There are inevitable echoes of Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation too, perhaps the most obvious example of a rival franchise that has sought to take advantage of the long Bourne hiatus. Jones is splendid, while Riz Ahmed is excellent playing the sort of internet entrepreneur as familiar from real life as he is, unfortunately, from the plot of the recently released Now You See Me 2. In both respects, Jason Bourne falls short, as the man himself reappears as an invincible prize-fighter on the Greek border, his long-time ally Nicky Parsons (Julia Stiles) steals computer files that could link the Treadstone programme to J B’s father, and the CIA – led by paranoid, conspiracy-soaked director Dewey (Tommy Lee Jones) – start trying to kill him all over again.
Me, I love a good car chase, but it does need to matter about who catches whom, and there have to be some interesting bits in between. The action sequences in Jason Bourne are undeniably as good as ever and, if you’re the sort of film-goer who lives for car chases then you’re going to end up rating it much higher than I have. Yes, Greengrass’s time as a documentary-maker means their screenplay is littered with topical socio-political references – riots on the streets of Athens, mentions of whistle-blowers like Edward Snowden, and a central plot all about data privacy – that ground the near-relentless action in a convincing reality, but a more experienced writing team would surely spot that this is a story over-reliant on technical gobbledegook and without an emotional heart. The screenplay may be littered with topical references but a more experienced writing team would surely have spotted that this is a story over-reliant on technical gobbledegook and without an emotional heart You can see this collective lack of experience/practice in the end result. With Damon and Greengrass both back in harness, we’re supposed to believe this is very much Bourne business as usual.īut it isn’t – on the writing front, out goes Tony Gilroy, who co-wrote all three of the preceding J B films, and in comes a screenplay penned by Greengrass himself and his regular editor, Christopher Rouse.īut Greengrass hasn’t taken a writing credit on a film since United 93 in 2006, while Rouse – one of the best editors in Hollywood and a growing force as a producer – has never written before. Treadstone, Blackbriar and now something called Ironhand – sorry, Jason, old love, but I just don’t care any more. Old muscled-up J B (Matt Damon) may finally have got his memory back – ‘I remember… I remember everything’ – but he does so just as I grow weary with the endless CIA plots and programmes that have made the one-man killing machine he is today. With Damon (above with Alicia Vikander as a ruthlessly ambitious CIA geek) and Greengrass both back in harness, we’re supposed to believe this is Bourne business as usual.
Given that I’ve loved the three preceding Jason Bourne films and gave Ultimatum the full five stars, this feels like a pretty big moment. There’s only so many car chases and so much watching of Matt Damon walking purposefully in and out of buildings, baseball cap pulled low over his eyes, that a man can take.
Somewhere in the cobbled streets of old Athens or maybe the wide boulevards of Las Vegas, I emotionally logged out of this one. It would be over-harsh to say Greengrass has a bad day at the office as he delivers the first Jason Bourne film for nine years (the character did not appear in The Bourne Legacy of 2012) but as I emerged, entirely unmoved by what I had just seen, it occurred to me that even great directors do sometimes just go through the commercial motions. There’s only so many car chases and watching of Matt Damon walking purposefully that a man can takeįor two-and-a-half hours later (the film itself isn’t that long, but there’s always lots of faffing around at premieres) would I still describe Greengrass, maker of the second and third Bourne films, as one of the best directors working in Britain today?Ĭertainly not with the confidence I had on the way in. Somewhere in the streets of Athens or the boulevards of Las Vegas, I emotionally logged out of Jason Bourne.