JASON BOURNE
A nearly perfect, morally thoughtful spy thriller for discerning teens and adults.
Should You Watch It?
You get a fast-paced, exciting spy thriller with a thoughtful moral center. Jason Bourne is trying to uncover the truth about the program that made him a killer, while confronting corruption and deciding what it means to do the right thing. The film also gives real attention to the tension between civil liberties and government security.
The cost is substantial action violence. Chases, fights, shootouts, and assassinations make this an intense experience, and the film includes a few strong profanities along with lighter foul language. Those concerns call for parental discernment, especially with younger viewers.
If your teenagers can handle intense PG-13 action and your family is ready to discuss the film’s moral questions, WORTH THE TRIP — AGES 13 AND UP.
The Story
NO SPOILERS — WE KEEP THE SURPRISESDavid Webb, also known as Jason Bourne, lives off the grid and survives by taking part in underground fistfights. His former friend Nicky Parsons steals classified files about the CIA program that turned him into an assassin and discovers a connection to Jason’s father.
When Nicky tries to pass the files to Jason, another assassin targets them. Jason must uncover the truth while staying ahead of a dangerous CIA operation that sends him across the globe.
Is It Any Good?
Four stars means this is a top-quality thriller. It is fast-paced, exciting, and nearly perfectly executed, with only one sequence seeming a little repetitive.
Matt Damon continues to excel in the action sequences. The film includes a harrowing motorcycle chase, an even more epic car chase, fistfights, and gun battles. Paul Greengrass fashions a movie that is both pulse-pounding and thoughtful, while Tommy Lee Jones and Alicia Vikander make strong impressions in their roles.
The Worldview
The film offers a light moral worldview centered on finding out the truth, stopping corruption, and doing what is right. It presents Jason Bourne as conflicted but patriotic—a man who wants the best for America. The CIA director, by contrast, is clearly portrayed as corrupt.
The movie thoughtfully presents arguments for and against government assassin and surveillance programs. It raises concerns about how surveillance technology can make it nearly impossible to escape capture or death when the government targets someone. It also implies that the ends do not justify the means. Bourne’s decision to stop the public release of secret files reflects a desire to prevent further harm, even as he confronts past wrongdoing.
The film’s moral perspective is not fully biblical, but its emphasis on truth, justice, and doing the right thing gives viewers worthwhile issues to consider. Jesus said, “you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free” (John 8:32).
The Content Guide
The specifics — spoilers included by nature — so you can judge for your own family.
Content Summary
Light moral worldview about finding out the truth and punishing those responsible for murdering a government official and lying about it, along with an implied criticism of the belief that the ends sometimes justifies the means, with some discussion about protecting America from enemies along with a nuanced debate about balancing civil liberties with the need for security, mitigated by some Romantic, liberal, politically correct, cliché points where the CIA director turns out to be the villain; 10 obscenities (three “s” words, one SOB, the rest “h” words) and four strong profanities (two GDs and two involving Jesus or Christ); strong, intense violence includes chase scene through riots and crowds involving man on motorcycle and then man and woman on motorcycle, a long chase scene involving villain in a SWAT van and hero in a sports car, van crashes through casino, van crashes through cars traveling down a one-way street in Las Vegas, fighting, woman shot dead, sniper assassin tries to kill other people, assassin shoots four members of a spy team point blank to get closer to hero and kill him, two men fall off a lower roof of a tall building, a couple other people are shot during other scenes, hero is wounded, intense hand-to-hand combat scene between one villain and hero, and two boxing scenes set in the underground world of professional street fighting; no sexual content; no nudity; no alcohol; no smoking; and, government corruption but rebuked, one villain wants revenge, but revenge seems to be rebuked (even by the conflicted hero), and a hactivist wants to expose all of the CIA’s black ops program but hero stops him.
Talk About It
Questions for the drive home, the dinner table, or the youth group.
Jason wants the truth about his past, even when it is painful. Why does truth matter, and how should we respond when truth exposes wrongdoing?
John 8:31–32 · Ephesians 4:25The film raises questions about balancing security with civil liberties. What responsibilities do governments have toward both safety and human dignity?
Romans 13:1–4 · Micah 6:8Bourne is conflicted about violence and revenge. How are justice, revenge, and forgiveness different?
Romans 12:17–21 · Ephesians 4:31–32Bourne wants to do what is right despite his past. What does Scripture say about becoming a new person?
2 Corinthians 5:17 · Philippians 3:13–14The Final Word
This is a gripping, nearly perfectly executed thriller with meaningful questions about truth, corruption, security, and conscience. Its intense violence and strong language require discernment, but older teenagers and adults can find worthwhile moral material beneath the action. WORTH THE TRIP — AGES 13 AND UP.
