Nostalgic Review: The Bourne Franchise

The Bourne franchise has become one of the most popular, successful and highly acclaimed action franchises of all-time.
At a time when the James Bond franchise was beginning to be at a low after the failure of Die Another Day. The timing of The Bourne Identity could not have been better. After a lot of positive reviews, sequels were on the way. Enter director Paul Greengrass, who managed to turn it up to a level that I was not expecting. The way he executed The Bourne Supremacy and Ultimatum was extraordinary. Not only were they the best films of the franchise. But they were best of the year contenders.
Sadly with Greengrass and leading actor Matt Damon doing other projects, The Bourne Legacy did not quite meet the high quality of the previous two.

But despite that. The is an important film series to the action genre. It managed to force the Bond franchise to change the way they do their films. Thankfully it was for the better, and that is thanks to this highly enjoyable film series.

Below is a short review of each installment of the Bourne franchise:

The Bourne Identity - A man is picked up at sea riddled with bullets and suffering from amensia.

What Matt Damon's character must do is find out who he is whilst running away from a group that need to kill him.

It's a great mystery action thriller and should be seen by every film-maker to prove that CGI is never essential.

Rating: 8/10

The Bourne Supremacy - Damon returns as Bourne and continues to be on the run. After returning to the CIA, a botched operation has found Bourne wrongly seen as the enemy.

It is tense throughout and the acting, editing and cinematography elevates that to a place I never thought it would reach.

If you thought Identity was really good. Supremacy manages to turn everything up and some see it as the real beginning of the franchise.

Rating: 8/10

The Bourne Ultimatum - Many peoples consider this to be the best. I do as well.
Damon's third appearance as the tenacious Jason Bourne continues to try and find about his past whilst dodging CIA officials and agents during a new assassination program out to hunt him down.

Greengrass continues to show how well he can direct action. The action-tempo is spot-on and it sucks you from the very beginning. This was certainly the Bourne series at its peak.

Rating: 8/10

The Bourne Legacy - Easily the weakest one of the four. But still a solid action flick.

Jeremy Renner and Rachel Weisz play their roles well and the story keeps moving at a nice to keep you interested.

It has some action scenes especially in the final act. But sadly, it won't be that memorable.

Rating: 7/10

Jason Bourne - Matt Damon along with director Paul Greengrass return in another high-octane action thriller that does not fail to entertain you.

Despite the story not being as interesting as the first three, it is a great watch with great performances and memorable action set-pieces.

The future looks bright for this ever popular franchise.

Rating: 8/10