Jason Bourne review
I don’t really like the Bourne movies all that much to be perfectly honest. To be more specific, I don’t like Paul Greengrass’s Bourne movies all that much; I actually like the first Bourne movie just fine. It’s a pretty slick little action movie that I can totally understand being a big hit back in the early 2000’s. However I actually feel, contrary to most people’s opinions, that the franchise got a lot worse as the movies went on. Oh there are still some good parts in Supremacy and Ultimatum, don’t get me wrong, but overall I feel each one’s a step down from the last. Which is why it really annoys me that these movie’s specifically have gained the reputation of being the “Thinking Man’s Action Movie.” I’m sorry, I just really don’t think they deserve it.
Now I understand if you don’t agree with that statement, seeing as how this is a fairly popular series of action movies that’s garnered a lot of respect from a lot of people. So if you don’t care to hear me explain my opinions on why I feel this way, you are totally free to just stop reading here and go find something else to do. If you’re gonna keep reading, keep in mind that all of this is strictly my opinion and shouldn’t be taken as any official command to change your opinion.
Got it? Okay…
Any humanity these movies had got consistently sucked out of these movies as they went along. (I’m excluding The Bourne Legacy in saying this, but you probably haven’t seen it either so hah.) Jason Bourne was actually a pretty likable protagonist in the first movie. He was allowed to emote, he was funny, you could tell he was a really well trained bad-ass but he never felt inhuman, and as such he ended up being incredibly relatable and you felt for him and his situation! The Paul Greengrass Bourne movies have absolutely none of this. Bourne is almost never allowed to do anything in the Paul Greengrass Bourne movie’s that isn’t displaying his skill. Anytime Bourne actually is allowed to express emotion in these movies it comes in one of two flavors; mopey or angry. Want proof? I can’t think of a single time in the entirety of any of the Paul Greengrass Bourne movies where Bourne is allowed to smile. Also I really, REALLY don’t appreciate the camera work in the Paul Greengrass Bourne movies. I get why the shaky cam exists and it’s definitely used to better effect then how a director like Olivier Megaton uses shaky cam, but I don’t think it’s necessary AT ALL when creating a realistic aesthetic. I’ll admit the one aspect that improved with each movie was the action. There are some very good scenes that build tension well and create a real sense of urgency, but they’re robbed of most of their effectiveness because they’re wasted on a character that keeps resembling “The Terminator” with every successive movie.
Anyway, here’s the new Bourne movie and it’s a train-wreck. Any and all goodwill the previous Bourne movies have garnered, whether or not they actually deserved it, is now going to probably be permanently stained by just how much of a non-entity the latest installment is. This was supposed to be the Bourne movie that would bring Bourne into the new age of Hollywood filmmaking that’s taken hold in the past decade or so, and all it does is highlight not only how bland and dated the Bourne everyone remembers actually is, but it also manages to pick up every bad writing trend of the past decade as well. I’m not exaggerating either. This features basically the same McGuffin from Captain America: The Winter Soldier, works in some hilariously bad backstory stuff that feels somewhat reminiscent of The Amazing Spider-man movies, a silicon-valley Steve Jobs-Mark Zuckerburg type billionaire app developer in possession of said McGuffin, and features a character from the original three movies whose only function is to kickstart the plot, die, and maybe create the illusion of a Marvel style Cinematic Universe. If you’re thinking you’ve basically got the plot figured out after that description, you’re probably not wrong. The few factors that set this movie apart from the crowd aren’t so much flowers in their hair as monkey wrenches in the engine. For example, Tommy Lee Jones plays the standard Bourne “corrupt politician” type–and boy if he isn’t phoning it in! This is seriously the most phoned in villain performance I’ve seen all year. I’ve now seen at least three movies this summer whose villain had far less screen time and yet had infinitely more depth then this character. The other factor, and the only character that I actually ended up having any interest in, is Vincent Cassal as the standard Bourne “asset”-OH MY GOSH WAIT I actually didn’t even need to use quotation marks around that because he’s literally listed in the cast list as “Asset!” Anyway, the movie hints at a potentially very interesting backstory for his character and gives him a very sympathetic reason to hate Bourne, and then proceeds to do absolutely nothing interesting with his character. The same could be said for Alicia Vikander’s character as well. Vikander’s quickly proving herself to be one of the best actresses of this decade, but the movie gives her absolutely nothing to work with except some potential moral ambiguity that honestly doesn’t go anywhere. I guess the only positive here is the action, which is… fine for the most part. The only really memorable set-piece is the car chase at the end. The rest of it is kinda boring for me but I can appreciate the amount of effort that went into coordinating everything, and I’m pretty sure almost all of it was practical effects so that’s nice.
I could probably keep going here about how just how boring, bland, and unnecessary this movie is but I honestly just don’t even want to anymore. I’m sorry I was never that big on The Bourne movies in the first place, but this movie has sucked dry any remaining enthusiasm for the series from me like a Vampire or a Dementor. If there are people out there that are still really big on the Bourne movies and think this one’s perfectly fine, great! By all means enjoy your movie. But as for me, I’m done with the Bourne movies.
The Media Fire gives this movie 4/10
