Bourne is thrown back into the mix and finds himself yet again on the run from the agency whilst trying to uncover more secrets from his past. Seeing how much importance was placed on the closure at the end of The Bourne Ultimatum, the reasons for Bourne to reappear seem a bit too tacked on to be as compelling as the former films. But this is a franchise with a dedicated, slightly-smaller-than-average fanbase that truly loves the Bourne films for what they were: Smart, taut thriller films that made the viewer feel like the events that transpired felt as real-life as possible in a film that also had great action sequences that helped support the plot. So, if Paul Greengrass and Matt Damon provide us (I do include myself in that fanbase.) with a Bourne film, we will go to watch it without haste because of our confidence in Greengrass and Damon. The only difference here is Tony Gilroy is not at the helm of the screenplay or story, instead we have both director Paul Greengrass and editor Chris Rouse writing. Both of them undoubtedly have good intentions and have put in a huge amount of work into returning us to the world of Jason Bourne. A lot of time in this film is spent following the main characters through large chaotic environments with huge crowds of people, from a violent government protest in Greece to a tech convention in Las Vegas, and Greengrass shines the most during these scenes. He manages to keep tight control of the events that transpire between main characters whilst creating mighty tension through the use of chaos and crowds. This is what makes Jason Bourne better at being an action film than it is a thriller, or more specifically, a Bourne film. The writers have placed a higher priority on creating enough reasons for the purpose of having an action sequence rather than writing action sequences that help further the narrative they are trying to build.

At the end of the day, however, this is still a very watchable action film, even though I'm not quite sure this is a Bourne film. Matt Damon, although aged slightly compared to his Ultimatum days, proves that he can carry a film with the stern yet keen sense of awareness that he constantly provides us in the film. The film also has a top notch supporting cast that includes the great Tommy Lee Jones and Alicia Vikander, whom I first saw in The Man from U.N.C.L.E., and subsequently in Ex Machina, where she shone. Jones and Vikander work off each other rather well, but I'm not sure Tommy Lee is given enough screen time to justify his presence in the film. Its not too hard to think that his role could have been played by any old dude with a permanent frown mustered from seniority, but his presence is nonetheless a welcome one. Alicia Vikander does her role justice, and that's just about what I can say. I think her performance was relatively subdued due to the very nature of the role she had, and she plays it quite well.

We now have the third Greengrass directed Bourne film, which is exciting in and of itself. Unfortunately it remains the third best Greengrass directed Bourne film, which is not a fault of its own, but more due to the superior quality of his previous Bourne films. It still remains, on its own, a relatively smart action film with really great action sequences, even though at times the Bourne fan wishes that the writer's would have put more thought into writing gripping thrills instead of succumbing to the needs of a summer box office hit.