Arriving just in time to inspire competitors in this weekend’s London Marathon, Matt Damon is back on the run in a new Jason Bourne trailer. Not in a rhino costume, alas, and not for charity either – unless you count protecting truth, justice and the American way as a charity. Which we kinda do. Check out the new footage below.
After much negotiation and one failed attempt to kickstart the franchise with a new character, the fourth bona fide Bourne outing reunites Damon with his old mucker Paul Greengrass. Unusually, the director wrote the screenplay with his long-time editor Christopher Rouse. A killer idea hatched over a cuppa in the Captain Phillips editing suite? Maybe so.
That storyline will find Bourne in austerity-plagued and riot-torn Greece, keeping in trim by punching strangers in illegal bare-knuckle scraps. Soon he’s back in familiar territory, drawn back into the murkiest fringes of world geopolitics and living on his wits. Vincent Cassel is his chief antagonist and themes of personal data and surveillance will be at play. As usual, expect Bourne to be dealing with plenty of frenemies closer to home too.
“Jason Bourne isn’t a super hero; he doesn’t wear a cape or a mask. He’s not one of those kinds of guys," says the director about his latest batch of Bourne. "He is just an ordinary man. I think when people watch Jason Bourne they can imagine how they might react in those situations and those circumstances, and when you see him thinking his way through and coming up with a plan and executing his plan, that’s incredibly exciting.
"It has taken us a long time to come back because we didn’t have the right story before. The world needed to change and then there comes that moment when it makes sense. You know when it feels right and that’s when you do it, not before." So now you know why the wait...
Also returning for this one is Nicky Parsons herself, Julia Stiles, once again bringing her fraught fieldcraft to bear in Bourne’s corner. Newcomers include Tommy Lee Jones, Alicia Vikander, Ato Essandoh, Scott Shepherd and Riz Ahmed.
Find out everything there is to know about Jason Bourne with our big Treadstone-busting primer right here. The movie hits UK cinemas on July 27. Possibly with a rolled-up magazine.