Nearly a decade later and after Universal's divisive bid to start an adjacent series focused on another character, Matt Damon and director Paul Greengrass return to their influential and popular espionage franchise with Jason Bourne. The Bourne Supremacy and The Bourne Ultimatum are my favorite action films of all-time, so I entered this long-awaited outing with significant excitement and hope. And it is a solid follow-up, but definitely an inferior one. Its flaws include an origin-story contrivance tying the death of the title character's father to the overall mythology (a too-on-the-nose complication of his vendetta against the CIA) and an absurdly violent climactic car chase through Las Vegas which, while kinetic in and of itself, too closely resembles an over-the-top demolition derby out of The Fast and the Furious. Its highlights include a characteristic blend of darting hand-held cinematography and ultra-precise editing, a vicious and virtuoso combination submerging the audience in the moment-to-moment frenzy experienced by the on-the-run cast of characters. The most riveting and immediate set piece involves Bourne and an old acquaintance (Julia Stiles) evading capture in Athens during a fiery anti-austerity riot, maneuvering a motorcycle around homemade incendiary devices and riot-gear-clad policemen. Damon is more taciturn and inwardly intense than ever in his signature role—he may have fewer lines than even Tom Hardy in Mad Max: Fury Road—but it is still a pleasure to see him drive, kick, leap, punch, and run his way through Europe and the United States with brutal economy. New cast member Alicia Vikander is overqualified for her role as an ambitious, slightly ambiguous cyber-security expert at the CIA, but still captivating and welcome, though the casting of Tommy Lee Jones as the agency's laconic, shady deputy director is almost too clichéd and to type.

B+

1. The Bourne Supremacy: A
2. The Bourne Ultimatum: A
3. The Bourne Legacy: A
4. The Bourne Identity: A
5. Jason Bourne: B+

As a huge Bourne fan, I am still processing my simultaneous great enjoyment of and relative disappointment with this movie.

I have a big, big problem with the father subplot. It reminds me of how Spectre boiled Blofeld's entire criminal enterprise (and the events of the prior three Craig Bond films) down to, "Blofeld is mad because papa enjoyed skiing with James more." The mythology of the Bourne franchise feels smaller once it is revealed Jason/David's own father created Treadstone. It lapses into a chosen-one trope versus Bourne just being a player in a chaotic, dangerous geopolitical game. And it feels even more overly tidy and "cute" when it is revealed the Vincent Cassel character was the trigger man. The previous films' asset assassins were cooler because they were more enigmatic; this is particularly true of Clive Owen's in Identity, but also Karl Urban in Supremacy and Edgar Ramirez in Ultimatum. They were mysterious, almost robotic men with deadly drive. The Cassel character feels less intimidating and less..."realistic" because his motivations are so sentimental/personal, although the final fight between him and Bourne is nasty and awesomely staged.

Also, random, super-minor complaint: it annoys me how Julia Stiles' character is running around the center of Athens with long blonde hair, no disguise (not even a hat), etc. after Ultimatum emphasized her changing her appearance to be more incognito. And on a related note: "enhance the image!' is shouted and a pixelated, fragmented nanosecond blur becomes a high-resolution closeup.

It's the first in the series that's pure shut your brain off, popcorn entertainment, and Inguess that's a little disappointing considering the other two Greengrass/Damon efforts. I'd put it right along side Identity though.

I had fun. I was entertained.

B+

Did anyone else think Heather Lee was Kalloor's sister and she was a mole? Her name was so stupid that I thought it had to be a fake.

I thought it was a fun, highly entertaining summer movie. The car chase at the end was ludicrous but it worked for me, and all the other action sequences were well-done. I also liked Alicia Vikander even though I wish they didn't kill off Julia Stiles just to make room for her as the female lead. B+

This is a good follow-up but given the high-standards the first two set-in this feels a much inferior entry. The main plot is what concerned me the most. The killing of Stiles, addition of Vikander (even though a good choice but poorly executed), the father plot, the revenge and showdown of the two agents at the end all these fail to register which makes it a mis-step in all the big scenes and fails to register any impact at every big turn. Damon after 4 movies is still great to watch and brings a great intensity to the role again. Vikander while good her character is really changing minds too many times, manipulated by the script. Cassel is great as always but his reasons for revenge seems unjustified specially even when under orders his character killed Bourne's father. Jones's character lacks the villainous stench and is written very thinly here. Finally Greengrass he does a marvelous job with this material (which he poorly co-wrote as well), the action scenes are very well executed and the film does keep you glued in important moments.

If only the story didn't make each character so trivial this would have been great, there is still a lot of potential in this franchise with a great script.

