Review of Jason Bourne (2016) by Kriss T — 10 Sep 2016

Despite bringing what everyone loves about Jason Bourne back to the big screen, Paul Greengrass and Matt Damon fail to deliver an entry to the franchise tht matches the previous instalments. Early on in the film we see Bourne living off the grid, partaking in street fighting to keep himself sane, even allowing himself to receive a beating to combat his guilt, however this interesting direction for the character is short lived and soon he is thrust into the same old scenario we have seen before only this time for a rather contrived motivation.

Typical screenplay tropes litter the script and at times the story feels muddied and ham-fisted. A subpot merges into the A-story without really feeling developed and characters suddenly have different rules of engagement depending on what best serves the story.

Having said all that the action scenes are directed with perfection as you would expect, and the fight sequences are as realistic as ever. Damon Vs Cassel is the biggest draw and when they share the screen the outcome is explosive.

A chase through the streets of Vegas is solid, although not up to previous film's final chases, and the opening Athens set piece is high octane stuff. The film is a solid action film but unfortunately holds no patch to the initial trilogy.

It does wipe the floor with the Renner led spin-off but you can't help but feel this flawed entry was unneeded.