In total there are five 'Bourne' films but only four actually feature Jason Bourne (Matt Damon). The 'Bourne Identity' is where it all starts and is only half of the first book in the series (of the same name) and is where Jason starts his take down on Treadstone and also the start up of the blackbriar project. That is followed by 'The Bourne Supremacy' and 'The Bourne Ultimatum', which is where the Blackbriar project is destroyed and Jason learns his real name. So that makes three films. I can count and yes, there are five films in this series. The fourth and somewhat unrelated is 'The Bourne Legacy' which features Jeremy Renner instead of Matt Damon as focuses on the blackbriar project and the destruction of this project. Renner is no Damon and his character is not Jason Bourne but he does also manage to take down the project and the people from the CIA involved in it with the help of a woman so at least they continue that running theme. Now we go back to Jason Bourne and him finishing all the work that he started three films ago.
Matt Damon is continuing his role and carrying on from where he left off even though he looks about ten years older than he did in the previous film which is the only disappointment in the film that is claiming to follow on directly from the 'The Bourne Ultimatum'. The physicality and action of the previous films is still there and they have edited in some shots from when he was younger for the flashbacks and you just can't help but feel that he is going to end everything in this film; the problem is that it didn't end like that, there is a possibility of another film but they are running the risk of just repeating the plot of the second and third films again if they do so.
Julia Stiles is back alongside Damon as Bourne's associate and helper. She and him always did have a bit of a romantic 'thing' going on throughout the films and it continues in this film until ***SPOILER ALERT*** she dies heroically in a motorbike escape from a sniper but not before she has hacked the CIA to help Jason understand why his father was killed. This film isn't about him taking down the CIA it is about him understanding his past, why his father was killed and why the CIA are continually after him. Tommy Lee Jones takes the reigns as chief of the operation against Bourne but even he is no match for the character and the upcoming to-be-chief-operator is not stupid, she suspects that Jones is secretly interfering with her operations and she tips off Bourne multiple times in an attempt to use him and draw him back to the programme but in the end she develops the same opinion as every other chief operator and attempts to play him but we all know that you can't play Bourne. Hence the possibility of another film.
Matt Damon is as rutheless as ever and 'Jason Bourne' is a typical 'Bourne' film. As far as plot and action goes it is on a par with the first film but of course, instead of watching it with interest to find out who he is and why he can do what he can do we are now watching it to see how it will end, what he will do and who he would settle down with. Jason Bourne is getting old; the character is reaching the point on screen where whilst he will still be physically fit he will start to be overrun and overpowered by younger opponents. His knowledge of how to operate and how the CIA operate will always keep him alive but Bourne is starting to tire. Take nothing away from Damon because his performance is consistent but it is the age factor, it is the grey hair that makes most people think that he is getting past it.
This film would be a great way to end the series. *cough cough, take the hint directors, cough cough**
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