5/10

Entertaining but thinking back on it as a whole it is very meh in story and character.

Jason Bourne

It is a rehash of the same tried-and-tested formula; "catch Bourne". Nothing new is added or even attempted, and just when it might be at the end (a possible reentry into the CIA), it does an immediate 180 to ensure that the next installment is yet again...."find, chase, and catch Bourne". It is boring. On top of that, I could not follow one fist fight, car chase, or other action sequence to the end. Even heated conversations were hard to follow. Does Greengrass have Parkinson's disease? Is it a special form of Parkinson's disease which is also contagious? It might explain why his camera crew also don't know how to keep the camera steady.

Bourne just isn't interesting anymore, especially when it is the same story over and over again. I couldn't care less about his history anymore. Vikander is a bore. A beautiful bore, but still a bore. Cassel's character was the most shallow thing in the film. He was basically just a robot assassin, with zero character development. Sure, we hear why he's interested in tracking down Bourne, but it makes no sense that he would be that determined - I mean, so he got a few scars on his back. Big fucking deal. He killed Bourne's father!! Fair's fair. And they could have given any of the characters some struggle along the way. Getting through US customs? Easy. Everything is easy for both Bourne and Cassel's character. It is as if we're watching superheroes, which makes it difficult to invest. I also hate it when films project the USA as having all-powerful control over THE WORLD. As if they can just unleash malware here and there and shut down whatever electricity grid they deem necessary without getting clearance, because all other nations have shit security. Complete bollocks.

The final chase has some cool parts, but most of it is an incomprehensible mess. I cannot say I enjoyed one fight in the entire film. Even the first fight in Greece has the camera hidden behind Bourne's back for his one-punch knockout (different and much worse than the trailer). And then at the end they butchered Moby's "Extreme Ways". This is such a disappointing film, and hopefully the end to a downward-spiraling franchise (ever since Supremacy it has got worse with each installment).

C-

I was generally enjoying this for the most part. Damon still has it as Bourne, Vikander is very great for the most part, Lee Jones and Cassel put in fine performances too. I especially liked the "set-up" scene in London, one of the best scenes I've seen in cinema this year and it needed it at that point. It does feel a bit odd how Bourne is placed in the film, he feels dejected for some reason so he get into fighting pits spending his time, it doesn't feel like Bourne unless it was for a purpose, he should be too methodical for that. So that's where the main problem lies, the script, there's no originality in it, and very often the developments seem to just come out silly, unrealistic or underdeveloped for the story within it's set. But alright, I didn't feel bored watching it either until that car chase scene. This was possibly the worst scene I've seen on screen this year, such an epileptic, uninteresting sequence. Further it's not possible to really enjoy the fight scenes because of the continues close-up where all the action seems to happen outside of the frame. All in all it's around average, it has good performances, one great scene and some other good ones, but to counter that it's script is bad, and some scenes are just very poorly put to the screen as well.
It's not bad, but for now I'd say "No Mas" for any Greengrass Bourne.

C+

Yeah; the camera is too close, is shaking, and it is choppily edited, making all the fight scenes feel like you're having an epileptic fit.

Ranking the films, while having seen all of them, is a bit difficult since I only saw Supremacy and Ultimatum at the time of release. The Bourne Identity remains my favorite, while I also enjoyed the closure Ultimatum brought, and Legacy is a very good spin-off of sorts for me too.

Also about JB 5, not sure how to describe it, but I find it so unnecessary for them to bring up Snowden in the film.

1. The Bourne Identity: A-
2. The Bourne Legacy: B+
3. The Bourne Ultimatum: B
5. The Bourne Supremacy: C+ (I'm especially not remembering this very fondly, but just don't think it can't be worse than Jason Bourne either)
5. Jason Bourne: C+

For me:

1. The Bourne Supremacy A
2. The Bourne Identity A
3. The Bourne Ultimatum A-
4. The Bourne Legacy B+
5. Jason Bourne C-

So, a downward spiral since 2004.

I watched it in 3D and it did not make me sick, but I certainly could not concentrate on the sequences for very long. Totally stupid to put it in 3D anyway.

There was no 3-D release in America.

Greengrass' style, love it or hate it, is incredibly poorly suited for 3-D.

Most of the movie is in dark, its definitely not suited for 3D viewing when you consider those shaky camera scenes. I am surprised 3D is still that big in China.

3D isn't that big in China, but what can people do if the cinemas only show the 3D version? I have gone many times to try and see films and they are always in 3D. It used to be a draw for people here, but I have heard so many people complain about it now - they want 2D back again! But the cinema owners like the extra 3D surcharge. And the Chinese people are well conditioned to just accept what they're given without complaint.

