image-13

Director: Paul Greengrass

Cast: Matt Damon, Tommy Lee Jones, Alicia Vikander, Vincent Cassel, Julia Stiles, Riz Ahmed, Ato Essandoh, Scott Shepherd, Bill Camp, Vinzenz Kiefer, Stephen Kunken

Rating: 12A

Running Time: 123 mins

Release Date: July 27th, 2016

JASON BOURNE wants to be relevant, throwing around talks about security, privacy and name dropping Snowden at least twice, but it never engages with the material like it should, instead skirting around the issue, unsure of how to tackle it. A paper thin plot doesn’t help either nor does the sense we’ve seen this done three times before now. Matt Damon and Alicia Vikander impress, while Riz Ahmed‘s interesting new character is largely left on the sidelines. Add in some erratic editing in a third act chase that takes far too long to reach its destination and it appears that Bourne should have remained retired.

We haven’t seen Jason Bourne since 2007’s THE BOURNE ULTIMATUM. The question the film is most eager to answer is; who is Jason Bourne when he isn’t being the kick-ass and unbeatable spy we know he is? What happens to him when he steps away from the spy game? Damon, fresh from his charismatic turn in last year’s THE MARTIAN, returns to arguably one of his most famous characters. Teamed again with director Paul Greengrass, 2016 Bourne is older and grayer, less angry and more tired at the events happening around him. While the film tries to get down to who Bourne really is, his built in enigmatic nature never allows the story to dive too deeply into what makes him tick, leaving Damon to do the best he can.

Ultimately, when Bourne isn’t being Bourne, he’s boring and while Damon brings his considerable star power to the screen, a Jason Bourne who’s pondering about his own nature creates a sluggish experience. It’s not until the very end that the film brings back the same Bourne who we’ve spent three films following. It doesn’t help that the film settles into a repetitive nature, never allowing itself to explore the issues it so desperately wants to talk about. Bourne goes to one location, opens a laptop before being set upon by agents. Repeat this three times and you have the story for Jason Bourne.

matt-damon-jason-bourne-2016

A great cast who are let down by their characters, the film flirts with giving them something interesting to do before stopping at mediocre. Vikander has already proven herself to be a tremendous actress, so it’s no surprise her character is one of the most interesting out of the lot. Unsure of her actions, motives or even what side she is on, Vikander plays her with a great focus and intensity, but the film doesn’t allow her to really come through until the end. She especially feels like groundwork for a later sequel so here it feels more like an introduction to her character but the potential is exciting, especially her relationship with Bourne.

Riz Ahmed is stuck with a potentially worthy but ultimately thankless role as a Mark Zuckerberg type character who is ushering in a new age of social media. Vincent Cassel is largely wasted too, in a bland antagonistic role as an unstoppable agent with a personal grudge against Bourne.

Paul Greengrass again directs with intense direction, his trademark handheld camera appearing to have finally stabilized itself at the beginning. An impressive sequence set in the middle of a riot drops you right in the middle of the proceedings before spilling out into chaotic fighting between Bourne and the police officers. It’s fast but not confusing, as pulsing action sequence that is a stand out in the film. Perhaps it’s the years that have past between BOURNE ULTIMATUM or recent action films of past years have found slicker ways to shoot bold action sequences, but by the time a frantic chase down the Las Vegas strip arrives at the back end of the film, repetition begins to set in. It doesn’t help that this particular chase extends far longer than it needs to and appears to have been edited so that each shot only lasts a second. The conclusion of the chase; an armored police van smashing through eight or so cars, should be a spectacular finish to an action extravaganza. Instead it’s a large punctuation mark at the end of a sentence that wasn’t very exciting to begin with.

Verdict

Please follow and like us:
SHARE