On Super Bowl Sunday we finally got our first good look at the return of Matt Damon as Jason Bourne. Shedding the previous trend of titles, the fifth entry in the series is going by "Jason Bourne" and promises to be action packed. But remember, we haven't seen everyone's favorite amnesiac hitman since 2007's "The Bourne Ultimatum." That's a long time to be out of commission. What has been up to all these years and what kind of condition will he be in when we see him again?
The character finally got his full memory back by the end of "The Bourne Ultimatum" but Damon explained to Entertainment Weekly that there are still a lot of loose ends he hasn't figured out. That's where we find the character at the start of "Jason Bourne."
"This is the completion of this journey that started in The Bourne Identity," Damon said. "It's part of the first three [movies], it's not a whole new chapter. It feels like the conclusion, even though we're not saying it's the conclusion, it feels like the conclusion of my identity journey. It goes deeper than Ultimatum, basically."
That sentiment is echoed by Julia Stiles' dialogue in the trailer: "Remembering everything doesn't mean you know everything."
This angle appears to be the central point of "Jason Bourne": though his memory is complete his sense of self is not. That's an interesting way to approach this new movie and it may provide audiences with new ground to cover in the series. That's good news as "The Bourne Legacy" with Jeremy Renner failed to capture the same allure that piqued our interest the first time around.
Though Damon has not signed on for any further "Bourne" films beyond this one, we're betting he'd be ready to go if the studio cooked up a good script. Renner has long been lobbying for a team-up movie as well and that would be fun to see on screen.
"Jason Bourne" will hit theaters on July 29.
