When Nicky Parsons (Julia Stiles) hacks the CIA and downloads documents on all of their black ops programs she makes both herself and Jason Bourne (Matt Damon) a target again.
Twelve years have passed since Bourne exposed the CIA’s Treadstone and Blackbriar operations and whilst he is free he is still tormented by flashbacks and visions of his time as an assassin. This film opens with one such vision making for a handy recap for those needing a refresher on the original Bourne trilogy.
Nicky believes she has found more information that can help Bourne further uncover his past whilst also revealing that the CIA never stopped with their clandestine operations with new code names such as Iron Hand and Deep Dream now active.
Standing in their way this time are a triumvirate of new CIA agents with varying levels of duplicity. Director Robert Dewey (Tommy Lee Jones) is highly protective of their new programmes and wants Parsons and Bourne dead. Cyber security expert Heather Lee (Alicia Vikander) is incredibly driven and hungry to progress in the organisation so her alliances are fluid. Whilst “The Asset” played by Vincent Cassel is the single minded assassin that Dewey sets on Bourne.
After the relative failure of The Bourne Legacy this feature brings back Matt Damon with his Supremacy/Ultimatum director Paul Greengrass. Most importantly perhaps though is the omission of Tony Gilroy in the writing department making it the only film without his stewardship. This time Paul Greengrass takes on writing duties with Christopher Rouse.
The result is a fairly mixed affair. This time there is an underlying current about cyber security and data sharing that has mixed results and feels slightly out of place in a Bourne movie. The action is suitably back on point but the overall driver for us being here at all feels a little tiresome asking the question of whether it is a call back to earlier films or just copying itself?
Let’s discuss cyber security first. The sub-plot where Dewey has tech mogul Aaron Kalloor (Riz Ahmed) in his pocket as a means to gain millions of people’s user data is really interesting and perhaps under utilised. Ahmed is great as the “tech-bro” leader idolised by his users and reminiscent of many tech billionaires in the world today. But the facets of the film that actually involve hacking and usage of computers will make anyone even remotely tech savvy roll their eyes with disdain. At one point a subtitle translating a hacker reads, “Use SQL to corrupt their databases…”. Oh dear! Whilst Heather Lee can just about do anything to any computer with a bit of furious typing. But I digress… it is not convincing, nor particularly Bourne like.
The action on the other hand is superb. A set piece during a protest in Greece is edge of the seat stuff, a cat and mouse set piece in Paddington is intense and a car chase in Las Vegas is sufficiently brutal to make you catch flies with your open mouth. You will not be disappointed if you are a fan of what Damon/Greengrass accomplished in their previous films.
The overall reason for the film existing is a bit of a tough sell though. We previously saw Bourne escape the CIA in Identity, gain redemption in Supremacy and expose the CIA in Ultimatum whilst learning more about his past as he unlocked fragmented memories. He does all of the above here again as some more fragmented memories are unlocked. There is an argument that everything that happens is redundant from a story perspective and an excuse for more Bourne action. The fact that the Bourne action is accomplished and enjoyable though is perhaps evidence enough that putting Damon and Greengrass back together was worth the effort.
This fails to lay a glove on the perfection of the original trilogy but it is perfectly reasonable as lesser Bourne, especially when you consider how Legacy turned out.
Oh, cue Moby’s “Extreme Ways” over the credits!
If you want to read more of my opinions on Bourne check these out:
Phil the Bear's Film Reviews 
5 thoughts on “Jason Bourne”