By My memory of the first three Bourne films is a bit like Jason Bourne’s memories of, well, everything: It’s fuzzy, jumpy, and full of Matt Damon hitting things. I remember liking the movies, though being disoriented by the fights that redefined (for the worse) the way Hollywood edits action sequences. Despite my general appreciation for Jeremy Renner, I didn’t see The Bourne Legacy. I’ve heard that I didn’t miss much.
That first teaser for Jason Bourne, though… that was pretty damn cool. I mean, Bourne punching a dude once and him going down? So badass. I’ve never been a particular fan of the trend to give franchise films the name of the protagonist rather than something that requires any thought, but I hoped that was just some dumb marketing stunt and not indivicative of anything in the film itself. The Identity–Supremacy–Ultimatum trilogy was over, and they’re starting over with Jason Bourne. It’s fine. Maybe. (Maybe the next one would be called David Webb!)
And then, while I was thinking about that, another trailer came out and showed some bonkers car stuff, and I forgot all about those concerns. What was the movie about? It didn’t really matter. As long as it was punctuated by Jason Bourne knocking out musclemen with one punch.
Jason Bourne
Director: Paul Greengrass
Release Date: July 28, 2016
Rating: PG-13
Let’s talk about that name: Jason Bourne is an epically lazy name. The first three Bourne movies were named like novels, which makes sense because they were named after novels, though weren’t really based on them. The Bourne Legacy was also a novel. Since then: The Bourne Betrayal, The Bourne Sanction, The Bourne Deception, The Bourne Objective, The Bourne Dominion, The Bourne Imperative, The Bourne Retribution, The Bourne Ascendency, and (very recently) The Bourne Enigma. All of these are, I guess, perfectly accepted names for a new movie. Perhaps it’s because Jason Bourne wasn’t in the last film, and they really, really wanted you to know that Matt Damon was back to kick ass. Or maybe they just got bored taking names from books. I’m not sure which of those names would be most appropriate for Jason Bourne, but a little bit of creativity would have been appreciated.
Then again, look at the number of Jason Bourne books there are. The original trilogy was written by one man, Robert Ludlum, over 10 years. Then he put down the mantle, and it was picked up by Eric Van Lustbader two years after the , who’s been pumping them out ever since. I can’t speak to the quality of any of these books, but it says something about franchising more broadly. Here was a trilogy that set out to do a thing, did that thing, and then its creator was done with it. Years later, someone else decides to continue it.
Jason Bourne feels like that. Sure, Paul Greengrass, who directed Supremacy and Ultimatum, helms this one as well, but it feels like a story that haphazardly thrown together just… because. I mean, Cinema Sins is going to have a field day with this movie; there are so many different levels on which the narrative doesn’t really work, but the problem for me was less the incoherence than the ludicrousness of its attempts to sound modern. I don’t really remember the earlier movies well enough to know how much technology was being used to track everything, but I know that technology plays a much more fundamental role in the world today and the film makes attempts to use that.
There’s a big narrative Point about the question of privacy versus security, centered around a Google/Facebook-analog called Deep Dream (which constantly made me think of Daydream, Google’s upcoming Android VR platform), and it comes down pretty firmly on the side of governmental access to privacy. Normally, I might delve into that topic here, but honestly the film doesn’t deserve it. It makes some vague platitudes about helping the good guys (i.e. the government), but it doesn’t really do anything worthwhile with it, and it doesn’t make any real arguments. Normally, I’d probably deconstruct it here… but it’s just not worth it.
The bigger issue than the film’s politics is just how silly the use of tech is. You don’t need to know much to know that the things these characters do are completely impossible. (My favorite moment is when a flip phone is remotely hacked into by the CIA and how that action somehow allows for a nearby laptop to have its hard drive wiped (lolwut); the “ENHANCE” moment is pretty good too (and, ya know, good on Alicia Vikander for not laughing while doing it).) In a film that’s very, very serious, overtly ridiculous actions like these undermine any sense of drama. This is a fantasy film set in a fantasy world. The fairly realistic intrigue that I’m pretty sure the original trilogy had is nowhere to be found in Jason Bourne.
But what we do have are some genuinely fantastic action sequences. Whether they’re close-quarters fights or city-spanning car chases, Jason Bourne delivers that visceral intensity that I wanted from the movie. Yeah, the shaky cam is in full effect, making certain moments a bit, well, impossible to follow, but it’s still more effectively utilized than 90% of the films that have aped the style since. It’s disorienting, but it’s just coherent enough that you can tell a whole bunch of awesome stuff has happened and that your brain will be registering it in 3… 2… WHOA THAT WAS COOL.
And that’s the film. In its narrative moments, it layers on the twists and double crosses and triple crosses seemingly at random, failing to create an ultimately satisfying series of events (though I’ll be honest, I did like the ending, because I think it sets up a potentially more interesting (inevitable) sequel than I was expecting based on the previous few scenes). In its action moments, it hits hard and just keeps on hitting. I know some people who found it a bit overwhelming and almost desensitizing, but I didn’t think that was the case. The scale keeps expanding, and the sequences themselves are different enough to make each new setpiece feel unique and exciting. You know, sort of, how it’s going to end (someone with lines is going to die, but it won’t be Jason Bourne), but how it gets there is consistently and thoroughly enjoyable.
If you go into Jason Bourne expecting anything other than great action loosely strung together by stupid, stupid character moments, you’re going to be sorely disappointed. But if you know what you’re getting yourself into, then you can just sit back and enjoy it. Jason Bourne is not as good as the Matt Damon films that preceded it, but it’s still a perfectly decent way to spend a couple of hours.