It has been nine years since the last Matt Damon Bourne movie, but it is clear after watching Jason Bourne that Damon still knows how to play the titular character. I just wish they would have come up with something interesting for him to do. Jason Bourne is like a greatest hits from the other Bourne movies. It is all pretty good, but you have seen it all before.
The film begins with Jason Bourne living off the grid and surviving by winning money one punching people in underground prize fights. So things are obviously pretty great for him. Then guess who shows up to tell him that he doesn’t remember all of his past, and that the CIA is up to some more dirty tricks? That’s right his old pal Nicky Parsons (Julia Stiles), so Jason will have to walk fast while wearing baseball hats, punch people, and occasionally drive a vehicle at unsafe speeds until he can confront the director of the CIA … again.
Yup. It is pretty much the same story from the last three Matt Damon Bourne movies. The locations are different, and the car chases are on a larger scale, but there isn’t any new ground broken with this film. It is hard to enjoy all the punching and crashing when the story in between is the same old thing. I was hoping that maybe this time around he would be like a crusading avenger fighting injustice in the spy world or something, but no, his past sucks and the CIA director needs to be taken down a peg. Maybe these movies are supposed to serve as a warning to the CIA, “Behave or Jason Bourne is going to come down there and punch you!!!”. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Jason Bourne is not only the return of Matt Damon, but also the series’ most well known director Paul Greengrass. If that name makes you feel a bit queasy, that is because he is the man that made shaky-cam popular, and he is up to his old tricks. He shakes that camera all over the place. Though it seems that this time around he at least remembers to give the audience a few reprieves and hold the camera steady for a few seconds every once and a while.
I have been pretty hard on Jason Bourne, but that is only because I like these movies, and I just wanted them try something a little different with this film. The action is still top notch, and Matt Damon’s Bourne is still a captivating character. If you just want watch Jason Bourne do his thing, you will probably like Jason Bourne. Heck I enjoyed myself for the most part. I just wish they would have come up with something more meaningful for Jason to do. Maybe next time.