Jason Bourne

Starring: Matt Damon, Tommy Lee Jones, Alicia Vikander, Vincent Cassel, Julia Stiles, Riz Ahmed, Bill Camp
Directed by: Paul Greengrass
Rating: PG-13
Genre: Action, Thriller
2016

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: Jason Bourne (Matt Damon) emerges from hiding as new details about his past surface.

Review:

Tim: I really expected the triumphant return of Matt Damon and director Paul Greengrass to the Jason Bourne franchise to be better than this. Yes, Jason Bourne is an improvement over the Damon-less The Bourne Legacy, but this is the worst Bourne movie Damon has done. The film is helped immensely by the pleasure of seeing Damon return to this role. That's still the biggest attraction here. We haven't seen him play this part in 9 years, so it was wonderful to see the continued adventures of the once amnesiac spy. Unfortunately, the movie around him lets him down. This is the most forgettable of Damon's Bourne movies.

One thing this franchise has always gotten right is the casting. Damon is really comfortable in this role. I loved seeing the change in him, the world weariness. The older her gets (at this point), the more you feel the weight of it all on this character's shoulders. Damon is so good in this role and I loved seeing him back. Tommy Lee Jones was a great addition to the cast. While I wish his character was a little more memorable, I still enjoyed his performance. Alicia Vikander was a fairly good addition to the cast. I like Vikander, but her role didn't quite seem right. I had a hard time figuring out what I felt about her character. In the end, I think she improved the movie some, but not nearly as much as I expected. Vincent Cassel's presence was welcome. I also liked seeing Julia Stiles return, although I do wish she had more to do.

One of the issues with this film is that the story isn't all that exciting. There's never that quintessential moment where you sit up and say "THAT is why I keep watching these movies!" There were decent enough action sequences throughout the film, but nothing reached the intensity or frantic pace of scenes we saw in earlier films. The movie delivers okay action sequences, but none reach the right level. The story is somewhat predictable. There's still a few unexpected moments, but this movie doesn't offer the same twisting ride we've seen before. Another issue is that this is now the fourth time we've seen Damon as Bourne and the fifth movie in the overall franchise. The stakes felt kind of low here. This movie talked more about the technology side of the spy business, but nothing was especially interesting. Nothing in the film felt new or fresh, it felt like we were going back to the same well. The whole movie felt less like the exciting return of Bourne and more like walking down a too-familiar path.

In the end, I'm probably being too generous with my final rating. I admit I did get caught up in the excitement of seeing an older Damon returning to this character. That's one of the big benefits to doing another film years later. The same kind of excitement happened with Rocky Balboa, Rambo, and Star Wars: The Force Awakens. There's something inherently wonderful about revisiting characters years later. That always adds to the film because of the excitement you feel. However, you can't rely only on that excitement. That'll take you only so far. This movie does just enough for me to consider it a solid film, but it still falls short of the expectations placed upon it. Overall, it was fun enough to watch this movie, but it's not one I have any desire to revisit. I went into this movie so excited that Damon was back, but I left the film feeling like maybe it's time to shut the door on this franchise.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: 7



If You Enjoyed This Movie, We Recommend: The Bourne Identity, The Bourne Supremacy, The Bourne Ultimatum, The Bourne Legacy