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In this image released by Universal Pictures, Vincent Cassel appears in a scene from "Jason Bourne." (Jasin Boland/Universal Pictures via AP) (Associated Press) 
  
 In this image released by Universal Pictures, Vincent Cassel appears in a scene from "Jason Bourne." (Jasin Boland/Universal Pictures via AP) (Associated Press) 
  
 Jason Bourne, as played by Matt Damon across four movies, is forever disappearing off the grid only to reluctantly resurface years later and again menace the CIA. He's the spy who came in from the cold only to return to the cold, come in again, and, yet again, head back to the cold. 
  
 In the chilly and bleak "Jason Bourne," the amnesia-ed assassin has been resurrected again, along with director Paul Greengrass, with whom Damon returns to the franchise after a nine year break. Bourne is still brooding. Greengrass' hand-held camera is still frenetic. And the saga's lethal precision is still sharp. 
  
 The spy game, already far from a martini-sipping affair in previous installments, is resolutely grim in "Jason Bourne." The superspy, now a hulking mass of bullet-scarred muscle, is spending his days torturing himself in bare-knuckle brawls, haunted by his past. In shattering set-pieces and terse emotion-less dialogue, any remaining sunlight has been drained away. The amount of people brazenly killed by Vincent Casell, the "asset" in Bourne's pursuit, may well outnumber the words spoken by Bourne in the entire film. 
  
 Though first conceived in 1980 by Robert Ludlum, Bourne is perhaps the ultimate post-9/11 hero. Especially in the hands of Greengrass (who also employed his gritty realism in the Sept. 11 drama "Flight 93"), Bourne is a wrecking ball of accountability for America's clandestine past. He's part fantasy (his preternatural control of out-of-control events is reassuring) and part reality (American disillusionment made visceral). 
  
 In "Jason Bourne," the digital dragnet is tightening around Bourne. The film is self-consciously set in a post-Snowden world; the CIA is hacked by Nicky Parsons (Julia Stiles, whose smarts have given all of these films a kick), who's threatening to reveal the covert Treadstone operation. 
  
 The film, penned by Greengrass and Christopher Rouse (editor of previous "Bourne" films, and also this one), introduces a tech magnate (Riz Ahmed) whose celebrated social networking platform is secretly feeding information to CIA director Robert Dewey (Tommy Lee Jones, whose wonderful sad face at this point has everything good and bad about America written all over it). 
  
 In a way, Bourne is himself a leak. He's a rogue weapon who can't remember his own encryption code. Here, the mystery he's trying to solve revolves around his father's role in his initial recruitment. 
  
 But aside from updating to today's surveillance state, "Jason Bourne" largely sticks to the franchise's familiar moves, and they often don't have the same kinetic finesse they used to. Here again are scenes of digging through old CIA documents, breathless stretches of crowded escapes and public rendezvous where Bourne fools lurking agents. 
  
 The film is essentially sandwiched between two mammoth, extended set pieces: First, a fiery riot in Athens where Bourne comes out of hiding to meet Parsons; and later, a showdown in Las Vegas that brings him back to U.S. soil. Both outstay their welcome (a vehicle plowing through traffic in Vegas has unfortunate shades of the tragedy in Nice) and the franchise's propulsion gives way to a pummeling blunt force. 
  
 The exception is Alicia Vikander, who enters the franchise as the CIA's cyber ops head and has her own motives of tossing aside the agency's old guard. Whenever she's on screen, her steely but agile presence brightens the film's dour gaze. 
  
 Yet even when "Jason Bourne" doesn't click with the same rhythm as its predecessors, it has a weight that outclasses nearly every other big action movie around. National identity is investigated and violence has repercussions: both astonishing things in a summer blockbuster. 
  
 But if Bourne re-emerges again, hopefully Greengrass and company can at least give him someone to talk to. 
  
 "Jason Bourne," a Universal Pictures release, is rated PG-13 by the Motion Picture Association of America for "intense sequences of violence and action and brief strong language." Running time: 123 minutes. Two and a half stars out of four. 
  
 ___ 
  
 Follow AP Film Writer Jake Coyle on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/jakecoyleAP ||||| ‘Jason Bourne’ is a shaky, smeary mess 
  
 Matt Damon returns in the title role in “Jason Bourne.” Matt Damon returns in the title role in “Jason Bourne.” Photo: Universal Pictures Photo: Universal Pictures Image 1 of / 4 Caption Close ‘Jason Bourne’ is a shaky, smeary mess 1 / 4 Back to Gallery 
  
 So Jason Bourne and a hired assassin are battling it out in hand-to-hand combat. They’re punching and kicking and trying to strangle each other, in what should be one of the big moments of the movie. But for half the scene, the viewer has no idea which of the two guys is Bourne and which is the assassin, because the camera is close and shaky and the cutting is so fast that it’s impossible to tell the difference between Matt Damon and Vincent Cassel. 
  
