The two recent political conventions turned my brain, or what’s left of it, into mush; as an antidote, I sought out a film with mindless violence, Jason Bourne. This is at least the fifth episode in the Bourne series and the fourth with Matt Damon. (If you count the Richard Chamberlain mini-series version of The Bourne Identity, this is the sixth film; that version holds up quite nicely.)
The new film adds little to the basic story, but it does give us information about Bourne’s father and his role in the Project Treadstone debacle. In the next film, we will probably learn something about Bourne’s mother or siblings. There has to be a limit somewhere to Bourne’s “lost” memories.
I enjoyed the film because of its escapism. Damon is good as an aging Bourne and Tommy Lee Jones is equally good as the head of the CIA. It takes a while before we know if his character is for or against Bourne.
The film opens with a chase scene in Athens that outdoes anything in the Fast and Furious series. No automobile on the face of the earth could survive such mistreatment; for that matter, neither could any human being. The level of suspense remains high throughout the film and it was a nice diversion.