Jason Bourne (Blu-ray Review)

2 Dec, 2016 By: John Latchem

---

Street 12/6/16
Universal
Action
Box office $162.19 million
$29.98 DVD, $34.98 Blu-ray, $44.98 UHD BD
Rated ‘PG-13’ for intense sequences of violence and action, and brief strong language
Stars Matt Damon, Tommy Lee Jones, Alicia Vikander, Vincent Cassel, Julia Stiles, Riz Ahmed.

Is this the fifth Bourne? Or really the fourth? Does Legacy still count? All these movies are basically the same — former operative seeking to survive and expose insidious CIA programs — it’s just a question if you think having Matt Damon star in them makes a difference (Legacy being the one with Jeremy Renner).

After struggling to reclaim his memories and taking down the bad guys from his past in the first three movies, Bourne (Damon) resurfaces when new information comes to light about his past and the bad guys who created him. This time, it involves secrets surrounding Bourne’s own father, another slimy CIA director (Tommy Lee Jones), and the mother of all government surveillance programs (not that such a thing as been the subject of every other spy movie for the past 10 years).

To find answers, Bourne gets drawn into the subculture of computer hackers, leading to a tech conference in Las Vegas where the CIA wants to get cozy with the next big social media platform.

For viewers emotionally invested in Bourne’s continued quest to dig up the secrets of his past, this should be a satisfying follow-up. The bread-and-butter of these movies are lengthy sequences of characters walking dramatically to tense music as assassins wait to ambush them, and in between those are some pretty good action scenes, including a few bare-knuckle fights and an impressive car chase down the Las Vegas strip. The shaky camera is as ever-present as always with these films.

The Blu-ray includes 47 minutes of behind-the-scenes material spread across seven featurettes, all weirdly introduced by Damon as if he wanted to add some thoughts he forgot to mention while he was being interviewed within the featurettes. Director Paul Greengrass didn’t even bother with a commentary on this one.

Most of the footage involves information about fight choreography and stunt work, with the most interesting being an eight-minute glimpse at the Vegas car chase (continuing a Hollywood tradition of running amok over shuttered hotels, most of the real property damage took place at the Riviera, which was demolished during the same summer of 2016 the film was hitting theaters).

The movie is also available as part of The Bourne Ultimate Collection, which contains all five movies and a DVD bonus disc of additional featurettes covering the earlier films and content previously released as exclusives (essentially a re-release of The Bourne Classified Collection with the new movie included).

Bookmark it: