Film Review: Matt Damon is Fighting Mad in Tense ‘Jason Bourne’

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Average: 5 (1 vote)

CHICAGO – To come back to a character that everyone thought he had left behind, Matt Damon needed the right creative team. He got it again in co-writer (with Christopher Rouse) and director Paul Greengrass, and together they fashioned a paranoid spy tale in the rat-a-tat “Jason Bourne.”

HollywoodChicago.com Oscarman rating: 4.0/5.0
Rating: 4.0/5.0

The strength of the story is in its modern context. The underground Bourne re-emerges in riot torn Greece (during its economic crisis), the CIA is in cahoots with a social media billionaire, plus the hackers and the rogue agents are more heroic than our institutions of “law and order.” The multi-layering of a desperate world blends with Matt Damon’s desperate character, a bitter killing machine trying to remember anything about a past that was taken away from him.

Ex-special agent Jason Bourne is in the “freezer,” as they say at the CIA, and he spends his days bare knuckle brawling on the Greek/Albanian border. Meanwhile, at Langley headquarters, the Director of Technology Heather Lee (Alicia Vikander) detects a hacker (Julia Stiles) in Iceland, who has stolen crucial files having to do with the top secret programs that turned Bourne into an agency assassin.

The hacker needs to get the info to Bourne, and meets him in Athens, Greece, in the midst of a riot during the economic crisis. The CIA, embodied by director Dewey (Tommy Lee Jones) has sent an “asset” (Vincent Cassel) to kill Bourne, and the pot is sweetened for the killer because Bourne once set him up for capture. When this spy comes in from the cold, the heat is on. 


“Jason Bourne” opens nationwide on July 29th. Featuring Matt Damon, Tommy Lee Jones, Alicia Vikander, Vincent Cassel, Julia Stiles and Bill Camp. Written by Paul Greenglass and Christopher Rouse. Directed by Paul Greenglass. Rated “R”

StarContinue reading for Patrick McDonald’s full review of “Jason Bourne”

Bourne
Matt Damon is Targeted as the Title Character in ‘Jason Bourne’
Photo credit: Universal Pictures

StarContinue reading for Patrick McDonald’s full review of “Jason Bourne”

Abenteuer's picture

The new Bourne film

Wonderful! Looking forward to the latest cooperative Bourne release from the duo of Greengrass and Rouse, couldn’t ask for better creativity. As for central casting, of course Damon and Stiles have got to be there. But here’s where it falls apart: Tommy Lee Jones? Really? So we’re gonna see ‘big dog’, U.S. Marshall and evil alien destroyer Tommy Lee Jones in a Bourne flik?

TLJ is far too type=cast to convey a believeable character in the Bourne genre. Not good, not good at all. abenteuer out

Abenteuer's picture

Casting for Bourne Film

Glad to see the duo of Greengrass and Rouse returning to the series, great collective creativity there, always entertaining. As for casting in this film, of course Damon and Stiles are necessary (and most welcome returnees), but here’s where the casting went awry, IMHO: Tommy Lee Jones? Really? So now we have ‘big dog’, U.S. Marshall, killer of evil alien creatures, Tommy Lee Jones in this one?

TLJ is sadly a far too type-cast actor to create a believable role in a Bourne genre. This is not good, abenteuer out

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