Jason
Bourne
Think of this film as a big fat apology for the lame Jeremy Renner
Bourne movie we were stuck with a few years ago.
Matt Damon is back as Jason Bourne, and he has many many issues to sort
out (it’s hard to find a good therapist who will travel from
Greece to Italy to London with you as you go toe-to-toe with the
Military Industrial Complex). His old comrade, Nicky Parsons (Julia
Stiles), has been working for a big time hacker, and she has discovered
information that is intriguing enough to draw in Bourne from his
self-imposed exile.
CIA Director Robert Dewey (Tommy Lee Jones) is obsessed with gathering
all of the intel available to battle terrorism, and doesn’t care
if your personal freedom and liberty is trampled on in the process.
Also, he has brought back the program that created Jason Bourne, but
something else has come to light, which means THIS TIME IT IS PERSONAL!
Why does Bourne want to get to the bottom of this?
Will CIA tech wizard and chief Heather Lee (Alicia Vikander) find
Bourne first?
If Jeremy Renner wasn’t proof enough that you can’t do a
Bourne movie without Damon, Damon proves it again in Jason Bourne.
While many people are heading to the Cineplex to see the explosions,
car chases, hand-to-hand combat and all around wanton destruction a
Bourne movie promises, Damon is excellent showing us how Jason Bourne
has become beleaguered, beaten, tired and all around haggard from years
of hiding in the shadows and attempting to come to grips with his past.
Looking into the emptiness of his hollow eyes or the overall world
weariness of how he carries himself, Damon humanizes Bourne in new,
interesting ways as the film moves through some obvious and
cliché twists.
Then, director Paul Greengrass makes sure the audience gets the action
and tension we crave (and demand).
Jones seems to come to life in his amazing, climactic scene with Damon
as we watch the two characters circling each other physically and
mentally. Jones gives a true evil streak to Dewey that is cold as ice,
but never lets the scene get too out of control. This is an
understated, but fully charged, moment making Dewey into some sort of
serpent tempting Bourne to take a bite of the apple.
Just when you think Jason Bourne might be going cerebral,
Greengrass follows that up with an outrageous chase and one of the most
visceral, brutal fight scenes ever recorded on film. He doesn’t
rely as much on his signature cinema verite look and feel to filming
the movie complete with lots of shaky cameras, but brings enough to
maintain the style we expect from a Bourne movie.
It takes a while for the whole story to come together, but you should
be glad to stick around for the big reveal.
Maybe they should end it now, but the closing moments indicate those
who profit from these movies are hoping for a sequel.
Jason
Bourne is rated PG-13 for intense sequences of violence and action, and
brief strong language.
123 Minutes
|