Jason Bourne (2016)

Content by Tony Macklin. Originally published on 00, 0000 @ tonymacklin.net.

Jason Bourne was written by a film editor. That pretty much says it all.

Editor Christopher Rouse, in his first screenplay, joins director Paul Greengrass to cobble together a screenplay for Jason Bourne, which is light on language and slight on character.

Cut, cut, cut, cut language. Cut character. Replace them with action. Loads and loads of action. The screenplay is, "Crash, tire squeal, crash, crash, collision, crash."

Tony Gilroy, who wrote or co-wrote the four previous Bourne films, is noticeably absent. Mark Damon was bitter that Gilroy wrote and directed The Bourne Legacy (2012), starring Jeremy Renner. So he's nowhere to be found on the present Bourne project. And, boy, is Gilroy missed.

I put all three previous Bourne films with Mark Damon on my best 10 lists, and I liked The Bourne Legacy with Renner.

But the latest Bourne venture lacks what distinguished the previous ones. Their depth and humanity have been replaced by just more action. Maybe that's an editor's delight, at least Rouse's.

Jason Bourne is the poster film for contemporary cinema. Many action movies basically are made for foreign audiences. Since much of these audiences don't speak English, language has become an afterthought. It just gets in the way.

Language and character are obliterated by action in Jason Bourne.

Jason Bourne is about surveillance, struggle, and survival. It leads to a half-hour sequence of ceaseless destruction on the strip in Las Vegas.

Damon has said, "The whole movie was scheduled around that sequence." He talks as though Jason Bourne is a commercial for Las Vegas, "Vegas looks awesome!"

It may be ironic that Macao has replaced Las Vegas as the international capital of gaming.

Be warned. Before you plan a trip to Vegas to see the Riviera, the scene of some of the film, know that the Riviera has been razed. Like the film, it didn't have staying power.

Mark Damon is now iconic as Bourne. But many of the performances in Jason Bourne haven't been developed. Tommy Lee Jones brings his glum expression to the role of the CIA director, who is Bourne's adversary. Alicia Vikander and Bourne stalwart Julia Stiles are wasted. And veteran actor Vincent Cassel is hardly a memorable assassin.

If you just like to play the game and don't care what cards you're dealt, come to Las Vegas.

Or see this movie.