JASON BOURNE review by Mark Walters – Matt Damon returns to his fan-favorite role

JASON BOURNE review by Mark Walters – Matt Damon returns to his fan-favorite role

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When THE BOURNE IDENTITY came out in 2002, it made an action star out of Matt Damon, and launched a rather successful movie franchise continuing with THE BOURNE SURPREMACY in 2004 and THE BOURNE ULTIMATUM in 2007. In 2012 the powers that be attempted to pass the torch to Jeremy Renner with THE BOURNE LEGACY, which wasn’t bad but failed to wow fans and leave them clamoring for more. So in this day and age of reviving popular film characters and franchises, Damon is returning to the role of former CIA agent Jason Bourne is the rather simply-titled JASON BOURNE.

Nicky Parsons (Julia Stiles) hacks into a CIA mainframe in a foreign land, making herself a target for the current American regime of the agency. This reconnects her with Jason Bourne (Damon), who becomes her only hope for survival. CIA Director Robert Dewey (Tommy Lee Jones) and CIA agent Heather Lee (Alicia Vikander) do their best to track down the two rogue targets, but Bourne has mastered staying one step ahead of them. Nicky’s hacking has led to some dark secrets involving Jason’s father (played in flashback by Gregg Henry), and this gives Bourne a whole new reason to fight back against the CIA. Dewey is hoping his stealthy asset (Vincent Cassel) can take out Bourne before any more buried secrets are exposed.

JASON BOURNE is a mix of great moments and solid action, awkwardly buried in an otherwise ordinary spy thriller. While it’s fun to see Damon back in the role and the casting is pretty solid, most of the film feels like an unnecessary follow up to a franchise that was pretty much done. One thing that is apparent while watching the new movie is that Matt Damon has definitely aged – not in a bad way, he’s just looking older now, and it gives the proceedings a different look and feel as a result. Perhaps this was his way of acknowledging he needs a potential franchise to carry him through his middle-aged years, but it just doesn’t feel like this installment offers anything new or different. The return of director Paul Greengrass only means more of the rather off-putting shaky camera style that became the biggest complaint of the previous BOURNE sequels. Tommy Lee Jones chews every scene he’s in as the story’s antagonist, trying his best to make the character one that stands out. It’s not a bad reading, but the character feels a little too predictable for its own good. Julia Stiles gives us a definitely stronger version of Nicky Parsons than before and is a welcome addition to the proceedings, and Vincent Cassel is almost always great when playing this type of villain role. But the one big misstep in the casting department is current Hollywood favorite Alicia Vikander, who never seems to find much in her performance here. It’s a character that should have been an interesting counterpart for Bourne, but instead comes across pretty uninspired and ordinary, almost like stunt casting that just doesn’t work.

There’s also not as much action in this BOURNE outing as what we’ve seen in previous entries, though it does ramp up to a rather spectacular car chase in Las Vegas that at times looks really brutal. Simon Crane was 2nd Unit Director here, and considering his impressive work on many of Hollywood’s biggest blockbusters, I’m guessing the best action stuff is his handiwork. The Vegas chase is also easily the highlight of the film, even if it leads into an awkward fist fight underground. While JASON BOURNE isn’t anywhere near the best of the series, it’s not unlike the similar franchise of James Bond, in that even an average Bourne movie is still fairly entertaining to watch. Let’s just hope that if this is to inspire a second trilogy of Damon-led films, the next few find a way to show us something a little more surprising.

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About the Author

Born and raised in Dallas, Mark has been a movie critic since 1994, with reviews featured in print, radio and National TV. In 2001 he started the Entertainment section of the Herorealm website, where he contributed film reviews and celebrity interviews until 2004. After three years of service there, he started Bigfanboy.com, which has become one of the Dallas film community's leading information websites. Bigfanboy hosts several movie screenings in the Texas area, and works closely with film and TV studios and promotional partners to host exciting events and contests. The site also features a variety of rare celebrity and filmmaker interviews, and Bigfanboy.com regularly covers the film festival circuit as well. In addition to Hollywood reporting, Mark has worked for many years as an advertising and sci-fi/comic book artist. Clients have included Lucasfilm Ltd., Topps Trading Cards, The Dallas Mavericks and The Dallas Stars. From 2002 until 2015 he managed the Dallas Comic Con, Sci-Fi Expo and Fan Days events in the DFW area. He currently catalogs rare comic books and movie memorabilia for Heritage Auctions, and runs the Dallas Comic Show conventions, but remains an avid moviegoer and cinema buff.