Review of Jason Bourne (2016) by Gary B — 23 Aug 2016

Bourne back ceaselessly to the past, Matt Damon's return to the spy series that made him a superstar smartly adapts a Snowden-inspired storyline and requisite pulse-pounding action set pieces but troublingly sometimes feels like Deja Woo all over again. Despite the titular character's story arc getting wrapped up satisfyingly with The Bourne Ultimatum, Jason Bourne mines a very plausible and undeniably engaging follow-up. Being an amnesia-plagued government assassin looking for answers defined both Bourne the man and Bourne the franchise, seemingly closing the door to more hitman-on-the-run chapters...except the death of novelist/Bourne creator Robert Ludlum never stopped the progression of this character (writer Eric Van Lustbader went on to write 8 more Bourne novels and counting)...and the books only ever stood for extremely loose frameworks on which to build the film adaptations anyway...and watching a Bourne flick without Matt Damon (2012's The Bourne Legacy with Jeremy Renner) proved about as exciting as watching The Fugitive without Harrison Ford (1998's U.S. Marshalls)-serviceable as entertainment but hardly as effective a thriller. Here, we find forever-patriot Bourne having wrestled his past (David Webb, conscripted into the memory-wiping Treadstone Program) but restless so far as determining a future in a deadly world of constant security breaches and terrorism. Thankfully, a catalyst forces the issue when series holdover Nicky Parsons (Julia Stiles) shows up on screen as a sort of Snowden-esque whistleblower. Some very welcome new additions in the form of Vikander (The Danish Girl) as a government liaison, Vincent Cassel (Black Swan) as a rival assassin, and Tommy Lee Jones (Criminal) as an old-school bureaucrat truly springboard us onto these intriguing new roads, which mostly prove to be the furthest thing from an obligatory sequel...mostly.

In this R-rated continuation of the hit espionage series, Jason Bourne (Damon), now remembering who he truly is, unexpectedly resurfaces at a time when the world is faced with unprecedented instability.

The best and worst thing about Jason Bourne is the fact that Paul Greengrass (Captain Phillips) returns to direct his third go-round in the franchise with Damon. They also co-wrote the story, however. As ridiculously invigorating as the action scenes are (a vehicle chase through the Las Vegas Strip challenges even Bourne Ultimatum's New York City-set demolition derby), the all-too-familiar threads of Bourne getting pulled into a globe-trotting search for truth against a nefarious government begins to wear thin with this chapter. The ending sets up a tantalizing new possibility but you fear that one more repeat of this recipe will result in The Bourne Eulogy.

Bottom line: Identity Theft.