Review: Jason Bourne with Matt Damon

If you are glad Matt Damon is back as Jason Bourne, you will be even gladder after seeing this.

Matt Damon is back in search of the truth in Jason Bourne.

Jason Bourne (M), national release, 3.5 out of 5

The fifth instalment of the Bourne franchise, with Oscar nominee Paul Greengrass directing a 24-carat movie star in Matt Damon, is a first-rate action-thriller, but consider also visually and emotionally stunning Colombian film Embrace of the Serpent, which will receive less PR but is just as good.

Bourne (Damon), who disappeared at the end of The Bourne Ultimatum (2007), has suddenly resurfaced. What’s more, he is recovering from the amnesia inflicted on him and wants to find out more about his past, particularly what happened to his father, who died in Beirut.

Greengrass, Oscar nominated for United 93 in 2006, has directed three of the five Bourne films and brings us up-to-date with an effective pre-titles flashback that shows Bourne as a highly trained CIA killer. “You made yourself who you are,” he is told.

We cut to the Greek-Albanian border, where Bourne is earning a crust as a streetfighter. Damon pumped up for the role and looks invincible, but Greengrass cleverly uses this bareknuckled plot twist only a few times. The real story is Bourne’s return and his search for the truth. Connected with this is a hacking of the CIA’s computer network, one that “could be worse than Snowden”. Bourne may be involved.

CIA director Robert Dewey (Tommy Lee Jones) wants Bourne eliminated: “We cut the head of this thing.” The job falls to a CIA “asset” (which is what Bourne used to be), who is told to “close your account in Rome”, which he does with a few close-range shots.

The asset is played by magnificent French actor Vincent Cassel, who brings dastardly, dedicated depth to this bad guy — or good guy, depending on where you stand. So does Damon, who has reached an age where life shows on his face, which we see in close up through Barry Ackroyd’s fine camerawork, which is lavish on chase scenes and intimate on personal ones.

Just where CIA agent Heather Lee (Alicia Vikander) stands is an interesting question. She should be out to stop Bourne and help her boss, but her behaviour suggests otherwise. And is the CIA boss bad or good or somewhere in between? Relevant questions for our times.

This is an intelligent action film from start to finish. There are spectacular scenes throughout, such as when Bourne and accomplice Nicky Parsons (Julia Stiles) are fleeing through an Athens seething with violent protests. The ending is sensational. If like many people you are glad Damon is back as Jason Bourne, you will be even gladder after seeing this.