Jason Bourne: Review

Director: Paul Greengrass
Running time: 123 minutes


A decent if formulaic cat and mouse action thriller.

Due to the volatile world we live in, the topic of surveillance and security has moved on from what you might call the streets, to the world of cyber technology. This has happened at the same time that social media has expanded its role in the everyday world. Which makes for a great combination for a modern day action/thriller, Bond touched on it in Spectre, and now the Bourne series returns to do the same but with mixed results.

Set twelve years after the Bourne Ultimatum, Jason Bourne (Matt Damon) is now living as an illegal street fighter on the borders of Albania and Greece. When former agent Nicky Parsons (Julia Stiles) hacks into the accounts of the CIA, she uncovers files that relate to Jason Bourne, so she goes to Greece to inform him. The two of them are then pursued by the CIA director Robert Dewey (Tommy Lee Jones) and head of cyber ops division Heather Lee (Alicia Vikander).

From there the film is more or less a cat and mouse chase from one location and action set piece to the next. The action is raw and effective, the fight scenes are bone crushingly exciting and the car chases blend in well with the real life locations. But it's hampered by overly fast editing and constant close ups, which gets distracting after awhile.

While the plot is engaging it also straddles along rather predictably, as the characters just keep reacting from one plot device to the next. With little danger, Bourne overcomes everything in the most convenient and convoluted ways, which creates very little tension.

The hacked files eventually reveal more about Bourne's past, and through a series of flashbacks the story comes full circle. But there isn't any emotional attachment to the character to care enough, which isn't helped when Matt Damon couldn't have said much more than fifty lines in the whole film. It's odd how uninteresting the character has become compared to the first three films.

The supporting cast is a mixed bag, Tommy Lee Jones is suitable for the part of a superior minded CIA director. While Alicia Vikander seems a little out of place, not only is her character nothing much more than a overused plot device, she has the same stiff and charmless expression throughout.

Shoehorned into all of this is a rather underused and ineffective subplot about big corporate silicon valley tech companies and their ambiguous relationship with the government. In this case it's the fictional 'Deep Dream' headed by a smug Aaron Kaloor (Raz Ahmed). It's a subject matter that deserves more than just a side note in a film series that I'm not sure it even belongs in.

The first half of Jason Bourne is really promising, it begins interesting enough and the stakes are really high, and the action is thrilling. But it soon falters and plods along to a final car chase through Las Vegas that's overlong and exhausting. Before ending in a wholly nimble way.

Verdict: 3/5






   


  

star Trek: Beyond

Director: Justin Lin
Running time: 122 minutes

Much like its predecessors, Beyond is a good Sci-Fi blockbuster, but nothing much else.

Beyond is the third film in the rebooted Star trek timeline, J.J Abrams has gone and in comes Justin Lin. And the result is more or less the same.

The story follows a familiar beat, with the Enterprise assigned on a rescue mission into an uncharted nebula, on the way they're attacked by a fleet of drones led by the film's villain Krall (Idris Elba). With the Enterprise eventually destroyed, the crew are forced into making a crash landing on a mysterious and hostile planet.

From there the film switches between the various groups of crew members as the plot unfolds. Which is to the film's credit as all of the characters share the same sense of struggle and intrigue. Only helped by the wonderful chemistry between each of them, because unlike most big tentpole blockbusters, Beyond is successful in showcasing the friendship and humanity in its character interactions.

I liked the introduction of Jaylah (Sofia Boutella), a physically strong female character who isn't just there as a token addition but whose role is central to the plot. But it's the scenes between Spock (Zachary Quinto) and Bones (Karl Urban) that are a particular highlight, not only are their scenes the funniest but they're also the ones in which we have the most emotional investment in.

Because without the characters fine collective chemistry, the film would fall under the weight of what is very much a by the numbers script.

The story doesn't venture into any new territory, there are a few twists here and there, but for the most part it's serviceable at best. The action scenes are visually splendid and frantic, but feel a little unimaginatively executed, a bike scene from the trailer is as good as it gets. And while there is certainly a lot at stake, it all feels a bit weightless and just going through the motions.

There is a hint of exploration, and the locations are immersive enough to feel as though you're on the same journey as the crew of the Enterprise. But there is only a hint of it, the use of 'Yorktown' (a Tomorrowland type city space station that the crew visit, and in which Krall tries to destroy) looks elegant but feels like a waste in a series about the unknowns of space.

Krall is a mixed bag, he's a strong villain but not really menacing enough, his screen presence doesn't really bring out any great tension or fear. While Elba is a fantastic actor, he's layered in a heft of make up, of which the final design is very generic and uninspired. The character's arc changes at the end as a twist unravels about his true identity, of which was a nice surprise but wholly unsatisfying.

Beyond is a good and fun blockbuster film that's entertaining for the time that you're in its company, but it doesn't offer much more. If you liked the previous two movies in the rebooted series, then you're on familiar ground here. If you didn't think much of the previous two films, then Beyond will not give you much that's different or change your mind.

Verdict: 7/10