The Bourne Identity Review
Grand Total: 7 ½
The Bourne Supremacy Review
Grand Total: 7 ½
Technical
Engaging 6
Suspenseful +1
Thought-provoking +1
An amazing scene (ending explanation) +½
Obvious plothole -½
Total: 8
Overall impression
The Bourne Identity begins with the discovery of a man (Matt Damon) floating in the ocean with two bullets in his back. He has no memory of himself or anything he’s done. Instead, he has some interesting abilities, abilities that attract the attention of people who seem to know who he is. This film is about this man finding out who he is and whether or not he even wants to be this person he used to be.
This is quite an intriguing premise, as the character learns about who he is through how he reacts to everything and everyone he meets. Only from there can be stitch together his past. I have no idea how I would react in this type of situation, but the film does a great job at presenting what the character is going through. It is a spy movie and a mystery for sure, but the film mostly focuses on how the premise affects the character and the psychological implications of what he can do.
What he can do is also very well built up. The movie cuts between our main character and the people that are after him. A lot of the unraveling of the mystery comes from these people, as they talk about the kind of threat this man is, even as we, the audience, haven’t seen what he’s capable of. As a result, you can’t wait to see what this man can do and how he is going to get out of all of these sticky situations he’s in.
The action scenes that result are, for the most part, really tight and quick, with the sound design and camerawork making them all feel real. Sometimes you get the feeling that this character is practically invincible (I particular scene in a staircase comes to mind), but these scenes are far and few between.
Overall, The Bourne Identity is a very good character study mixed in with a good mystery. There is a lot going on in it, with the movie trying to study a character while also unraveling a mystery that involves many people. While there are parts of the film where the story is a little muddled, or the focus is on the wrong characters, The Bourne Identity largely succeeds in all that it set up to do. The ending scene tells you just enough to keep you hungry to know more about this character.
Total: 7
Technical
Engaging 6
Suspenseful +1
Moving +1
An amazing scene (she’s right in front of you) +½
Obvious plothole -½
Total: 8
Overall impression
The Bourne Supremacy starts a little while after the events of The Bourne Identity. Jason Bourne (Matt Damon) is in hiding, trying to avoid the people after him while trying to live an honest life with Marie Kreutz (Franka Potente). Unfortunately, the damage he caused in the first film has had lasting effects, effects that come back to haunt him. Bourne is forced out of hiding to figure out why people are after him again. Perhaps it has something to do with some fragmented memories he is getting about killing a Russian politician.
This film, much more so than the previous film, is a tense action thriller. A change of director (Doug Limon to Paul Greengrass) has tightened up the editing, heightened the sound, and shaken the camera, marking an intense change of style. There are many more fight sequences, all of which are difficult to visually discern because of the camerawork but easy to understand because of the sound design. The sound mixing and editing in The Bourne Supremacy are most of the reason it feels so tight and real.
That having been said, the story is sometimes a little difficult to follow. The fast pace jumps from location to location and from character to character. While you get a better glimpse of the big picture towards the end of the film, there are some confusing elements in the story that hold it back a little.
That having been said, the film has a lot less to deal with than the previous film did. The Bourne Supremacy plays a lot more like a straightforward action film; the story itself is a little patchy, but you know where it’s going to end up since you have a general idea of who Jason Bourne is now. In the previous film, part of the intrigue was that Bourne wasn’t sure what he was going to find at the end of the mystery. I don’t think either approach makes for a particularly better movie; The Bourne Identity is more intriguing while The Bourne Supremacy is more thrilling.
Overall, The Bourne Supremacy is a change of pace for the film franchise. While the first film focused more on the character, this film focuses on the action, something it mostly delivers thanks to excellent sound design. The story is a little hard to follow at times, but it built on the story in the previous film and even had Bourne start to account for his past actions, adding some emotional weight to who he is and what he’s done.
Total: 7
The Bourne Ultimatum Review
Grand Total: 8 ½
Technical
Engaging 6
Suspenseful +1
Thought-provoking +1
An amazing scene (rooftop chase) +½
Obvious plothole -½
Total: 8
Overall impression
The Bourne Ultimatum is the continued story of Jason Bourne and his search for answers about the program that made him who he is today, using memories of a training facility to understand why he would even join such a program. As this film is directed by Paul Greengrass, director of the previous film, and has a similar premise, a lot of the narrative will feel familiar. The way in which The Bourne Ultimatum makes up for that is in the action and in some thought-provoking questions about spies and assassins.
First, I have to talk about how great the action is in this film; it has been dialed up to a level that puts it in league with the best action films of the past decade. Seriously, there is a chase sequence in this film that probably lasts ten minutes and had me locked in the entire time, hands clutching the edge of my seat. The shaky camerawork, which mostly worked in the previous film, is perfected in this film. When combined with the incredible sound design, the camerawork in this film produces visceral action sequences that make you feel the impact of every punch.
The next best thing about this film that is less present in The Bourne Supremacy is its ability to present assassins as utterly disposable; they are simply puppets, people individually known as “the asset”. The ending of this film really calls into question the morality of any government that employs assassins. While this may seem obvious, as if to say “of course it’s immoral”, the film really does a good job of making you wonder who these people are and how they got to their position in the first place. Jason Bourne is the central example, of course, but the other assassins in the film are also scrutinized. How could you ever assassinate someone without knowing why? If you treat the lives of your targets with such reckless abandon, who is to say that your government can’t do the same to you? Isn’t life worth more than that? That is what I got out of the story in this film, something that was much less present in the previous film.
