OK, the superheroes have had their fun. Even the revitalized James Bond had his chance to shine. But put the colorful costumes and slick tuxedoes away, because Jason Bourne is back.
Universal released the first official trailer for Jason Bourne, the fourth film featuring Matt Damon as Robert Ludlum’s super-spy, Wednesday night. And though he’s been in seclusion for nine years (presumably since 2007’s The Bourne Ultimatum), and apparently not talking about Fight Club, the agent clearly hasn’t lost his edge. (Mostly, it’s nice to see Damon back on this planet after hanging out on other planets in Interstellar and The Martian.)
You know his name! Take a look:
“We’ve been hacked, could be worse than Snowden!”
That line surely demonstrates the world in which these Bourne films take place. It’s not very different from the one we live in, which adds dramatic tension and pertinence to these stories. This isn’t James Bond flying off to some island to take on a megalomaniac who seeks global domination. It’s certainly not a group of superpowered operatives clashing against killer robots. Jason Bourne might be an extraordinary agent, but he lives on the edge of our reality. That’s what makes these movies so powerful.
But the driving narrative of this latest film will be different, as Bourne is no longer trying to remember his identity and learn about what happened to him. He took down Treadstone and knows all about the program that developed him. (2012’s The Bourne Legacy added some details to that story, though it’s unclear as to whether or not that film, which starred Jeremy Renner and didn’t feature Bourne, has any bearing on this new story.) What compels Julia Stiles’ character, Nicky, to bring him out of hiding? What are they after? And is Damon back in Las Vegas for the first time since the Ocean’s Eleven movies?
Directed by Paul Greengrass, who helmed the previous two Bourne films with Damon, the cast also includes recent Academy Award winner Alicia Vikander, Tommy Lee Jones and Vincent Cassel. Jason Bourne hits theaters on July 29.
