The Hitchcockian “wrong man” hero never goes out of style, and it came back in a big way in 2002 with the release of The Bourne Identity. Starring Matt Damon as a seemingly amnesiac spy, found at sea with bullets in his back and a set of superior combat skills, the pulse-pounding action film was a huge success.
Inevitably, it’s sparked a series of sequels, a reboot with Jeremy Renner as a new operative with a target on his back, and a return to Damon’s assassin-in-hiding in 2016. Australian audiences can watch every film in the Bourne franchise on Binge, Foxtel Now, and Stan.
Damon first got hunted down while trying to uncover his own past in The Bourne Identity. Just two years later The Bourne Supremacy won audiences over too, continuing director Paul Greengrass’ trademark shaky-cam style: it’s available on all the same platforms as the first film.
Trilogy closer The Bourne Ultimatum pleased action fans, too, witnessing Damon’s (then-) final rush to evade a new generation of government operatives across Moscow, Paris, Madrid, London, Tangier and New York City (racked up some frequent flyer miles, we hope).
Five years later, Avenger Jeremy Renner took over as hero Aaron Cross in The Bourne Legacy, a film which I must admit I fell asleep during in cinemas. With a 55% Rotten Tomatoes score, the soft reboot/sequel wasn’t as beloved as its predecessors, but is still there amongst the bunch on Stan, Binge, and Foxtel Now.
Then just four years later, Damon wanted another piece of the spy pie, starring in the simply-titled Jason Bourne opposite Alicia Vikander. Somewhat forgotten, your binge of the entire Bourne series isn’t complete without seeing what an older Damon is up to, getting drawn back into shadowy undercover ops. As a wise man once said, “Jesus Christ, that’s Jason Bourne.”
