(From IMDb.com)

To say that things get heavy when old connection Nicky hunts down former operative Jason Bourne on the streets of Greece to let him know that she’s hacked into the agency’s files to find the secrets about his past he’s been longing to discover doesn’t quite put the reunion of main man Matt Damon and director/co-writer (with Christopher Rouse) Paul Greengrass into the proper focus.

In this fifth installment that has Damon playing the amnesia-ridden title character – albeit only the third for Greengrass, who missed the kick-off The Bourne Identity and fourth for Damon, who skipped the last one along with Greenspan as Jeremy Renner was brought in to take over the name – the assassin is found knocking heads over there in bare-knuckle street fights, steadfastly living off the grid at all costs.

Once he sees that Nicky’s hack has discovered, though, it’s a big race around the world because the Agency’s eyes and ears know that she’s been where she wasn’t supposed to be.

The surveillance technology that old Uncle Sam has and wants more of is astounding, and crucial to Greengrass’ story, too. Agency Chief Dewey, played by the cantankerous Tommy Lee Jones, and his young, wily assistant, played by the stoic Alicia Vikander, have cooked up a deal with the founder and brain behind Deep Dream, a new social network platform that has the world in an uproar for its ease and sophistication. Of course, if secret deals indeed go down, it also would let the government spy on every citizen every second.

They’re watching you. (From IMDb.com)

They way Greengrass shows the Agency’s satellites and such zeroing in on Bourne and Nicky, played to a slow boil by Julia Stiles, as they’re zipping around on foot and motorcycle while being pursued by The Asset and others through a riot in Athens is truly magnificent. And scary.

Yes, Bourne can hold a grudge as he squeezes out the secrets of his past one kill at a time.

In the big RPX theater – that’s Regal Premium Experience – in Regal Cinemas’ chain in Syracuse mega shopping, dining and entertainment complex Destiny USA, the quick cuts and big action from around the world certainly was an eye full. Ear full, too, as the soundtrack in the RPX is VERY LOUD.

Yeah, it’s only a movie, but the Las Vegas vehicle chase scene in which The Asset steals a SWAT truck and plows through, over and under hundreds of traveling and parked cars with Bourne doing the same in a regular, old police car not only defies the laws of physics, but also hurts the heart a bunch considering what that truck driver did in France just a few weeks ago. I know, the film was filmed first, but …

The tension remains right to the end, where all that spying and lying leaves a big hole open for No. 6.

Do you have a tolerance for action movies with a lot of killings or not? Do you think real-world events should force movie-makers to rethink scenes already shot? What’s your favorite Matt Damon movie, and why?