Jason Bourne and the complete disregard for human life

(Warning, this post contains spoilers!)
 

 

The newest instalment in the Bourne film franchise, Jason Bourne, ends with a climactic chase scene between Jason Bourne (Matt Damon) and the Asset (Vincent Cassel) through the streets of Las Vegas. The Asset, the secondary antagonist of the film, drives a SWAT vehicle through the neon haze of the main drag of Vegas, effectively ploughing through any cars unlucky enough to be in his way.

The final chase scene is a heady mix of close ups of the two men looking determined and haggard, and shaky cam on the cars surrounded by streaks of light that are all that can be captured of the flashy casinos that Vegas is known for. This way of filming action sequences has become a staple of the Bourne series, and it adds to the realism and the tension of the chase. Like the two men, the camera only becomes stable when the cars finally crash to a stop. 

At this point in the film, with his boss dead and an unstoppable killing machine chasing him, the Asset has only one thing on his mind: survival, at any cost. The way that he barrels through the streets with his oversized car fully exposes the Asset’s blatant disregard for civilian life and his need to get his job done no matter what. 

This behaviour is what we have come to expect from this CIA agent, having earlier seen him shoot protestors on a rooftop simply for being in the way, and for killing members of his own team in order to get to Bourne. The Asset is a character driven by gaining revenge on Bourne, with his dark past only hinted at throughout the film. 

But while the audience has come to expect this uncaring attitude from the Asset, it comes as a shock when Bourne readily adapts the Asset’s behaviour to himself, since up to this point in the film he has opted for being as inconspicuous as possible. The change in Bourne corresponds to his character arc for the film. Up until this point, Bourne has tried to remain invisible to the world around him, by blending in with crowds, wearing muted shades of grey and black, appearing for all intents and purposes as a normal man. He only changes when he realises that the Asset was responsible for killing his father. 

 

I take the time to explain all this because I do understand how this chase fits into the rest of the film. It creates a switch between the characters, the hunter becomes the hunted, and it shows how desperate Bourne can be to finally have his revenge. 

But it still makes this scene uncomfortable to think about in retrospect. Two people, one of whom is meant to be working for an agency that was designed to protect people and the other who the audience has been rooting for, are so caught up in their own conflict that they don’t notice all of the casualties around them. As police car after police car piles up around them, they continue their fight, only stopping when they crash into a casino. 

Seeing Bourne so bloodthirsty comes as quite a shock for the audience, and I ended up questioning whether he was actually the good guy in all this, a question that has always been bubbling under the surface of the Bourne series. The Vegas chase creates a jarring disconnect between the audience and the character, and it is the moment when we realise how dangerous Bourne really is.

What is really disturbing about this scene is that neither characters shows any sign of caring about the destruction they cause. Even after he crashes into the middle of a casino, the Asset only cares about getting away from Bourne, about his own survival. 

Action films have been thought of as mindless popcorn movies for a while, but the Bourne series changed that by creating a more realistic vision of the action movie world through the use of handheld camera work and quick-fire editing. And it is this realism that really hurts the films in scenes like this when the audience sees civilians caught in the middle of the action. Even the more ridiculous stunts, like when Bourne ends up on top of the Asset’s SWAT vehicle, seem plausible through the realistic film techniques.

For some people, the realism that the films strive for creates a better viewing experience. But for me, it just made me even more aware that there were innocent people getting hurt. It made me leave the cinema exhausted and incredibly ambivalent towards Jason Bourne, the film and the character. 

References:

·         Jason Bourne 2016, film, Universal Pictures, US, directed by Paul Greengrass.