 And they don’t look alike. 
  
 “Jason Bourne” could not have been a strong entry in the Bourne series under any conditions. The character motivations are weak, and the story is poorly structured. But its camera work, possibly intended to distract audiences from the movie’s flaws, only compounds its problems. It distances the audience and makes “Jason Bourne” a chore to sit through. 
  
 To be clear, “Jason Bourne” is not like this by mistake. Director Paul Greengrass has been heading in this direction — that of a smeary, photographic impressionism — for a while now, and he has had some successes along the way. His 9/11 film, “United 93,” benefited from his probing, feverish camera, but this time he takes scenes into visual incoherence. 
  
 Even worse, the camera work in “Jason Bourne” bespeaks a misperception of the action, an imposition of technique that ignores what’s going on between the characters in favor of some jittery cinematographic freak-out. 
  
 That this really can be pinned to the director, not the cinematographer, is evidenced by the fact that “Jason Bourne” looks just like any other Greengrass film, only more so. It bears little resemblance to other films by cinematographer Barry Ackroyd, whose impressive resume includes “Captain Phillips,” “The Big Short” and “The Hurt Locker.” 
  
 At one point, Bourne (Damon) looks down at an image on his smartphone. The camera zooms in from the side and shakes around in the general vicinity, barely picking up an image. The moment has nothing to do with Bourne’s perspective (he’s not shaking), and nothing to do with ours (we’re not nervous). It’s pure style, and it’s silly. 
  
 In this latest installment, Bourne is still very upset about what happened to him, that he lost his personal identity and was turned into a killing machine by the CIA. In the movie’s first moments, a friend of Bourne (Julia Stiles) hacks the government system and downloads all the Black Ops files. She wants to help Bourne find out the whole truth about what happened to him. But the government is worried about another Edward Snowden situation and sets out to kill Bourne and his friend. 
  
 The government in this case is embodied by Tommy Lee Jones as the ruthless CIA director and Alicia Vikander as Heather, who is in charge of the CIA computer systems. Much of the first hour of “Jason Bourne” is spent with Jones and Vikander standing in a room full of computers and monitors, communicating with agents or assassins who are trying to kill Bourne, who is, as always, on the other side of the world. 
  
 There’s not much suspense, because if they kill him the movie is over, and there isn’t much emotional investment in any case. There are no relationships here, no humanizing interludes, just commotion and fake commotion. 
  
 It’s the opposite of exciting. It’s the visual equivalent of white noise, and if you’re not careful, you might fall asleep. 
  
 The movie tries to find some emotional connection between Bourne and Heather, but the two characters barely interact, and Heather’s motives are mixed. Really, there’s nothing going on here but false propulsion. At one point, the movie is essentially over — all the issues of the story have been resolved — but Greengrass, who co-wrote the script, tags on a completely unnecessary car chase that goes on and on and on. It’s a dumb finish for a series that was once better than this. 
  
 Mick LaSalle is The San Francisco Chronicle’s movie critic. Email: mlasalle@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @MickLaSalle 
  
 Jason Bourne 
  
 Action drama. Starring Matt Damon. Directed by Paul Greengrass. (PG-13. 123 minutes.) 
  
 To see a trailer: www.youtube.com/watch?v=F4gJsKZvqE4 ||||| Fourteen years after the release of The Bourne Identity, the Bourne movies have deviated so drastically from Robert Ludlum’s source novels that, like James Bond, the film character exists separately from his written inspiration. Over the course of three ’00s movies (The Bourne Identity, The Bourne Supremacy, The Bourne Ultimatum), Matt Damon became Jason Bourne. In 2007, when he decided it was time to go, the filmmakers were left with a Sean Connery-sized dilemma and, as was the case with Connery, the eventual solution involved luring back the original actor. Damon’s return to the title role, the fifth film in the franchise, represents a coup for Universal Pictures. After Jeremy Renner failed to capture the public’s interest in The Bourne Legacy, the series’ future looked uncertain until Damon and co-writer/director Paul Greengrass agreed to terms. Despite regurgitating elements from the founding trilogy, Jason Bourne represents the best the series has yet offered. 
  
