Jason Bourne- Film Review.

Jason Bourne- film review

Jason Bourne sees the return of Paul Greengrass in the directing chair and Matt Damon starring as the title character. This film sees the reunion of Greengrass and Damon alongside new cast members such as Tommy Lee Jones, Alicia Vikander and Vincent Cassel. The film tells the narrative that Jason Bourne has been hiding off the grid since the events of The Bourne Ultimatum, and he resurfaces when Nicky parson played by Julia Stiles, she finds him to tell him about some information related to his past. This sends Bourne on a vengeance filled mission around the world, it starts in Greece and concludes in Las Vegas, with some excellent action sequences and some great intense moments.

There are many greats moments to enjoy with this film, the first action sequence takes place in Athena, Greece during a riot. There is a great car/bike chase between Jason Bourne and the asset which is played by Vincent Cassel in this film. The first chase sequence in this film is very intense in the way that it is directed, this sequence uses some great camera angles and some strong direction. But the main thing that stands out in the opening sequence is the editing, the editing here is something which done very well because the right shots have been placed in the right order. The editing shows you a shot of Bourne and then the asset but then cuts to a wide shot which shows the next obstacle that Bourne has to overcome. The chase scene in this film is great because everything is clear and easy to follow, and you understand everything that is happening to the characters through the action scenes. The other action scenes have some great elements, the action is mostly solid throughout and it keeps you entertained while you are watching the action scenes. The other action scenes aren’t as great as the initial action scenes but they will keep you entertained enough to watch the film.

There are some other positives about this film such as, Matt Damon is fantastic in the role of Jason Bourne once again, when you watch this film you understand that he has committed himself to this role and he knows how to perform his own stunts during the action sequences. Matt Damon understands the character of Bourne quiet a lot because the character doesn’t speak much during the entire runtime of the film, but Damon knows and understands how to convey the emotions that the character needs to portray using just facial expressions. Tommy Lee Jones plays the main antagonist in this film, his character is a little one dimensional and doesn’t have much character development, and Jones works with the material he has and does the best that he can do, Jones does a give a performance which is given one hundred per cent. The performance by Alicia Vikander is also great, she brings the binary opposition between her character and Jones’ character with the old vs. new, again the film focuses more on Bourne and his mission but her character is enjoyable to watch onscreen.

However, there are some negative aspects to this film. This film is nowhere near the standard of the other Bourne films that have featured Damon. There are many reasons for this and the first thing that the action is nowhere the same standard of The Bourne Ultimatum, the action in that film is clear and done very well, the action in this film feels flat in comparison and this films action sequences just doesn’t seem as good and as in intense. An example of this would be the hand-to-hand sequence that happens in both films. In The Bourne Ultimatum the build up to the hand-to-hand sequence is very intense, Bourne is trying to escape the police in Tangier, this leads to a rooftop chase sequence and Bourne crashing through a window. The fight between Bourne and Desh takes place. The action is filmed so well here because the lighting is strong and gives clarity. However, in Jason Bourne the build up to the hand-to-hand action sequence doesn’t seem as intense. There is a car chase, but because it has been done like this before and the chase doesn’t seem intense, the action between Bourne and the asset is done in this dark area that you can see the characters and some of the camera placement means that you can’t see what character is hitting another character. The action is not clear as the other films sequence in The Bourne Ultimatum. This is a film which tries to like to other films very well, like that the events that happens in previous films. However, this film doesn’t try to explain the events that happened after the events of The Bourne Ultimatum, the filmmakers don’t tell you what happens to the CIA characters such as Pamela Landy because there should be something in this film to reference those characters, and purpose there could have been a link like Alicia Vikander could have been the daughter of Landy, but the characters are not mentioned.  

This is a film which should have been great, the creative team that made the other Bourne films came together to made this film. There are aspects of this film which are good but they are nothing to the standard of the other films in the franchise. This film is the worst Bourne film that Matt Damon has done, the action isn’t great there is not one moment that you will be able to remember the action. The other thing which could have been added would have had links to the previous films, this is a film which could have been better than we got, or maybe the creative team behind the Bourne films couldn’t recreate the high standard of the previous films, and maybe as films go we have received the peak of the Bourne franchise and there won’t be another great film like The Bourne Ultimatum in the franchise.

Conclusion

Jason Bourne doesn’t live up to the previous entries in the franchise, but the film is still quite entertaining to watch and does have some good moments. If you want a great Bourne film you better off watching The Bourne Ultimatum or The Bourne Supremacy but as a mindless action film is a passable film, but not as good as we have come to expect from the franchise.

Rating: 7/10.