By Bernie ‘The Movie Guy’ Ment

Contributing Writer

Jason Bourne is back! And so is Matt Damon!

That’s two pieces of great news for this ongoing franchise of movies based on the writings of author Robert Ludlum. Bourne is one of Hollywood’s greatest secret agents since the other JB — of course I’m referring to James Bond.

Damon left the series and was briefly replaced by another action movie up-and-comer, Jeremy Renner, but the last installment fell a little flat and it was only a matter of time before the studios demanded a return of Damon, who has made this franchise uniquely his own.

The underlying story of the latest installment, “Jason Bourne,” involves the head of a social media company who is in negotiations with the director of the CIA to allow the spy organization access to the private communications of its members for use to help protect citizens from multinational threats. This is yet another big screen story with a similar back story and nothing original in that plot will make moviegoers any wiser about the situation, nor better informed. But the story makes for a taut political thriller, the denouement of which bears eerie similarities to the ending of “Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country.”

This is a by-the-numbers Bourne adventure, complete with assassination sub-plots, an evil killer on the loose trying to kill Bourne and the ever-revolving door of higher-ups attempting to capture Bourne and bring him in against the odds.

The latest honcho is none other than Oscar award-winning actor Tommy Lee Jones, who plays the head of the CIA, a man with nefarious credentials and a penchant for smarminess that makes you realize from the get-go that this guy is not on the up-and-up.

With the aid of Alicia Vikander (“Ex Machina”), he’s determined to move his own agenda forward regardless of the impact on the privacy of the citizenry and, if possible, also engage the capture of Jason Bourne, thus ending a perennial thorn that has plagued the agency since the spy awoke on a trawler with no memory more than 10 years ago.

Hollywood likes to one-up itself when at all possible with newer and faster car chase scenes, and this movie is no exception to the bigger and better rule that pervades the Hollywood stunt corps. They pull it off yet again with a thrilling chase involving a SWAT Hummer and a Charger that will really keeps fans on the edge of their seats.

The movie also has a scene or two that are played purely for shock value, a device that’s used throughout the Bourne stories to create visible tension and give the audience a continuing view into the psyche of Bourne, who’s just trying to stay one step ahead of the people who would love to see him dead.

Julia Stiles also returns for this chapter as Nikki Parsons, the computer professional who pops up periodically throughout the franchise to impart important information on Bourne who is always looking for friends on the inside to help keep him ahead of the bad guys.

Vincent Cassel is the latest in a series of hit men after Bourne in this installment and his character is chillingly no nonsense which makes his especially dangerous to Bourne.

Although the ending of the movie is well crafted, there is an element of dissatisfaction to it that begs to be resolved in the next chapter. And make no mistake — as long as the box office cash registers continue to ring with the purchase of tickets, I suspect that we’ll see even more chapters involving Bourne again on the silver screen.

At the end of the day, this is another taut installment of the franchise and deserves to be seen and enjoyed. I give “Jason Bourne” 3-1/2 out of 5 stars.