GREECE LIGHTNING
Jason Bourne
Review by Paul Preston
Arguably the best previous movies about ex-CIA black ops soldier Jason Bourne were The Bourne Supremacy and The Bourne Ultimatum, with, I believe, the trilogy wrapping up in its finest hour. After an attempt to expand the franchise with The Bourne Legacy failing to be as effective with audiences, of course you go back to the well, back to what worked the best. So, now star Matt Damon and Supremacy and Ultimatum director Paul Greengrass return to reinvigorate the non-stop adventures of the amnesiac assassin with the no-doubt-what-it’s-about title Jason Bourne.
I will go on about the excellence of Paul Greengrass in a future article at TheMovieGuys.net called Batting .1000, where I look at Hollywood winning streaks. Outside of a couple early films which are really off the radar entirely, Greengrass hasn’t made a bad film. Outside of the Bourne series, he made the underseen yet brutally powerful Bloody Sunday (seek it out!), as well as the note-perfect-in-every-move United 93 and the damn-near flawless Captain Phillips. He hasn’t reached those heights with Jason Bourne, but he brings his signature kinetic sense of realism and produces a fiery thriller.
Since toppling the Treadstone and Blackbriar operations, it seems Bourne has retreated to third world countries to take part in Rambo-esque fighting rings to escape his previous world and perhaps allow a good head bludgeoning to dull the truth he uncovered about his past. And yet…he still doesn’t know everything, including his father’s role in the CIA operations, information stirred up by fellow ex-CIA agent Nicky Parsons (Julia Stiles). She sets out to tell Bourne this info, but Parsons’ hack of the CIA files ignites the agency’s fever to once again do him in and prevent even more public shaming of their nefarious activities. Point – it’s ACTION CITY for the next two hours!
One thing I ask of all action movies is to give me something I’ve never seen before, like a tank flying around in The A-Team or Tom Cruise hanging off the side of the Burj Khalifa in Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol. Jason Bourne offers up a high-intensity finale on the Las Vegas Strip that is spectacular and dangerous as hell (speaking of Tom Cruise, there are plenty of montages online of Tom Cruise running in movies, he’s really the best at it. We’re overdue for one with Jason Bourne walking. Matt Damon does it with great purpose and badassery, especially when chaos is erupting around him). And I’ve seen turmoil in the streets in a movie before, but I can’t even begin to figure out how Greengrass brings so much authenticity to it. It must be a monumental task, but he delivers with a catch-your-breath chase through Greece in the midst of protests on every corner. About two-thirds of the way through the film, I was reminded just how exciting action can be without special effects. The peril feels more real and ups the stakes for all the characters.
So how ‘bout those other characters? Vincent Cassel plays an assassin known simply as “The Asset”, he’s introduced already in the middle of some torture-type shit and he’s called upon by the CIA to dispose of Bourne and Parsons. Cassel’s perfect for this as he always looks like he’s pissed at something. Heading the CIA this time is Director Dewey, played by Tommy Lee Jones, whose face seems to be wearing more lines than ever that must tell a wearisome story of someone too long in the agency. He brings the usual authority and at his side is Heather Lee, played by newly-minted Oscar winner Alicia Vikander.
In the previous films, the government was the villain, engaging in soulless, super soldier-creating programs that were morally faulty. Now, they’re outright AWFUL people – surveilling and killing wherever and whenever they please. If this is an accurate portrayal of the CIA, we should be scared to death. They use cell phones to monitor and interrupt computers anywhere in range, they order the death of people that would make them look bad and also execute people who don’t fall in line with their plans. And don’t forget this is all done to fellow AMERICANS! Point – never underestimate The United States of America’s ability to be a credible villain.
This might be a stretch (miiiiiiight), but it worked for me. I wonder if rather than Greengrass co-writing the script, they adapted one of the many post-Robert Ludlum Bourne novels out there, there might be some cleaner edges to the story. There’s also a villain in flashbacks concerning Bourne’s father that gets revealed and the reveal doesn’t pack as much as a punch as I thought the filmmakers wanted. But in and around that is another fast-as-lightning, tough as nails Bourne thriller. Welcome back.
Directed by: Paul Greengrass
Release Date: July 15, 2016
Run Time: 123 Minutes
Country: USA
Rated: PG-13
Distributor: Universal Pictures
