A new Bourne movie (this time actually with Bourne) is... um... nearly here?

[JasonPratt]

I would like to say I'm deeply ambivalent about this trailer.

But that would be a lie.

Because this trailer looks desperate.

Out of nowhere, I saw on YT that a new Bourne film will be here at the end of July. I seriously thought at first this was a fake trailer made by fans. But it isn't.

But it might as well be.

I'm reasonably fond of the original trilogy; fond enough that I didn't bother showing up for The Bourne Nextancicy or whatever it was called, the one that tried to put new hotness Jeremy Remer (i.e. Marvel's Hawkeye) into the series as a new character. While I haven't ever watched it, I did appreciate what I heard about the plot differences amounting to Flowers for Algernon. I just didn't care to watch it because the original trilogy finished up things sufficiently well.

Apparently that film tanked, or maybe they couldn't continue because Renner's new character died at the end (?? I don't know, I'm just making a guess based on the Algernon parallel and the existence of this movie). So here we are with a franchise continuation that, as far as the trailer goes, exists for one and only one reason: to milk fans for money.

The title just skips the usual format (the Bourne Returnicy or whatever) for Jason Bourne, and I'll add here that I hate when films use the main character's name as their title. The only time it makes sense is when the audience for the character is so built in that the name factor alone sells -- which is admittedly the case here, but then it only makes sense as the start of a new series -- not as the fourth (or fifth?) movie in a franchise. Regardless of their merits as movies, it's silly (or just pandering desperately) to name Rambo 5 "John Rambo" or Rocky... 6?... "Rocky Balboa". It might make sense as a reboot with a new actor playing the character starting over from scratch -- but those weren't the case, and neither is this.

And it's pointless. Any visuals instantly show that the same original and now clearly older actor (Matt Damon) is back. Fans can see it's Jason Bourne this time; and non fans won't care. But the film's trailer is being sold directly to fans: look, it's the original guy back, do you literally remember these things from the first 3 movies? Well, great, because this film is going to give you more of the same! Nevermind that the original ended with Bourne recovering his real identity, and shutting down the system that created him so hard that there's no reason for him to ever get involved again! You apparently didn't want to see a new story with all the old tropes and a new character, so here's just all the old tropes again, wooo!

Also, remember how cool it was in the first few moments of this trailer when he punched that guy out in one punch? Man that was awesome! We'll show it to you again ohpleasecomewatchourfilmandgiveusmoneeyyyy....

Seriously. I don't recall any trailer ever in the history of my entire life, that actually repeated footage of a cool shot! This film is trading on repeating nostalgia so hard, it sells itself by repeating instant nostalgia for something new it showed less than 3 minutes ago!

I like the franchise. I'm kind of glad the writer/director for most of it is coming back (despite his shakycam proclivities), along with the surviving cast members of the original franchise.

But this film has me worried enough I'm probably going to wait for rental unless I hear really good reviews from people I trust as to quality.  :(

(Also, I liked the musical score of the original trilogy, so I'm extra worried that in a trailer so heavily based on nostalgia, they aren't using the iconic music.)

[bayonetbrant]

After the original books, when Jason recovered who he was, they still went back to the well for a 4th and a 5th and 6th...  all the way through a 10th (and counting).


The movies share a name with the books, and they're about secret assassins, and they take place on Earth, and that's pretty much where the similarities end.