Rating: B-
Dir: Paul Greengrass
Star: Matt Damon, Tommy Lee Jones, Alicia Vikander, Vincent Cassel
On the one hand, it’s definitely nice to have Damon and Greengrass back: the former in particular, is the acting equivalent of a comfortable sweater. On the other, can I just bitch about the title which breaks the pattern of the previous four? I mean, I can bend the rules slightly, so that in our A-Z listing, entries #1-4 appear in chronological order, alphabet be damned. But J is not B, dammit, so this one will probably sit between Jason and the Argonauts and Jason vs. Freddy. As a way to wrap up the franchise, which seems increasingly likely the case, it is solid, with perhaps the most spectacular action set-piece of the entire franchise.
In the near-decade since we last saw him, it appears that Jason Bourne (Damon) has become… a street fighter in Greece. I’d have said other opportunities would be available to a highly-trained former CIA operative, but what do I know. Nicky Parsons – remember her? – hacks into the CIA and discovers documents about the origins of Treadstone, and the role played by Jason’s father. There’s a reason she’s not in the cast list above, shall we say. Those who are, include the latest in a long line of ill-advised CIA directors, Robert Dewey (Jones); his cybersecurity nerd Heather Lee (Vikander), who appears to have a face capable of about 1.5 expressions in total; and their trained attack-dog, referred to only as “The Asset” (Cassel), who is very enthusiastic about his job.
The early going is a bit rough, being a series of what seems to be Greengrass attempting to recapture the Waterloo Station magic of Ultimatum. I wasn’t impressed with Nicky’s cybercrime either. It and the CIA’s reaction both seemed to be only slightly connected to reality, and more theatrical than credible. Things get better with a nice bit of stalk and counter-stalk around Paddington, which shows that what Greengrass really needed was just to be in the vicinity of a London railway station. We then whizz off to Las Vegas for the finale, and a genuinely jaw-dropping chase along the Strip (top). Okay, it’s even less plausible than the hacking, because in reality, the street moves at a crawl most evenings. But the result is so impressive, I’ll allow it.
Bourne is almost entirely a man of action here. He could go head-to-head with the Terminator in a taciturn contest. I’m fine with that: by this stage, we’re familiar with him that we don’t need him to expound much. There’s a subplot about a social media company being in cahoots with the CIA. I dunno, was that anything other than a given in the dim and distant past of 2016? It may just be a way in which the franchise has now been caught up and passed by real life. Bourne here projects a major dose of “I am tired of your shit”, and I’m satisfied there is no need for any further entries in the series. Mind you, didn’t I say the same after part one?