Rating summary

Movie		2.0
Video		4.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		2.5
Overall		3.5

Jason Bourne Blu-ray Movie Review

You snooze, you win.

Reviewed by Martin Liebman November 23, 2016

The much ballyhooed return of Matt Damon as Jason Bourne is an unwieldy, trite, and tiresome movie that places it in a class a notch or two below any of the films in Damon's previous Bourne trilogy. The succinctly, but appropriately, titled Jason Bourne is a victim of a serious lack of imagination. It's all frenzy and no freshness, a movie that's essentially one long chase sequence that once again puts a man on the move against an army of digital surveillance equipment and the people operating it in the field and behind the scenes. Director Paul Greengrass, returning to the franchise for the third time, keeps the film in motion but never takes the audience anywhere it hasn't been before. The entire movie plays out on cruise control, failing to find any spirit or creativity, content to unravel the Jason Bourne mystery a little further but paying no mind to the dizzying sense of repetition that courses through it.

While Jason Bourne (Matt Damon) has recovered his memory, he's living in seclusion and only doing what he can to stay alive and stay ahead of those who would do him wrong. Meanwhile, Nicky Parsons (Julia Stiles) has hacked the CIA and is threatening to release its dirty laundry onto the web. She's also uncovered a number of truths about Bourne's past and his father's life and work in the agency. She brings him the information, placing a target on both their backs. As they try to escape from the all-seeing eyes of the world around them, the CIA's Robert Dewey (Tommy Lee Jones) and Heather Lee (Alicia Vikander) make him their top target, all the while he's tracked by an old nemesis with a personal grudge.

It's a sad fact that, generally speaking, there's precious little opportunity for unique storytelling anymore. It's all been done. But the Hollywood machine has to keep on churning. It seems like every theme has been explored and every action in support of those themes has been carried out in some form or fashion. Jason Bourne epitomizes all of that. The movie introduces Bourne as an underground fighter meant to compliment his strength and define his character's lost soul and quest for truth, turning to the core of who he is to get by, even as he tries to escape from it. Been there, done that. A roomful of intelligence operatives analyze the action from a million computer screens, barking out orders to zoom in, rewind, whatever it takes to catch their man remotely. Operatives on the ground speak into concealed microphones in urgent, hushed whispers about being in position and spotting the target. Bourne uses crowds, vehicles, anything to speed or mask his movements to his advantage. Shaky handheld cameras are meant to introduce both personalization and intensity to a scene. Car chases are big and loud but...they're just more Hollywood car chases. It's frankly almost baffling how a movie this mundane can get made, and how a sharp director like Paul Greengrass can allow it to snowball into one giant pile of derivative repetition. All of this kind of stuff was novel and unique back when Enemy of the State was introducing audiences to the digital surveillance future well head of its time. Now, movies like Jason Bourne are just late to the party. They're tiring rather than thrilling as they fruitlessly hope to dazzle viewers by regurgitating all of it again for the millionth time rather than find a new approach to an old idea.

The movie does hold up from a technical perspective, at least depending on one's tolerance for Greengrass' and Cinematographer Barry Ackroyd's nonstop shaky cam and incessant toggling of the zoom switch. All of the various chases are slick and well produced, the technology in play is as cutting edge as it was more than a decade ago, and, well, it's a professional looking movie. Yet the cast appears super bored. All of the faux urgency is phoned in, and the actors seem content to allow the technical mechanics to do the work for them. All of the frenzy is generated from the camera. It's sort of like the opposite of The Asylum, the studio that never allows a moment to pass without score blaring in the background to try and ramp up some sense of enthusiasm, urgency, something to mask the emptiness playing out on the screen. Greengrass and Ackroyd do the same thing with the camera, constantly shaking, zooming, tilting, capturing action from up-close and skewered angles, anything and everything to hide the vacuous story and disinterested performances. It's a tiring movie in more ways than one, then, as the strain of the camera's jerking and the drain of the story's emptiness pile up to the point that walking out rather than waiting for it to end seems like the best option.

