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Picking the story up some years later, Bourne is laying low outside America. Like Topper Harley and John Rambo before him he's paying his way by participating in shirtless, bare knuckle boxing matches. These serve the dual purpose of satisfying his masculine urges to maim and kill and also allow him to outsource his self flagellation for his dark past. Which strikes me as exceedingly lazy of him but there you go.
Anyway, his blonde almost-girlfriend from the first few films hacks the CIA and steals some files pertaining to Bourne which puts her back in the crosshairs and Bourne back in the game.
So I was excited enough for this one to actually venture out to a cinema and pay $25 a ticket(!!!??) when I could just as easily have been sitting at home, eating takeout and watching the Bachelorette for free. It was a bold move on my part and I'm not sure I was entirely repaid for my trouble. There is definitely a strong sense of deja vu with this film. Bourne and Greengrass really have only one move when it comes to action scenes. Bourne arranges a rendezvous in a crowded open space, the CIA tries to track him through the mass of people with lots of cuts to people yelling into phones in Langley while Bourne gets a few scrambled words with his contact before the contact is killed. Repeat. It was fun the first few times but after a while y6ou want to shake Bourne and tell him to get a new plan. This ones not working. Hell, he's usually able to get these people on the phone. Why not have the conversation on the phone and skip the smart moves in the crowds and the inevitable death?
So that's a problem. More of one though is that Bourne feels very unmotivated. There's more secrets from his past to dredge up but it doesn't feel like enough to keep him in motion. There's a point near the end where someone tells him: "You don't have to keep going. It can end here." And they are absolutely right! There's no real reason at that point for Bourne to keep going. But he does and litterally dozens of innocent people get maimed and killed in the process but Bourne never really stops to notice or seem to care. It almost makes him an anti-hero.
It's an odd experience because it's very much the Bourne we know and love (Damon has to punch a lot of people in the face. A lot) but all of a sudden it feels tiresome rather than fun. While Bourne felt fresh and made Bond look old a couple decades back these days Bonds learnt all Bourne's tricks, incorporated them into 50 years of lore and nostalgia and just added them into the spectacle that is part and parcel of a Bond movie. Bourne though is stuck dodging snipers in malls. Probably time to call it quits on this franchise.
Anyway, his blonde almost-girlfriend from the first few films hacks the CIA and steals some files pertaining to Bourne which puts her back in the crosshairs and Bourne back in the game.
So I was excited enough for this one to actually venture out to a cinema and pay $25 a ticket(!!!??) when I could just as easily have been sitting at home, eating takeout and watching the Bachelorette for free. It was a bold move on my part and I'm not sure I was entirely repaid for my trouble. There is definitely a strong sense of deja vu with this film. Bourne and Greengrass really have only one move when it comes to action scenes. Bourne arranges a rendezvous in a crowded open space, the CIA tries to track him through the mass of people with lots of cuts to people yelling into phones in Langley while Bourne gets a few scrambled words with his contact before the contact is killed. Repeat. It was fun the first few times but after a while y6ou want to shake Bourne and tell him to get a new plan. This ones not working. Hell, he's usually able to get these people on the phone. Why not have the conversation on the phone and skip the smart moves in the crowds and the inevitable death?
So that's a problem. More of one though is that Bourne feels very unmotivated. There's more secrets from his past to dredge up but it doesn't feel like enough to keep him in motion. There's a point near the end where someone tells him: "You don't have to keep going. It can end here." And they are absolutely right! There's no real reason at that point for Bourne to keep going. But he does and litterally dozens of innocent people get maimed and killed in the process but Bourne never really stops to notice or seem to care. It almost makes him an anti-hero.
It's an odd experience because it's very much the Bourne we know and love (Damon has to punch a lot of people in the face. A lot) but all of a sudden it feels tiresome rather than fun. While Bourne felt fresh and made Bond look old a couple decades back these days Bonds learnt all Bourne's tricks, incorporated them into 50 years of lore and nostalgia and just added them into the spectacle that is part and parcel of a Bond movie. Bourne though is stuck dodging snipers in malls. Probably time to call it quits on this franchise.
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