Jason Bourne

More than one person told me that Jason Bourne only says 25 words in the new film, the eponymous, Jason Bourne. actually, it's 25 lines not 25 words, but really, when did Bourne ever say more than that? I think he has said more words to Nicky Parsons (Julia Stiles) than anyone else. She is the last character still hanging in there through The Bourne Identity, The Bourne Supremacy, The Bourne Ultimatum, and now Jason Bourne. She did not appear in the multiverse version, The Bourne Legacy, that didn't include Matt Damon either. That one starred Jeremy Renner. The other surviving character, Pam Landy (Joan Allen), has disappeared. There is a new CIA director (Tommy Lee Jones), an up-and-coming analyst (Alicia Vikander), and the usual assassin, known as The Asset (Vincent Cassel). Nicky, as you may remember from 9 years ago, is still on the run having cast in her lot with Bourne.

The plot of Jason Bourne is ripped from today's headlines, as they say. The CIA director is in cahoots with a Mark Zuckerberg clone (Riz Ahmed). His platform, Deep Dream, is being used by the CIA to spy on all Americans. What a shock. Beyond this, it all gets a bit murky as is the norm for anything Bourne. Bourne is taking part in high-stakes bare-fisted boxing matches in Russia and would probably have happily stayed there if the CIA would just stop trying to kill him. Plus Nicky is making trouble. So Bourne gets sucked back into the whole thing. You would think after all this time that the CIA would have learned that fucking with Jason Bourne is not a good idea. But no. I don't think I need to say anything more about the plot.

If you like Jason Bourne movies, which I do, you will like this one. Although something troubling does happen which takes some of the fun of it. But then, I'm still mad that they killed off Bourne's girlfriend (Franka Potente) five minutes into movie #2 (The Bourne Supremacy). There will be another Bourne movie and Alicia Vikander, who is full of secrets, will definitely be back. She is really good in everything I've seen. It was only last year that she became the "it" girl, appearing in The Danish Girl, Ex Machina, and The Man from U.N.C.L.E. , and won an Oscar. Vincent Cassel is a very entertaining assassin, and Tommy Lee Jones plays Tommy Lee Jones, which is also entertaining. And Matt Damon, well, he is Jason Bourne. I hope he will be back for the next sequel too.

Jason Bourne was directed by Paul Greengrass, who also directed Ultimatum and Supremacy, but not Identity or Legacy. The Bourne movies sort of invented the the half-second cut. By this I mean cutting the scene every half second during fights and chases. But these movies are very well put together. I like them a lot. Jason Bourne is no different. And he doesn't need to talk if he doesn't want to.