Hello dear reader. I’m going to start here with a statement that some of you may find controversial. A statement that some of you may not believe and possibly, a statement that you could just find plain odd. So here it is and please note that I was not under the influence of any mind altering substances, nor did I have a gun point at my head whilst typing.
‘I consider the first three Bourne films, Identity, Supremacy and Ultimatum, to be the best movie trilogy ever made.’ That’s right, I said it. As far as I’m concerned you can keep your Star Wars, Godfathers and Lord of the Rings away from the gold medal plinth, as they have no business being there. I would also like to state for the record that I am also including the Christopher Nolan’s Batman films in that statement and for those of you who know me personally; you’ll understand what a big deal that is.
Now, I do also acknowledge that I doubt there will be many people out there in internet land who agree with me. Not only that but many of you will probably be now thinking about contacting your local social services and demanding to know why this man is allowed out into the community and why he’s been given unsupervised access to a computer. The reason why I think it’s the best is quite simply down to the story arc, characters and its action set pieces. Doug Liman (Mr. & Mrs. Smith, Swingers and Edge of Tomorrow) directed The Bourne Identity and then Paul Greengrass (United 93, Green Zone & Captain Phillips) took over and stepped into the director’s chair for Supremacy and Ultimatum. Between the two of them they managed to create a trilogy that didn’t pull its punches. It made the central character completely believable and stopped short of making him look like a superhero and then there’s the action. In Identity it showed us how to take out an American Embassy, Supremacy included a master class in driving and then, my personal favourite, the shootout in Ultimatum that was filmed in the middle of Waterloo station during a real rush hour with the general public none the wiser. What is also obvious from these three films is that a lot of energy and effort went into making them look and feel believable. Now at the end of Supremacy Mr. Bourne (spoilers ahead) swims away, up the Hudson River to live happily ever after. All loose ends having been neatly taken care of and all bad guys either taken into custody or swiftly dispatched. It’s the perfect three film story arc and yet those horrible little bean counters over at Universal decided that there was still money to be made from the Bourne name and unleashed The Bourne Legacy into the world, back in 2012. Which was a full five years after Supremacy had set sale. Legacy is an odd film. Despite the Bourne prefix, Matt Damon doesn’t appear in it. It goes back into the early mythology to try and justify its plot and it messes around with established facts from the films that came before it. However, it does have a good ensemble cast, which includes Jeremy Renner, Rachel Weisz and Edward Norton but as far as I can tell it was just a money making exercise that didn’t have the story or commitment to back it up.
So this brings us back to 2016. Now, to cut down on any confusion, from now on, I’m going to refer to the character Jason Bourne as ‘JB’ and the film as Jason Bourne, otherwise and to quote Dr Peter Venkman we could end up with ‘Human sacrifice dogs and cats living together and mass hysteria’, before this blog is finished. Why they couldn’t have just carried on utilising Robert Ludlum book titles is beyond me. The Bourne Betrayal was available and would have fitted the premise of the film very nicely but oh no. Let’s keep the character name and the film name exactly the same just so no one gets confused about what’s going on, that’ll work…
Matt Damon had on several previous occasions said that he would be more than happy to come back and play JB again but only if Paul Greengrass was director and the story made sense. Well in the summer 2015 he got his wish and cameras started rolling on what was to be the forth film with JB in it. Now, when I first heard about this film I wasn’t entirely sure that it was a good idea but over the last ten to twelve months or so my resolve weakened and I actually found myself thinking that, as the release date drew closer, I was getting more and more enthusiastic about it. This enthusiasm was reinforced with positive reports from various filming locations and early good word of mouth from film critics, whose opinions I value. So, with a happy disposition and a bounce in my step, I found myself heading off to my local multiplex, very much looking forward to seeing Matt Damon once again playing JB in Jason Bourne. My good mood lasted about thirty minutes.
It is my sad duty to inform you all that in my opinion Jason Bourne is an even bigger let down than Batman v Superman was. It’s just a really dull and lifeless movie. The plot, such that it is, centres on JB’s dad and how JB ends up being in the ‘super-soldier’ program which then also ties into the CIA’s plans to utilise and control a social media to monitor anyone and everyone. It just seems painting by numbers when it comes to the action as well. There’s nothing new on offer here. We get the obligatory car chase. Been there, done that. Fisty cuffs with several, poorly trained CIA goons and the now almost necessary ‘which passport shall I use today’ shot. Mr. Damon has to contend with only twenty five lines of dialogue throughout the entire two hour film, which unfortunately doesn’t translate into a strong and silent type. It’s more along the lines of mute and moody. Don’t get me wrong; sometimes ‘less is more’ does work really well. Arnold Schwarzenegger only had seventeen words to say in the first Terminator film and that worked perfectly. I can honestly say that for hype versus end result, I don’t think I’ve been this disappointed in a film since Ridley Scott’s Prometheus. As I said before, there’s nothing new on offer here. The end of the film is set in Las Vegas, during which we see JB take on and defeat ‘The Asset’ (another well trained assassin, to those not in the know) and he’s played by Vincent Cassel.
IF I WANTED TO WATCH MATT DAMON AND VINCENT CASSEL PLAY GOOD GUY VS BAD GUY IN VEGAS, I’D WATCH THE SODING OCEANS 11 FILMS!!!
Jason Bourne also has this year’s best supporting actress Oscar winner, Alica Vikander in it but she is doesn’t really get anything substantial to do. Apart from driving a van around the outskirts of Paddington Station and occasionally winding up CIA Director Robert Dewy, played by Tommy Lee Jones her sole purpose of the entire film seems to be to try and occasionally point the plot back in the right direction. And as for the aforementioned Mr. Jones. He seems to be doing a very passable impression of someone who has a face made out of liquid granite and that really didn’t have anything better to do.
Jason Bourne is a film that I really wanted to like but it’s a mess, pure and simple. I’ve read several reviews over the last week that have all hovered around the four out of five stars mark but honestly I think they must have been watching a completely different film to the one I saw. It’s boring and can apparently induce people into yawning at the drop of a hat. If you liked the first three films and let’s face it, they are like awesome and stuff, then just re-watch one of those instead of spending your hard earned money on something that will only tarnish the memory of a once great franchise.
Twitter Review:
Jason Bourne is about as exciting as switching energy providers & should be avoided if possible.
#JasonBored
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