Jason Bourne Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Jason Bourne was reportedly photographed with a myriad of sources, but film appears its predominant format. The image wrangles up some terrific details, clear even through the movie's shaky-cam jerks and jitters and zooms. Facial detailing is resplendently complex, presenting some seriously intimate images of pores, stubble, age wear, and even some blood. Environments are sparkling, evident even at night or in lower light conditions. Dense cities and closed-in command and control centers reveal plenty of finer point details along façades for the former and monitors and equipment for the latter. Colors are bold and true, again even in lower light conditions where saturation and nuance are outstanding. Black levels hold naturally deep without crush and flesh tones appear well saturated and healthy. The image sports no immediately obvious encode maladies. Grain can be a little thick, but it's evenly distributed and the transfer enjoys a quality filmic appearance.

Jason Bourne Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Jason Bourne's DTS:X soundtrack demonstrates clear and capable command of the material and the listening area. The track feels consistently immersive to the entire 360-degrees, as well as integrating a nicely balanced and never forced or intrusive overhead support structure. Music is full bodied and clear, effortlessly positioned around the listener while maintaining lifelike definition throughout the range, including a healthy and supportive low end. Flashback scenes offer a nice burst of ghostly reverberation and random positioning around the stage. Frenzied din at busy locations, like protests on the streets of Athens, feature prominently and, like the music, take full advantage of every speaker in the configuration to draw the listener into the mayhem. Lighter elements and more serene location-specific environmental details always play with rich clarity that draws the lister in. Action scenes maintain a fine level of detail even through the chaos and aggressive volume and posturing. Stage balance is amazing, and the listener is always directionally aware throughout. Overheads carry some quality supportive details, like helicopter rotors which are smoothly integrated into the greater whole. Dialogue is firmly placed in the center with its only escape during naturally occurring moments of reverberation.

Jason Bourne Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Jason Bourne contains several featurettes. A DVD copy of the film and a voucher for a UV/iTunes digital copy are included with purchase.

• Bringing Back Bourne (1080p, 8:15): A look at returning the character to the screen, including fan demand for another film, reuniting Damon and Greengrass, making a good film and not just a generic sequel, the use of high technology in the film, Bourne's adversary, the story's parallels with real world issues, Greengrass' work on the film and technical details of the shoot, and Damon's physical preparations for the part.
• Bourne to Fight (1080p): A three-part feature.
• Bare-Knuckle Boxing (7:55): A closer look into Damon's intense physical training for hand-to-hand combat scenes in the film.
• Close Quarters (4:27): A detailed look at one of the movie's key locations and crafting another one of the movie's major fight scenes.
• Underground Rumble (5:59): Making the movie's climactic fight sequence, with equal emphasis on the fight's dramatic relevance.
• The Athens Escape (1080p, 5:37): Crafting one of the series' most intense vehicle chase sequences.
• Las Vegas Showdown (1080p): A two-part feature.
• Convention Chaos (6:36): An inside look at shooting one of the film's most critical sequences in Sin City.
• Shutting Down the Strip (8:24): Making some of the film's biggest and most important action scenes on the famed Vegas strip.

Jason Bourne Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Jason Bourne doesn't make an effort to stand apart or tell a unique story. It's very much a standard process sort of movie, appropriately (albeit forcibly) tense and gritty but neither structurally nor thematically novel. At its core, it makes for a logical progression of the story, but even as it explores the character and world a bit more deeply, the movie's superficialities can't carry it. It's completely derivative and nondescript within the genre and is more likely to leave the audience shaking heads and muttering "good grief, not all of this again" rather than standing up and cheering for yet another car chase, shaky cam close-up, or control room frenzy. Universal's Blu-ray is fine. It delivers expectedly high end video and audio, paired with a decent allotment of extra content. Fans of the film can buy with confidence.