns this time with a serviceable but more traditional, familiar feeling effort. It is, notably, the first of the series not written or co-written by Tony Gilroy, who directed the fourth film which replaced Damon with Jeremy Renner.
Greengrass co-wrote the screenplay here, but the real world crises and hot button issues he includes feel laminated onto the film rather than incorporated or put into dramatic context. When the film races through a Greek riot or explores privacy violations by a popular internet platform it is not about those things per se but paper tigers for Bourne to overcome.
Villains include CIA chief played by Tommy Lee Jones, the CIA “asset” played by Vincent Cassell, who has a grudge against Bourne and a CIA analyst played by Alicia Vikander who has her own agenda and wants to bring him in from the cold. The endgame for each hints at how any sequels could proceed.
Little of the plot is surprising. Bourne is haunted by his past and hunted by those who created and exploited him and want him dead. But the film is stripped of actual drama in favor of tactical choreography.
The only scene that lingers is a ridiculous car chase through Las Vegas, and its casinos, that ends the film. The rest of it is a jumble of exotic locations and a blur of memory fragments as the grim Damon stares off into the distance. It is the only time “Jason Bourne” appears believably vulnerable and vaguely human.
**1/2 Two and one half stars
With Matt Damon, Tommy Lee Jones, Alicia Vikander, Vincent Cassell, Julia Stiles, Rhiz Ahmed, Ato Essandoh, Scott Shepherd.
Produced by Matt Damon, Frank Marshall, Gregory Goodman, Ben Smith, Jeffrey Weiner.
Written by Christopher Rouse, Paul Greengrass. Directed by Paul Greengrass.
Rated PG-13, action, violence. Approximate running time: 123 minutes.
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