Jason Bourne (July 2016)

Official Australian release date: 28/7/16. Viewed: 29/7/16.

Director: Paul Greengrass

Actors: Matt Damon, Tommy Lee Jones, Alicia Vikander, Vincent Cassel

Genre: Action

Rating: M

‘Jason Bourne’ (or Bourne 5) is kind of unnecessary after the superior ‘Bourne Ultimatum’, but Bourne/Webb (Damon) does find out a little more about his past and why he became a super-spy. Thankfully, the film holds up well as an action film in its own right, if you’re not comparing it to the other films in the franchise. It starts Bourne, now in his mid-40s, living off the grid in Greece and bare-knuckle boxing for fun/penance. Unbeknownst to him, Nicky (Stiles) has hacked the CIA and copied all their black-ops files, including “Treadstone”, and finds Bourne to tell him what she’s found. From there, the hunt begins!

It’s kind of like the ‘Mission Impossible’ and ‘Bond’ films now, in that if it isn’t broke, don’t fix it – it’s comfortable getting back in touch with the characters and hand-held camerawork that Greengrass uses as Bourne goes around efficiently dismantling the “bad guys” – which usually turn out to be rouge CIA operatives. The Asset (Cassel) is sent to “take care” of Bourne by Dewey (Jones), the craggy old CIA Director. Heather (Vikander) is the up-and-coming CIA cyber-expert and does well to keep you guessing who’s side she’s actually on.

The fight scenes are fast and furious, the score is great – always pounding away in the background, so you feel like there’s never any respite, which there isn’t for Bourne – they tick off about six countries, there’s an interesting debate on security vs privacy in the digital age, and best of all, the cars chases are exceptional – shot from all different angles, plenty of destruction everywhere and no CGI to be seen! Solid ending too.

Overall: Frenetic spy/action thriller.

Gav's Rating: 4 stars.