Paul Greengrass brings us the fourth installment of the Jason Bourne franchise, hoping to reignite the ten year gap from the ” The Bourne Ultimatum” (2007). Greengrass succeeded bringing back Bourne, but the film itself is rather weak. Jason Bourne-now David Webb- steps out of hiding to find and hunt down the men who traumatized his past, particularly involving his father. I don’t want to give away too much, but it turned out to be a playing-by-numbers story. Hero looks for answers about his past from his fiends, then from his enemies, then someone who was after him becomes his friend and all is well, and the hero goes his way, leading the story open for another sequel. A simple plot for a simple action film. Quite routine.
With a cast like Matt Damon, Tommy Lee Jones, Riz Ahmed, and Vincent Cassel, I expected a deep and intense film. All of the actors in this film seemed they had no vitals. Alicia Vikander’s acting was minimal as her American accent was very wooden. She spoke more like a robot than human (no pun intended with Ex-Machina (2015)). I would’ve liked it if the writers had made her an immigrant from Sweden. That would have made her more relatable in the film, and makes no reason to hide her accent.
I was disappointed that “Bourne” had very obsolete writing which spoon-fed me to the point that I was rolling my eyes. “Of course you said ‘He’s going down the alley!’ We just saw it!” That’s my pet peeve with movies. I hate it when everything is spelled out for the audience. I love a movie that uses less dialogue and more action and camera work to tell the story when appropriate. “No Country for Old Men” (2007) comes to mind. Man, that told a great story without dialogue!
So the script was mediocre, the acting minimal, the story simple, and the action was mellow. It missed the grit and intensity what the other three Bourne films had. They had heart. “Bourne” has arteries, but no heart to go towards.
Tommy Lee Jones (L) and Matt Damon (R) in “Jason Bourne”
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