JASON BOURNE (USA 2016) ***
Directed by Paul Greengrass

Review by Gilbert Seah

JASON BOURNE arrives as the 5th instalment of the Bourne films based on the Robert Ludlum novels. Fans were given a break with the previous entry that starred Jeremy Renner working with director Tony Gilroy. With Matt Damon reunited with director Paul Greengrass, one would have expected a top-notch action Bourne film. Sadly, JASON BOURNE provides nothing than more of the same. A few additional secrets regarding Bourne’s past are revealed as to his father’s (Gregg Henry) involvement, but nothing substantial.

Greengrass sets his action set pieces the way Bourne fans are used to – hand held camera with jittery frame and fast edits. The technique creates more nervousness with audiences than anything else. I am not a keen fan of this kind of action shots though they appear popular with Bourne fans. The problem is the lack of continuity as evident in the over extended ridiculous car chase segment at the climax where the assassin’s (Vincent Cassell) truck ploughs through dozens of cars along a Las Vegas strip while in hot pursuit by Bourne. The background of the Vegas hotels do not appear to change as much as the distance covered by the chase.

Despite JASON BOURNE being an action film, the film’s most engrossing parts are the non action scenes. such as the suspense built up during the Exocon convention in Vegas where the founder of a high tech platform company (Riz Ahmed) is about to be shot.

Most of the Bourne characters are emotionless creatures from Bourne himself right down to the director of the CIA, Dewey (Tommy Lee Jones) and other assorted villains. The one with a conscience is Heather Lee (Alicia Vikander), sympathetic to killing Bourne and wanting to bring him into the CIA as another possibility. It seems odd that the script calls for her to change this character completely at the end of the film for the sake of a plot twist.

The film’s story is very current and remarkably similar to Snowden’s whistleblowing, which will be revisited agin in the upcoming film called SNOWDEN. The high tech convention setup is similar to for example, the real life unveiling of new products by Apple Inc. Another sequence that takes place in Athens has mobs of angry Greeks protesting the current economic crisis, clashing with the police.

The script asks the audience to accept a lot of credibility points like whether a lap top memory can be erased by a nearby cellphone.

The question is whether this JASON BOURNE film is really necessary and if it is, how it compares to the other Bourne films. The first THE BOURNE IDENTITY based on Robert Ludlum’s first novel is the most solid of the lot, directed by Doug Liman since it is the one that sets the wheels rolling and established the ground rules. Paul Greengrass then came on board as director, and with Damon establishing the new Bourne style with the next two films and in this one. The diversion with Renner and director Gilroy was ok but did not make any memorable difference. This new JASON BOURNE should satisfy Bourne fans, but provides just more of the noisy same.

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