Understood, the surge in China box office is the reason the change won't happen soon. Here the 3D admissions started dropping so drastically (95% or more) theater owners had to cave in to the demand.

Yeah. It is a shame that little research into audience preference is done here. The overall increase in attendance to cinemas in China is rising, so the greedy, brainless cinema chains and distributors need to change nothing and need to ask no questions. Only when it begins to slow (or stop altogether) will they need to find out why, but that won't happen in my lifetime. When the good times are rolling, don't upset the herd.

<kanehatdochnure> ich gucke den film jason bourne
<kanehatdochnure> und hasse ihn ziemlich
<kanehatdochnure> ich wollte mich mit meinem handy ablenken, aber das war 10 sekunden später leer
<kanehatdochnure> so eine scheiße, Titaneus
<kanehatdochnure> jetzt kommt wieder eine verdammt langweilige verfolgungsjagd, deren ende ich kaum abwarten kann
<kanehatdochnure> die verfolgungsjagden sind ca. so:
<kanehatdochnure> - einblenden eines fahrenden autos
<kanehatdochnure> - abscheuliches agentengefasel
<kanehatdochnure> - einblenden eines fahrenden autos
<kanehatdochnure> - abscheuliches agentengefasel
<kanehatdochnure> - einblenden eines fahrenden autos
<kanehatdochnure> - abscheuliches agentengefasel
<kanehatdochnure> und das 10 minuten lang
<kanehatdochnure> dazu die reinste scheißmusik
<kanehatdochnure> achso
<kanehatdochnure> ich vergaß was wichtiges
<kanehatdochnure> - einblenden eines fahrenden autos
<kanehatdochnure> - abscheuliches agentengefasel
<kanehatdochnure> - anzeigen eines ladebalkens auf einem computerbildschirm
<fettsack_mccabe> vorsicht
<fettsack_mccabe> duck dich
<kanehatdochnure> ist das eine langweilige scheiße
<fettsack_mccabe> ich muss die daten auf meinen usb stick kopieren ehe der countdown abgelaufen ist
<fettsack_mccabe> jason neeeiiiin
<kanehatdochnure> nicht mal sowas
<fettsack_mccabe> boing bumm
<kanehatdochnure> ich weiß nicht, für wen solche filme gemacht werden
<kanehatdochnure> was soll die scheißeeeeeeeeee
<kanehatdochnure> das ist, als würde man allgemeine geschäftsbedingungen durchlesen
<kanehatdochnure> bzw sich von püttjer vorlesen lassen
<kanehatdochnure> der z.b. statt zweitausendfünfzehn "zwanzig fünfzehn" sagt
<kanehatdochnure> und das 10 mal
<kanehatdochnure> "i'm choosing the cia because i think i can make a real difference there"
<kanehatdochnure> der film ist genau halb vorbei
<kanehatdochnure> hoffentlich gibt es 35 minuten abspann
<kanehatdochnure> hat trump schon gewonnen?
<kanehatdochnure> hehe, diese dauernde spannungsmusik
<kanehatdochnure> ich glaube, die hörte seit beginn des films noch nicht auf
<kanehatdochnure> dauerberieselung von der ersten bis zur letzten minute
<kanehatdochnure> anscheinend ist jede sekunde extrem spannend
<kanehatdochnure> ich habe das gefühl, dass seit filmbeginn dieselbe szene läuft
<kanehatdochnure> seit 1 stunde 21 minuten
<kanehatdochnure> copy that
<kanehatdochnure> copy that
<kanehatdochnure> copy that
<kanehatdochnure> copy that
<kanehatdochnure> copy that
<kanehatdochnure> copy that
<kanehatdochnure> copy that
<kanehatdochnure> bourne fiel vom dach

I watched this again a few nights ago. I have a strange relationship with this movie. I WANT to love it because I am such a fan of Paul Greengrass and the original trilogy, but it is ultimately a disappointment. Decent, but disappointing. It is expertly made from a technical standpoint, but it feels obvious Greengrass and Matt Damon never found a proper story to tell. Bourne returning to action feels forced, halfhearted, and contrived, particularly the retcon-esque subplot involving his dead father being an essential player in Treadstone's early days. Also, I adore Alicia Vikander, but she does feel miscast as a CIA authority figure, particularly compared to the quality of Joan Allen's presence and acting in the prior films.

I wonder if they will ever do another one. Everything seems quiet on this front despite this film's respectable-to-impressive worldwide total.

I think its better than Legacy because of Damon and Greengrass but still overall too predictable from past movies. All action and spy stuffs seems like something you have seen in the past movies.