Jason Bourne is the latest film in the series of movies based on the books of Robert Ludlum. There were three books in Ludlum’s series, and as this is the fourth film involving the character directly, and the plot is similar to the previous films. I will, in passing, mention The Bourne Legacy, but that film is best forgotten.

The movie starts with Nicky Parsons (Julia Stiles), who has left the CIA. She hacks into their computer systems to extract data on Project Treadstone, which is the special ops training program that produced Jason Bourne (Matt Damon). She also pulls down some other projects’ data, convinced there is a correlation. She tracks down Bourne, but only after garnering the attention of the organization she left.

Bourne has been laying low, and is having flashes of things from before he became an agent. They’re vague, but he doesn’t want to pursue them. Nicky reveals some information that triggers another flashback, and of course, the CIA is hot on their heels. CIA Director Robert Dewey (Tommy Lee Jones) wants Bourne dead, and Agent Heather Lee (Alicia Vikander) leads the group trying to do that.

This movie follows the same basic developments and situations as the previous Bourne films, but that doesn’t matter too much. The names are changed, but the drama is similar. What sets it apart from the previous films are the action sequences. Yes, there is HEAVY use of shakey-cam, even when the action is not there. This has been a trait of the previous Bourne movies, but they amp it up for this one.  There are sequences where the camera motion is slowed to a crawl, but I can’t think of a moment where the shot is utterly still.

I’ve said that I detest shakey-cam, and I’m not making an exception here. It’s often used to mask bad fight scenes or awful car chases, but somehow, it works better than before. There are the briefest moments of clarity that help with your focus, and that’s an improvement, but it’s still annoying. The action is good enough that you might forgive it, a little.

There are some good twists and turns in the plot to keep you guessing, and they leave out some blatant exposition in favor of letting the action tell the story. If you let the story unfold, instead of demanding an explanation, you will enjoy it a lot more. Pretty much standard fare for a Summer movie. Runtime is 123 minutes, so it’s longer than you’d expect.

I do recommend this film. Please note there is a lot of violence in the film, and the action sequences were good enough to not require the shakey-cam action, but they are a trademark of this series, so you have to accept it.