Jason Bourne

The long awaited installment in the Bourne series is in theaters now. I eagerly went to see it, and was not disappointed. Jason Bourne is rated PG-13 for intense sequences of violence and action, and brief strong language.

Nicky (Julia Stiles) has hacked into a database with records from the covert training programs dating back to Treadstone. She finds Jason (Matt Damon) in Greece during protests that occurred there, with chaos reigning between protestors and military. With this as their backdrop, they meet and flee, with the man simply known as Asset (Vincent Cassel) in pursuit with orders to eliminate them. So begins the first over the top chase scene in this film.

At the CIA, Director Robert Dewey (Tommy Lee Jones) presides over the hunt for Jason and Nicky with the help of an up and coming agent, Heather Lee (Alicia Vikander). Heather is ambitious, with the smarts to get her up the career ladder, but is also vulnerable to the ulterior motives of Director Dewey.

Jason eventually arrives in London where he is attempting to meet with his original recruiter to Treadstone. The CIA cannot leave Jason alone and again sends the Asset after him.

Meanwhile, a big platform for an Internet company is being launched by Aaron Kalloor (Riz Ahmed). This is the part of the film that draws us into the moral dilemma of our time. How much personal privacy must be sacrificed in the name of public safety? The last film with Jason came out in 2007. Information technology has skyrocketed in sophistication since then. Just how vulnerable is the average citizen to being monitored? Aaron states that privacy equals freedom, and he argues that it is a right to be maintained.

The social media atmosphere is central, everyone taking photos with their cell phones and filming everything that’s going on around them. Especially at the big conference in Las Vegas where Director Dewey and Aaron are both featured. It all comes down to that showdown, and the chase scenes that are in Vegas should definitely be left in Vegas, and only on the screen.

After the film, I overheard people talking about how those scenes were so over the top, dozens of innocent people getting in the way of the Asset and Jason trying to destroy each other, that if this were reality, those innocent citizens would all be dead. It is so unrealistic, exciting, yes, but I truly hope no one ever gets in the middle of a high-speed chase in real life. A comment was made that Americans seem to need to be stimulated, overly stimulated, with constant action. Those chase scenes feed that need apparently.

If there is another Bourne film, I hope it delves deeper into the story of Jason with a bit less flash and crazy adrenaline producing segments. This is a good storyline. Everyone in the theater was cheering for Jason, so expertly played by Matt Damon. I highly recommend you go to the theater to see it.