I guess one of my possible subconscious reasons for failing to see all the films in between the Bourne Identity and this most recent film may be that I was concerned they would simply be slight variations of each other and become a bit too repetitive for my liking. Truth be told I wanted to see them all in order before seeing this film, but time is a problem.

However, I do feel that the 'one man against the state' storyline is a little over-told and whilst this film attempts to differentiate itself by the fact that of course now we are to discover that more than one man are in the position of Jason Bourne, it is still pretty much the same story. Somehow I struggled to appreciate what was quite a fine execution of this story just because I felt like I knew exactly what was coming and how it would go. Yes, there were a couple of scenes that could get you on the edge of your seat, but as interesting and well considered the story was, it simply did not seem original. I think even if the whole story were new, I felt that every element had come from somewhere else. I love these types of films, but maybe they have become predictable.

Acting/Characters

I was actually more impressed with Rachel Weisz, although I have to bashfully admit that I did not recognise her as Rachel Weisz until I saw her name credited afterwards. I suppose this is just credit to how convincing her character was, as I personally find it hard to completely get into a story when I recognise a famous actor/actress as someone I know from some other film. Anyway to be honest I think her character seemed to develop really well and you can relate to her a lot better than the main character because she plays a more human role (rather than some super action figure).

As the hero of the story, Aaron Cross, Jeremy Renner played a fairly convincing role, but he didn't particularly wow me as much as I had expected. Again this might be because he is as the story might suggest, a little too used to these things and therefore his responses are less 'human'. Perhaps also he was a little restricted in how well he could develop, but although you could certainly care about what happened to him, it was just very hard to relate to him.
There were also some impressive scenes with other characters that really keep you guessing and can also leave you feeling a bit disturbed.

Film qualities

I have got to be honest, the view I had of this film was pretty poor. Having arrived late we were sat in the front, for me always a little too close to the screen and the angle was awkward too. Nonetheless there were some impressive scenes and the graphics generally were decent enough (in spite of everybody looking a bit wonky). There is a fair amount of variety in terms of scenes and some very good 'car chases' with not necessarily just cars.

Sound wise, I didn't find this film as powerful as other recent action films, apart from one scene of a shooting, where the sound was less shocking and more disturbing. At that point it probably felt more real than most films but with less of an impact. Any music just blended into the background for me and was not really memorable, although I did having a feeling that there was often a mood created by the music.

Classification

This film is only a 12A, but to be honest I'm not too sure I agree with this rating. There are some very disturbing and upsetting scenes in this film, that involve violence, including (although not properly shown) a wolf being killed and of course the shooting I mentioned which is a massacre that is slowly played out and very disturbing. Personally I'm not sure all parents would feel comfortable letting their younger children watch this, even if accompanied.

Conclusion

This film really didn't make a big impression on me. With all the shootings that have been going on recently, that scene seemed to be the thing I'd remember most and it made for very uncomfortable viewing. I realise that when making this film what would be happening in the world at the time of its release could not be predicted, but even without that, it's probably not a good thing to remember it for that.

I am in no hurry to see this film again so will not be buying the DVD or renting it. I can't say I'd refuse to watch it on the television, but there are so many other films that I'd prefer, I just probably won't bother.