While Matt Damon is not nearly as old as Sylvester Stallone, this change of pace for Jason Bourne could be a potentially good direction for Universal to take the franchise. With this, the Rocky franchise has still been allowed to continue with Rocky's role being changed from a main player to a mentor. Much like how Sylvester Stallone retired his Rocky character from the Rocky franchise in favor of the young Adonis in Creed. However, Universal could take Bourne out of the main action and make him more of a teacher to a younger generation. This could mean the end is in sight for the Bourne franchise. Jason Bourne, as skilled as he is, is not as young as he used to be and physically may not be as capable as he once was. While that might not mean much to most, in the action world, it means a great deal.
It's always entertaining to watch him rip apart the C.I.A.'s attempts to take him down, even on the 5th or 6th viewing.While the franchise has become a touchstone in the action genre, setting the base for many films that would follow, it's been a full decade since the release of The Bourne Identity. The best Bourne is revenge Bourne and that's what we get here. The wide range of emotion and flawless action sequences that he (reportedly) did stunts for is impressive. That's a tribute to the acting and directing.Īt the center of each Bourne film is the performance of the great Matt Damon, and I don't know that he's ever been as good as he is in 'Supremacy'. Much like the first film, as the audience you suspect what's going on, but it's far more interesting to watch the performances and reactions of the characters finding out themselves. Unfortunately for her, Bourne is after everyone who ever wronged him, and Landy may be one of them. Landy, a new task force leader from the C.I.A., wants just as many answers as Bourne as she draws close to the truth behind Treadstone. One of those nicely written characters is Joan Allen's Pamela Landy. There are no mustache twirling villains, you understand where everyone is coming from, even if you don't agree with their decisions. With that said, the reason the action works so well, is because the characters are written with depth and motivations. Bourne has more time to plan out his moves and hence the scenes feeling more natural and polished. Instead of Bourne being on the run from the C.I.A., this time he's hunting them, and the action steps up because of that.
With a bigger budget and seemingly more freedom in that department, I feel like the filmmakers wanted to turn the series in a slightly more action heavy route. With his increasingly likable performance and magnetic charm, along with Tony Gilroy's well strung script, Supremacy tends to hit on all levels. As I've said before, the original Bourne trilogy gets better with each film, and I think this second entry in the spy series may give us the best performance from Matt Damon in the title role. Stepping in for Doug Liman is Paul Greengrass, known now as a master of suspense films, and Supremacy was one of his first gems. It's far from risky or overly original, but The Bourne Supremacy is as tightly compacted and impeccably directed as a spy thriller can get. Supremacy builds on all the strengths of 2002's 'Identity' by giving Jason Bourne a much more relatable and grounded side. The elevated scale and compelling plot make this film hugely better than the original, never losing any sight of motifs or traditions that made the series great.
Especially when touching upon, mistaken identity or frame-ups, while the film doesn't reveal much about the film's primary cover-up, it does however give audiences a more deeper understanding as to which actions the character takes have direct consequence on him as well as those around or relating to the people/target he's been involved with. Greengrass's signatory handheld camera give each action and chase scenes much needed thrills, spills and adrenaline to keep viewers glues to their seats just willing to know where the film's plot will take them next, or who will it involve.
Following on from the original, 'Supremacy' reveals more of the character's abilities to outsmart his opponents no matter where they are, hiding halfway across the world, a building of operatives or simply just standing around and avoid any sense of detection. With Paul Greengrass stepping in to direct the followup to 'Identity', this could not be more a worthy sequel than what the film actually is.