Good, a bit overrated (spoilers)

Rating: Null/10 (24 July 2004)

Jason Bourne, now in hiding in India, is framed for the murder of two CIA operatives in Berlin.
Good, not great sequel boasts nice location shooting, a very tight script (with only one implausibility, a murder that's done for unclear motives), some decent acting and some good action sequences.
The action sequences overrely on quick cuts: director Greengrass is rather more successful than most with this technique, so much so that I have to conclude this is a matter of style with him, not a way to camoflauge the movie's limitations. That said, I would have liked to have seen the action sequences shot more directly and unobtrusively.
The final chase is good but overhyped. I still think the best recent car chase sequence in movies is in RONIN.
Damon is better in the emotive scenes than he is in the more "macho" sequences. He is aging well as an actor, though, losing that kind of "pretty boy" aura that was limiting him before. Joan Allen plays an impressively flinty Deputy Director, Brian Cox chews the scenery as usual as one of the bad guys.
The best thing about the movie is that it makes sense, it more or less hangs together. The plot takes a bit of concentration but is plausible. Damon is a realistic hero: he takes damage, he gets upset and distracted. His goals are nicely modest and he accomplishes them by the end of the story. The final fight is plausibly set up (as much as these things ever are, anyway) and is thankfully not with the main bad guy, but rather his henchman. His finale in Russia with a girl was very touching and very well done.
As I said, I liked it. I consider it an above-average genre picture. I think it's easy to overrate it, though: it's not much MORE than an above-average genre picture. It's just that Hollywood seems to have lost the knack of making these kind of things.