Minor spoilers for every movie in this franchise of brilliant plots, intense music, great action, and comically loud punches.
The order here is the order in which they came out.
The Bourne Identity (2002)
Wow. Such a great film, and so different to most other action films. Its pace is fast, but with looming, brooding intensity. The main fight scene is an excellent mix of realistic technique and intense music. Bourne becomes an awesome hero, one we respect more and more as the movie draws on. We see in the Professor a bad guy who feels human, and in the assassin in the apartment we see the nameless, driven, aggressive spirit of Bourne's hunters.
The Bourne Supremacy (2004)
This film has a more chaotic and fast-paced style, and we are hit with a dose of sadness at the start before plunging into the accelerating main plot. The combat is not as good as the first film's, but it does a nice job of showing the chaotic brutality of real fights.
The Bourne Ultimatum (2007)
Even more shaky-cam cinematography, coming right up! However, unlike Supremacy, Ultimatum doesn't use it as a tool to hide sloppy action, but primarily as a tool for keeping the viewer riveted. Bourne's desperation is showcased, with the CIA getting closer and closer on his tail. The politics of the situation are interesting too. The ending is great.
The Bourne Legacy (2012)
I'll start with the good. The opening was quite likely the best in the whole series. Cross comes off as a really tough guy, and the drone scene was insanely good. The music is cool, and the motorcycle chase was great. The plot, though not as complicated as those of the previous films, is still interesting.
The bad: Once Cross shaves his beard, suddenly the film becomes a very typical action film, with a bunch of clichés that entails. Also, why are the bad guys so incompetent? Okay, they're not horribly so, but they took so long to find the main characters once their first team was killed. And the plot feels a little contrived—it doesn't build off much of the previous trilogy, instead doing its own thing.
However, this movie is still quite good. I kept saying, "Did he really just do that?" with my jaw dropping.
Jason Bourne (2016)
Going back to the series' roots was a good call. This one, in my opinion, is the second-best Bourne film, second only to Identity. Heather Lee is a new type of character, one who's managing to play both sides without being a traitor or hypocrite. While the investigation side of it isn't nearly as captivating as that in the original trilogy, the action and plot are very well done. It's a bit darker than Identity, more visually impressive than Supremacy, causes fewer headaches than Ultimatum, and is grittier and less cliché than Legacy.
It's interesting that they almost acted like Legacy never even happened. It feels weird, and yet I think it was probably a good choice.
An amazing series. Bravo.
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