After a 9-year absence, director Paul Greengrass and superstar Matt Damon return for fourths on Jason Bourne. For a franchise that, at one point in time, reinvented spy thriller movies, it's so depressing to see the Bourne we supposedly know and love in a film that falls spectacularly short of the series' soaring heights. Dare I say Damon's long-awaited return to the role comes in a movie that's even worse than the Jeremy Renner-led The Bourne Legacy.
We catch up with our hero laying low in Europe, keeping in shape by fighting in underground boxing matches. We also find Nicky Parsons (Julia Stiles), Jason's former contact, working with a WikiLeaks-like hacker group. She tracks Bourne down in Greece and shares sensitive information with him about Treadstone, including a conspiracy involving his late father. Fueled once again by a need for answers, Jason traverses Athens, London, Berlin, and Las Vegas trying to find out what happened with his dad. Meanwhile, shady CIA director Robert Dewey (Tommy Lee Jones) looks to cover his tracks as Bourne's quest points to a collusive backdoor deal between the agency and Deep Dream, a popular social network.
This film's weakest point is its story. This is a completely original scenario devised by Greengrass and co-writer Christopher Rouse. It is not adapted from any of the previously published Bourne stories written by Robert Ludlum. The pathos of this new film doesn't resonate as clearly as it did in the earlier trilogy. I think this is due to the fact that the plot itself feels both frustratingly convoluted and all too familiar. Bourne has been here before - a quest to uncover an unsolved mystery about the hero's past, shady government Black ops organizations, CIA directors with something to hide, informants who may or may not be on the hero's side. We've seen it already, and therefore the stakes are all but moot this time around.
Jason Bourne also lacks the breathless, non-stop action sequences that defined its predecessors. It has maybe 3 marquee scenes, and that's it. Save for a satisfyingly gonzo chase scene down the Las Vegas strip with an armored truck, the action is shot terribly. The chase sequences and fight scenes in the earlier trilogy were so tense and memorable because you could actually see what was going on, and frenetic hand-held cinematography made it feel as if the audience were part of the fight. Here, all the action is cut to ribbons to the point where it's nearly impossible to appreciate the stunt choreography. The climactic fight scene between Bourne and Vincent Cassel's hitman feels anti-climactic because of this. For a series which, in the past, has hinged on its game-changing stunt work, this is such a crushing disappointment.
With seemingly less action scenes, there are several dry stretches punctuated by silly dialogue between Jones and Alicia Vikander who stars as CIA agent Heather Lee. These are two great actors, but they're given far too much pull in this film. It's supposed to be Damon's show, but you'd never know it.
Although this isn't one of his finer efforts, Paul Greengrass still has an assured hand as a director, if not so much as a screenwriter. Jason Bourne simply lacks the intrigue and the execution that made its predecessors great. This is a series that would've been best left a trilogy.
D+
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