Earlier, I described the story as “familiar”, a trait that only detracts from the film in question if there isn’t something that is added to the familiar narrative to keep it interesting. This film definitely does that. You see, The Bourne Ultimatum actually plays in sequence with the events of The Bourne Supremacy, filling in gaps here and there. Scenes that appear in the previous film reappear in this film to great effect, taking on new meaning without actually taking anything away from what they originally meant. That, to me, is quite an accomplishment.
The Bourne Ultimatum’s story is woven into the story present in The Bourne Supremacy, adding elements that transform previous scenes while allowing them to still function on their own. The story might be familiar, but the intense action scenes will keep you locked in while questions about the humanity of assassins and their targets will keep you engaged after the film ends. There are plotholes for sure, just like in any of the other films, but I was so locked in that I barely noticed them.
Total: 9
The Bourne Legacy Review
Grand Total: 4
Technical
Watchable 4
Suspenseful +1
Great performance/character (Rachel Weisz as Dr. Shearing) +½
Obvious plothole -½
Total: 5
Overall impression
The Bourne Legacy is a film about Aaron Cross (Jeremy Renner), a special forces soldier who, when trekking through icy mountains, loses the prescription that keeps him mentally and physically in-tune. He must replace those while avoiding people who are hunting him, people desperately trying to shut down the program he is a part of.
If that sounds like a bit of an uninteresting or unfocused premise, that’s because it is. The film never really builds on Cross’ motivations at all; he’s just a man who needs his pills. There isn’t anything personal going on here. The story itself is incredibly confusing at the beginning of the film, with way too many characters introduced, including characters from the three Jason Bourne films. The Bourne Legacy is essentially a film exploring some of the side effects of what Jason Bourne did in the other films and how his exposure of the Treadstone and Blackbriar programs spilled into other programs, like the one Aaron Cross is a part of. The problem is that this side effect just isn’t interesting at all. There are so many questions that I had during this film, questions that are absolutely necessary to understanding what is going on, that are never answered. The film just ends abruptly without any kind of resolution.
A much more interesting part of this film involves Dr. Shearing (Rachel Weisz), who is also part of the program that is being shut down. She goes through some traumatic experiences as a result. Rachel Weisz does a really fantastic job of showing just how frustrated this character becomes when people can’t explain to her what just happened. Her acting is so believable that it actually created a fair amount of suspense in a few scenes. Her character is developed about halfway through the film, which is when things start to get a little more focused and Aaron Cross actually has some things to do.
But seriously, this film was a disappointment. It had a lot of talent involved, including Edward Norton, whose character is so thin I don’t even think he is worth talking about. Jeremy Renner is given almost nothing to do as well, as his motivations are just that he needs his prescription. There was really no reason for this muddled story to have been told. There are some decent actions sequences, some suspense, and a good performance. Beyond that, though, this film is a real mess.
Total: 3
Jason Bourne Review
Grand Total: 5 ¾
Technical
Engaging 6
Suspenseful +1
An amazing scene (car chase) +½
Boring part -½
Obvious plothole -½
Total: 6 ½
Overall impression
Jason Bourne tells the continued story of Jason Bourne (Matt Damon), a superassassin of sorts who is now in hiding, trying to live alone. He has mostly recovered from the amnesia he suffered many years ago and is content with having resolved his past. But he is thrown back into the game when Nikki Parsons (Julia Styles), who used to work with the CIA and was involved with Bourne’s past activities, finds information on his father’s involvement in Treadstone, the program that made Jason Bourne who he is now. Nikki’s information attracts the attention of Heather Lee (Alicia Vikander) and CIA director Dewey (Tommy Lee Jones), who end up going after her and Bourne.
This movie was mostly a lot of fun. The reason I say “mostly” a lot of fun is because this film has all of the things we have come to expect from a Paul Greengrass-directed, Matt Damon-starring Bourne film. The action is intense, Jason Bourne is a great action star, and the film features a fair amount of spy tricks and gadgetry. But while that familiar story of Jason Bourne going after somebody for information about his past is playing, another story is at play about a worldwide app being used by the CIA to spy on everyone. That story is much less interesting and doesn’t really serve any purpose to the story. Every time this subplot arises, I just prayed that the film would switch back to whatever Jason Bourne was doing at the time. Unfortunately, this means that Jason Bourne was stuck telling either a predictable story that was a little too familiar at this point or a boring story about an app or surveillance decide being used to do damage. Recent films like Terminator: Genisys, Kingsman: The Secret Service, and even Captain America: The Winter Soldier have pretty much played that theme to death. Even last year’s James Bond film Spectre did something similar. While the familiar and predictable Jason Bourne-centered story was definitely better than the overplayed and unnecessary surveillance story, I couldn’t help but feel like this film deserved better.
Still, the action sequences and spying will keep you entertained. Matt Damon is still good as Jason Bourne, and the rest of the cast are also great. Definitely worth mentioning is Tommy Lee Jones, who is seemingly typecast now as an old man in a suit. He plays that kind of character in this film to great effect. Even if the character itself had little depth. Tommy Lee Jones just brings about a presence of authority that you can feel in every scene he’s in.
Overall, Jason Bourne was a well-acted film with good action but a familiar story that was a little out of focus, given the fact that two storylines were going on at the same time. Neither of them was worthy of this film, unfortunately. Jason Bourne deserved a better, more carefully executed reason for returning to the franchise, even if this reason was still entertaining.
Total: 5