4 out of 5

Director: Paul Greengrass

…And it gets a nice little shot in the arm from director Paul Greengrass. The initial Bourne was a pretty standard thriller that successfully married several tropes together and had solid casting to boost it above the norm. But momentum helped to keep some flat-footed aspects of the plot moving. The second film does right by making the main change of gritting it up. We get rid of the romantic angle, we get rid of some of the smiles, and Bourne is suddenly a man with nothing to lose, trying to find out why the agency he thought was done with him seems to be tracking him once again. Greengrass is the king of f’d up shaky cam, but the man did pioneer its effective use as well, properly employing it during chase and action sequences to remove the smoothness Doug Liman gave the first flick and really make you feel part of the intensity. As Ebert notes, there is a lack of regard for collateral damage that seems especially questionable during gunfights / chases in public, but this sort of goes along with feeling like this film upped the “serious” stakes. Sticking with d.p. Oliver Wood works wonders for the series consistency and has a winning, grainy look to it. Music by John Powell also changed for the better, as he downplays the techno beats for more thematic, earthy stuff.