Jason Bourne

(spoiler free)

So just like every other film franchise that has ever existed the Bourne series is back with another sequel. The original Bourne trilogy is a much loved collection of films and whilst I’m not the biggest fan of them I can see their appeal and I do especially enjoy ‘The Bourne Ultimatum’. Fans of Bourne were outraged with the attempt to continue the series with ‘The Bourne Legacy’ and many thought that it would be the death of the franchise altogether but it seems Matt Damon and Paul Greengrass had other ideas.

‘The Bourne Ultimatum’ provides us with a lot of answers to Bourne’s story and although it raises some new ones I don’t think anyone felt hard done by through this. The narrative here in  ‘Jason Bourne’ does give reason to carry on the story but I feel that Ultimatum was a fine ending for Bourne. It didn’t demand another film to further develop things and unfortunately as a result for me ‘Jason Bourne’ does come across as a little unnecessary. Whilst watching the film I realised how uninterested I had become in watching Bourne look into his past, for the fourth time. Listening to conversations, stealing files and walking briskly all in the name of uncovering past secrets didn’t cut it for me this time round as it’s already been done and much better previously. As a result for the large majority of the film I was quite bored. There are other problems too, one storyline feels really out of place until the final act and it interrupts the flow of the film. The concluding  moments accompanied by Moby’s ‘Extreme Ways’ even failed to thrill me as they have done in the past. It’s a shame that the narrative didn’t make a better case for itself and it’s clear that this is written by those who haven’t written for the series before.

It isn’t only the narrative that lets ‘Jason Bourne’ down though, the action is fairly underwhelming too. Whether Bourne is taking down his adversaries with a pen, a magazine or a mini the past installments have always offered impressive action but here I thought the quality was so poor. The first major action sequence is riddled with shaky cam and fast cuts making it genuinely hard to watch. These issues are most prevalent in this first set piece but do sneak into some of the other moments too. Thankfully there are some exciting moments to relieve viewers from the many issues present. The final act of the film ups the ante in terms of action and narrative. With enough answers to stimulate the audience the action complements this nicely making for several entertaining sequence however the final action one fails to impress for the same reasons as the first set piece. Amongst the rather dull narrative and unimpressive action there is also a cast in the mix too. No-one really shines here for me, with less at stake for Bourne this time I found it hard to care for him but Damon is fine. Fine sums up the rest of the performances too but I do think this comes down to uninteresting characters and unoriginality that comes with being the fifth installment.

I was hoping that ‘Jason Bourne’ could be the film that let me appreciate the hype around this series a little more but instead it has only increased my indifference to it. The narrative whilst making enough sense just wasn’t original enough to stimulate me. The action too was a big disappointment and the way in which it was filmed and edited squandered its massive potential. Thanks to a collection of uninteresting characters the film is full of forgettable performances and for me is probably the worst of the series. Unless another film is made and really impresses me I think the Bourne series will always just be a trilogy for me.

Rating – 5/10

Question: Would you like to see the Bourne series continue?
(Leave your answers in the comments section below!)

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