Jason Bourne Reviews: What The Critics Are Saying

This week marks the return of a 21st century action icon as Matt Damon returns to the role he last played nine years ago, in ‘Jason Bourne’.

Damon teams up 'The Bourne Supremacy’ and 'The Bourne Ultimatum’ director Paul Greengrass to continue the story of the former assassin.

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But what have the critics said? Generally the reviews have been positive, but not exactly glowing, with praise heaped on the action scenes in particular. Here’s what’s being said.

Tim Robey - The Telegraph: “Bourne himself keeps being drip-fed flashbacks to rearrange the jigsaw inside his head, but the only thing uncannier than the déjà vu he keeps experiencing is the kind Greengrass seems intent on putting us through, too.”

Chris Tilly - IGN: “Damon and writer-director Greengrass are returning to the fray nearly a decade on to re-invigorate the franchise and maybe make a few bucks in the process. In doing so, they run the risk of potentially ruining their own Bourne legacy however.

"While the resulting feature doesn’t quite do the latter, it also fails to fully achieve the former, with this belated sequel an entertaining action film that’s nevertheless somewhat inferior to its predecessors.”

Jimi Famurewa - Empire: “Yes, 'Jason Bourne’ basically amounts to a trio of action set-pieces elegantly strung together. But who really cares when they’re this impressive?

"Paul Greengrass hurls us into the smoke and noise of a nocturnal riot in Athens as easily as he turns Paddington into a crowded arena for nerve-jangling spy games. A hand-to-hand showdown, when it comes, is wincingly intense, replete with audible knife slashes, crunching blows and (of course) creatively deployed household items.”

Robert Abele - The Wrap: “What Greengrass, Rouse and cinematographer Barry Ackroyd do is trancelike, frankly, and it gives 'Jason Bourne’ — like the other movies, thick with set pieces that zigzag from computer screens to talking heads to street-level danger in far-flung places — a beautifully brutalising rhythm. (The sound design, too, is top notch, as is the propulsive score by John Powell and David Buckley.)”

Simon Brew - Den of Geek: “The new characters get mixed returns. Vincent Cassel’s asset feels less threatening and relentless than, for instance, Joey Ansah’s Desh from Ultimatum, not even getting a character name in this case. Tommy Lee Jones sanctions no buffoonery as the face of government authority, and Alicia Vikander emerges as the strongest of the new crop, as the CIA’s latest rising star. Of the returnees, as with the majority of projects she’s in, there’s not enough Julia Stiles, either.”

Christopher Hooton - The Independent: “While other action film directors rely on vertiginous stunts, CGI and/or gore to stun audiences, Greengrass manages to make incredibly simple violent encounters thrilling. One punch is worth a whole clip of bullets in any other film, all landing with such satisfyingly messy semi-realism that the action feels real and tangible.”

'Jason Bourne’ is released in the UK tomorrow, 27 July.

Picture Credits: Universal Pictures