57% on Rotten Tomatoes
Chloe's thoughts: It's alright; Watch it in cinemas (unless you don't like shaky cam)
Watch it if you: Like action films; Are not too fussed about intense character-driven plot; Like Matt Damon; Are okay with shaky cam
Ten years ago, Jason Bourne left the Treadstone program and he is now successfully off the grid, doing what he has to do to survive in this new life. One day, though, he gets a blast from his past as Nicky Parsons gains information about Bourne's history, as well as the sinister future of the CIA.
Firstly, yay for Matt Damon coming back! And with him, the director of Supremacy and Ultimatum, Paul Greengrass, is back too. And you know what that means! Yep, shaky cam.
The shaky cam in this film was honestly horrible. I know this is pretty much his signature move, but I really was not feeling it this time. At least in The Bourne Ultimatum it added to the storytelling, but I felt like the shaky cam here was just done for the sake of having the signature shaky cam of Bourne films, as it didn't add much except more mess to the already messy film.
Don't get me wrong, it was a good action film, but there's always been something more than just action in the Bourne trilogy. There was wit, character, intellect, awe, suspense, and very high stakes. Here, it's just action, action, and more action.
The plot is nothing new. It's essentially the same as the overarching plot of the original trilogy, which you think wouldn't be such a bad thing since the trilogy's own individual films were quite similar, and the fact that they were great means it should be good if this film followed it. However, the rehashing of the original plot just resulted in quite a boring story that 1. feels super long, 2. feels super messy and 3. does not bring anything new to the table. There is nothing unique about this plot except the new names they have attached to projects or the new actors playing characters we have already seen. And, because it's a franchise, there is the possiblity of a sequel to this, which I have a feeling will just be another rehash of this film, since there seems to be no new material they can provide us with.
One of the film's issues is that they are trying to cover a lot of ground and a lot of different subplots. This means the film ends up with a really diluted plot, and the whole story is one big mess. In fact there was one part of the story that I couldn't care less for, and if they just focused on one thing I think the film would have been much better.
Another issue was the writing. Sometimes the dialogue just didn't quite capture that Bourne essence we all love. They try to emulate the "That's Jason Bourne. Holy shit." moment but it leaves me feeling nothing.
So, in the end, this becomes another Bourne Legacy film that is a good action/spy movie, but it's not a good Bourne film. It doesn't properly capture or emulate the magic of the original trilogy. We no longer have that jaw-dropping awe in seeing how Bourne works under pressure, how he can throw off his scent from the entire CIA who's trying to go after him, or how he can handle himself in a pinch (think using a magazine against a knife). In the Bourne trilogy, we get plot-moving character-developing story taking place, but this film, while it attempts to do that, just ends up falling very short of it.
Apart from that, the actors are still great, and the appearance of Tommy Lee Jones, Vincent Cassel, and Alicia Vikander were very welcomed, as was the return of Julia Stiles. And of course Matt Damon is great in this too. It was just unfortunate that the actual story, plot and dialogue was not convincing enough, which may have made their performances suffer ever so slightly.
On a final note, I have a feeling that many people would love that car chase, but I seriously thought it was just insanely ridiculous. I mean, don't get me wrong, it was highly enjoyable, but I couldn't help but laugh at just how insane it all was. It felt overwhelmingly silly, particularly because I didn't feel like the movie had any stakes involved, so I felt like it just didn't really belong.
In the end though, this is a very fun and enjoyable action movie, but if you are going into this movie as a huge fan of the Bourne trilogy and expecting another superb Bourne film, then just lower your expectations. It does nothing to add to the original trilogy and it falls very short of the high quality of what we were left with in Ultimatum. But, if you go into the movie knowing this, then you are sure to still have a fun time.
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