 Jason Bourne doesn’t deviate substantially from the established Bourne movie format. It’s Bourne (Matt Damon) against the CIA in a “get them before they get you” struggle. For this outing, the only one to return from the original Bourne trilogy (other than Jason) is Julia Stiles’ Nicky Parsons, an ex-agent who now works for a Wikileaks-type organization. The CIA is populated by newcomers - director Robert Dewey (Tommy Lee Jones), cyber expert Heather Lee (Alicia Vikander), and a nameless shadowy assassin referred to only as “The Asset” (Vincent Cassel). The movie crisscrosses the globe, stopping in locations like Reykjavik, Athens, Berlin, London, and Vegas. 
  
 Jason Bourne is characterized by a relentless intensity that exceeds that of even The Bourne Ultimatum (the best of the first four films). Greengrass’ camerawork is part of the reason. His penchant for hand-held shots is highly effective in some of the movie’s chaotic scenes (such as a riot in Athens) but it has been tempered for the more static sequences. Damon’s interpretation of Bourne (as a killing machine whose pain is deeply buried but occasionally visible) works well within the context of the story and, like Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Terminator, he has very little dialogue. Damon does most of his acting with his eyes and jaw. The throbbing but not overpowering musical score (credited to John Powell and David Buckley) enhances the tension. When it comes to keeping audiences uncertain and white-knuckled, the movie rarely lets up. Prepare to be exhausted at the end of the two hour running time. 
  
 With Joan Allen, Brian Cox, and Albert Finney long gone, it’s time for some new blood at the CIA. Tommy Lee Jones gives a strong, Fugitive-esque representation of the company man/patriot whose Nixonian approach to National Security makes him less-than-likable. Alicia Vikander plays her inexperienced but intelligent role with minimal emotion; her performance is closer to Ex Machina than her Oscar-winning turn in The Danish Girl. Vincent Cassel is on board to provide the kind of psychotic character he has become known for. Although the screenplay gives “The Asset” an ambiguous backstory, few viewers will find even a scintilla of goodwill for the man. 
  
 Although Jason Bourne is part of an ongoing franchise and works best for those who have seen at least the first three chapters (the movie has little or no connection to The Bourne Legacy), it’s like most other multi-sequel action series (James Bond, Mission: Impossible) in that it can stand on its own. Bourne is the protagonist but not necessarily a hero. The CIA agents vary from being outright bad guys to people somewhere in the middle. Jason Bourne continues the theme of identity that was so important in the original trilogy but here it’s interleaved with the basic instincts of survival and revenge. If the latter is a dish best served cold, then Bourne is the perfect waiter. 
  
 The film’s ending allows for future installments of the “prime” storyline should Damon and Greengrass decide to return (at least insofar as the Bourne movies are concerned, they’re a package deal). The open-endedness, however, doesn’t leave the viewer unsatisfied. The key plot elements are all wrapped up and the loose ends are merely hooks that can be used to reel in another sequel. Jason Bourne is more than a just worthy addition to a popular franchise - it’s the cherry on the top. It proves that when a creative team puts forth the time and effort, financially motivated motion pictures can still be gratifying. Jason Bourne is two hours of exhilarating, unrelenting cinema. 
  
 Jason Bourne (United States, 2016) |||||


assistant: – Jason Bourne returns from what was believed to be a watery grave to surprise the CIA in the fifth Bourne installment and fourth starring Matt Damon. In this flick, Bourne is bent on discovering the story behind his initial recruitment. Critics are mostly split. Here's what they're saying: "Jason Bourne is more than a just worthy addition to a popular franchise—it's the cherry on the top" and "the best the series has yet offered," writes James Berardinelli at ReelViews. It has the same format as its predecessors but "a relentless intensity" that's unmatched. In fact, "when it comes to keeping audiences uncertain and white-knuckled, the movie rarely lets up. Prepare to be exhausted" when the credits roll. "Jason Bourne largely sticks to the franchise's familiar moves, and they often don't have the same kinetic finesse they used to," writes Jake Coyle at the AP. Yet it still "has a weight that outclasses nearly every other big action movie around." It's too bad Damon speaks only a handful of times, but the "steely but agile presence" of Alicia Vikander as the CIA's cyber ops head "brightens the film's dour gaze." Mick LaSalle, however, says the flick was "a chore to sit through." The shaky camerawork is "silly," "the character motivations are weak, and the story is poorly structured," he writes at the San Francisco Chronicle. Plus there's little suspense and no relationships to care about. "It's the opposite of exciting. It's the visual equivalent of white noise, and if you're not careful, you might fall asleep." It's "handsomely filmed" and "well-acted," writes Moira Macdonald at the Seattle Times. But the film misses an opportunity to return Bourne to the life he once lived. "It's a jittery flash-connect of motorcycle chases, car crashes … and screenshots of files downloading while ominous music plays," she says. It "gets lost in its focus on flash and speed, and forgets about the man—and the fine, quiet actor—at its center."