Bourne again? Not quite...
DIRECTOR: Tony Gilroy
CAST: Hawkeye, James Bond's wife, neo-Nazi gang leader and Matt Damon's face on the TV
PLOT: Aaron Cross (Renner) isn't just competing with Jason Bourne in a coolest name contest, he's also competing with him to see who can fuck the most shit up for the US Secret Service. But not if the least intimidating big scary boss-man in cinematic history (Norton) has anything to do with it, as he tries to dispose of everyone in a big secret programme... which is how the blatant love interest gets involved (Weisz).
There's two problems with this film that are apparent before it has even been viewed in your mostly-empty local cinema due to those pesky London sports days. Problem number one: no Paul Greengrass. Problem number two: no Matt Damon.
For Gilroy's first attempt at directing an action film, he sure has picked a difficult trilogy to follow. A job which could prove to be almost as difficult as the one facing whichever brave soul that makes the next 'Batman' film. But in saying this, Gilroy does understand Bourne's world, created by Robert Ludlum. He should do of course, he does have writing credits for the original trilogy. Naturally, we are fooled into thinking that the franchise is in safe hands.
But sometimes it seems that he is the only person that understands this fictional (well, how fictional really is all this secrety spy stuff?) world. What, with the boring exposition being revealed as Ed Norton angrily stares at computer screens and angrily explains to other important secret people about how much shit has gone wrong; constantly jumping from one confusing tangent to the other. Quite frankly, we couldn't really couldn't give a shit, because with all of the Secret Service terminology, most of the conversations are going to go into one ear, and fly straight out the other. It's too robotic. There's no heart. There's no Jason Bourne.
When the not-quite-as-impressive-Bruce-Banner-as-Mark-Ruffalo has finally stopped explaining things, we are treated, finally, to some action sequences. But if you're expecting the sort of gritty, realistic, shaky-hand fight scenes which force you to the edge of your seat, you're going to be further disappointed. To get your fix, you're going to have to see Seth MacFarlane's 'Ted' this year instead. Seriously - I mean it.
Instead, we see capable but uninspired conventional action sequences. Very stable camera shots, nothing too adventurous and fast paced edits that fool you into thinking that you're watching a high-octane motorcycle chase, but really you're just watching close-ups of faces, wheels and other traffic driving past. Nothing worthy enough to hold a candle to the famous Mini chase scene in 'The Bourne Identity'. It would seem that 007 movies have now traded places with Bourne movies in the gritty action sequences forte. And as for the critics who claim that this is more realistic than previous Bourne's, despite the clammy CGI and the secret agent baddies who nonsensically believe that a man can run as fast a wolf, you can go to hell.
The biggest problem though, Cross never appears to be in serious danger (maybe because he's popping pills throughout the whole film), resulting in us never really caring about him as much as we did with Damon's 'Bourne'. It's no fault of Renner's, it's not a bad performance for the recent go-to action guy, the script just doesn't do him any favours. He doesn't seem as human as our Jason.
And not forgetting the further exposition-revealer, Dr.Shearing (Rachel Weisz), who does add some much needed emotion, mainly because she's in danger (well she has to be doesn't she? She's a woman, duh!). Cross needs someone to save, because we could hardly care less about him saving himself. But the truth is, she is little more than the damsel in distress, no matter how much she knows about the all-important tabs being swallowed by Cross at the end of every single scene. 'Now, get on the back of my motorcycle and scream a bit! It makes me look cool...'
The final action sequence is absurdly anti-climatic, you'll be sat in the deserted cinema asking yourself where the real pusle-pounding ending is hiding. All because some muted random guy from Bangkok is sent after Cross, who is obviously supposed to be very dangerous, but we're not actually shown why, does not constitute as a satisfying ending to a sequel to one of the most loved action franchises ever made. Maybe Bourne has become the bane to its own success.
OVERVIEW: Jeremy Renner has stated that someday he'd like to make a Bourne film alongside Matt Damon. Matt Damon has stated that he will only ever make another Bourne film if he is directed by Paul Greengrass. I have stated that this is the only way I will be interested in any future instalments of the espionage franchise. Tony Gilroy has stated that he has sent a supposedly dangerous man from Bangkok who has no character background after me for my first negative review on this blog.
**
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