It's been nearly 10 years since we last saw Matt Damon play Jason Bourne, and 4 years since the forgettable The Bourne Legacy, where the Bourne franchise was slightly sullied with a rather mediocre film. But now, Bourne is back: Damon has returned to the screen and is joined, behind the camera at least, by Paul Greengrass, the innovative director of the first three films of the series. I won't lie – I was pretty excited to see where this dream duo would take us this time.
It was a warm evening in Oxford, so I was also pretty excited to get into the cinema and take advantage of the air-con. Alas, it became evident throughout the film that air-con hasn't reached the Phoenix Picturehouse in Jericho just yet. I only mention this because I'm pretty sure my enjoyment of the film was partially linked to how uncomfortably hot I was, which is a shame. I guess it did lend some realistic touches to the sweaty opening scenes where we find Bourne seemingly making a living bare-knuckle fighting somewhere in Europe.
If you have seen the first three films, you'll have a good idea of what to expect – high-octane, fast-edited scenes of violence, car (and motorbike) chases and big-wigs at Langley keeping a close eye on it all. This time, however, the series is brought bang up to date with mentions of Snowden, stolen CIA information and the possible involvement of an internet mogul, Aaron Kalloor (Riz Ahmed), famous for developing a Facebook-style social media platform called Deep Dream. We are provided with some Bourne-related personal history which is never really resolved, but the only way I can sum the film up is that it moves from one action set-piece to another, with very little coherent plot in between.
In the right circumstances I think I would enjoy the film a lot more, and I am tempted to re-watch the first three films again before returning to this latest installment. But I was so happy to hear the first strains of Moby's Extreme Ways seeping into the final scene of the film, not just because it's an iconic Bourne-related track, but because it meant that fresh, cooler air was just moments away.