I had read some pretty dismissive reviews about this movie, so was not really expecting a whole lot. Well, actually, I was expecting – in spite of what I’d been told – to have a good time watching Jason Bourne trot around all kinds of exciting and exotic places doing all kinds of exciting and exotic things. And I was right. And so were the other reviewers.
Yes, the movie does go by as a sort of a travellogue. I’m still not sure how that is a bad thing. The locations are great (India, Berlin, Moscow, the U.S.). Each one is there for a reason. I never felt like the filmmakers were just zipping off to another country for no reason. It’s the plot, stupid.
Matt Damon is believable as Jason Bourne: MacGuyver for the new millenium. He’s all pent up and moral…just right.
The camera work is top-notch. They really do a great job of putting you right in the car during the chases (the Moscow chase is really amazing), and there is a documentary-style that they went for and accomplished. As is mentioned by Damon in one of the DVD-extras (of which there are many) there is much that happens at the edges of the frame. It really feels like the characters are doing what they do and we’re just barely seeing it; Like being let in on a secret. It’s a refinement on the style pioneered first on television (as far as I know) by the “NYPD Blue” folks (who sucked at it), except the camera doesn’t swoop and jerk around just for the sake of swooping and jerking which always makes me feel kind of sick. For a great example of how to use this style to nauseating excess, see Steven Soderberg’s cinematic aerobics in “Oceans 12.” Just be sure to take some Dramamine, or bring a barf-bag.