Reviewed by Victor Rebikoff.
Director: Paul Greengrass, Universal Pictures, M, 122 Minutes.
Following an absence of some nine years Jason Bourne returns with Matt Damon reprising his role as the former CIA’s super spy reteaming with Paul Greengrass after previously directing Damon in ‘The Bourne Supremacy’ and ‘The Bourne Ultimatum’.
In this fourth instalment of the highly-rated franchise (released in 2016) Bourne has been in hiding, he reemerges in Greece, living off bare-knuckle fights in alleyways where he is found by former friend and CIA operative Nicky Parsons (Julia Styles – ‘Bourne Ultimatum’).
Parson’s purpose in seeking out Bourne is to inform him of the clandestine operations of the CIA’s Black Ops and other secrets held by the current CIA director Robert Dewey (Tommy Lee Jones – ‘Men in Black’).
But Parson’s contact with Bourne has already been detected by Dewey as well as his cyber chief Heather Lee (Alicia Vikander – ‘Ex Machina’) making Dewey order his hit man Asset (Vincent Cassel – ‘Black Swan’) to kill both of them.
Having dodged his deadly encounter with Dewey’s assassin Bourne heads to Las Vegas to prevent a deal being done between high-tech whiz kid Aaron Kalloor (Riz Ahmed – ‘Nightcrawler’) and the CIA on providing certain confidential information on their database.
With Dewey’s assassin still intent on getting his target Lee convinces her boss to let her try to bring Bourne back into the fold oblivious of Dewey’s devious intentions.
The thrills reach an exhilarating crescendo when Bourne uses the skills at his disposal to stop Asset’s attempts to shoot him. What follows are some hair-raising car chase scenes, the most daring of these happening in Las Vegas.
With many exhilarating action sequences filmed in such exotic locations as England, Germany, Greece, Spain-and Las Vegas-Damon’s portrayal of his character appears unlikely to produce the same level of excitement as experienced in the earlier Bourne movies.
Acknowledging that Damon was in his late forties when Greengrass shot the film he has still been able to cast Damon as an entertaining action hero supported by a well-chosen cast that includes Jones, Vikander and Cassel.
Convinced the reaction to his refreshed ‘Jason Bourne’ movie will appeal to many fans of the franchise Greengrass has left the door open for another sequel.
Jason Bourne is to be televised on Channel 9 at 8.30pm on Friday 20 November.
Vic’s Verdict: 3 ½ Stars
