Action Hero MoviesThis movie gets off to a slower, more boring start than the original. Obviously there’s no cool new creative plot to get going with, since the cat’s out the bag, but good sequels usually manage to come up with some originality — this one is lacking.
The fight scene around 40 minutes in is quite memorable for how bad it is. If there were an award for worst fight scene, it would be that. The camera literally doesn’t stay still for half a second, much of the time. It’s clear from the previous movie that Matt Damon can’t fight, and clear from early on in this movie that he’s a plodding flat-footed runner, but if this fight scene really magnifies the problem by being so terribly coordinated and filmed with the worst kind of constant flickering possible in order to mask the lack of substance — a common fight choreography tactic but this is really the worst case example of it. Immediately after that fight scene though, the quick trick Bourne does to lose his tail and mash up the crime scene is tactically on point and well executed — there’s life in the old dog yet (the Bourne saga).
There’s a very cool bit from about 45 minutes in, when Jason cleverly tracks down the agent in charge of tracking him down. It only lasts a few minutes before the mood dampens again, but worked very well while it lasted — it had great momentum and an impressive climax.
In the end due to its long dull parts and the real excitement being rare, I’d say gritty drama lovers might like it — especially the kind of people who like political TV shows — but personally, as someone who prefers smooth vibes and plenty of rich action, I have to rate this particular movie Below Average although you may feel it deserves a slightly better rating to the success of the original Bourne movie which complements this one since this is a smooth continuation. As a standalone movie though, I think it warrants a rating of just Below Average although the odd piece of it is very good.
The action scene near the end is particularly long and hollow – lots of action, but all virtue-signally — it’s messy and momentumless and goes on far too long without significant change of pace or spirit.