The Bourne series of movies are all pretty good spy thrillers but only OK as action films.

The Bourne movies primarily follow Jason Bourne (played by Matt Damon) who is a spy with amnesia and doesn’t remember anything about his past.

The movies follow his attempts to find out more about the past while also evading the CIA.

The first movie, The Bourne Identity (2002), is based on a book of the same name written by Robert Ludlum.

The film was directed by Doug Liman and stars Matt Damon, Franke Potente (as Marie Krutz, a woman tagging along with Bourne for the money), and Chris Cooper (as Alexander Conklin, Jason’s boss).

This movie is a mix of an amnesia story and spy thriller, with Jason slowly remembering his past while dealing with assassins sent by the CIA.

The film is very suspenseful with twists and turns you won’t see coming, along with a cast of characters who are interesting, if not entertaining.

Chris Cooper especially does well as a boss who wants results and wants results now!

Something that has also aged surprisingly well are the villains, not just in this film but in all the films. Whenever they get caught they always say that they’re patriots and that they don’t have the right to judge them.

Given this country’s current political climate, it came off as eerily familiar.

One thing that has not aged well and has aged about as well as a corpse, is the fight scenes. The fights are not boring; they’re exciting and well choreographed.

The film uses a lot of quick cuts for their action scenes, and was in fact one of the pioneers of it. But sometimes there are so many quick cuts it is almost impossible to follow what it is going on.

Yet, despite its shortcomings The Bourne Identity is still a good movie. The film is an interesting and engaging spy thriller with so/so action.

The same follows the second film in the original trilogy The Bourne Supremacy (2004).

This film is instead directed by Paul Greengrass, with Matt Damon returning as Jason Bourne.

This film focuses on Jason finding out more about his agency days. This film is OK despite having similar problems to the first one.

In this film it’s two years later and the villains decide to frame Jason Bourne for a crime he didn’t commit, but also try to kill him in India before the CIA even has a chance to fall for it.

Starting off, the villains aren’t as strong in this film compared to the last one. The action still has too many quick cuts to fully understand what is going on.

But there are of course still positive things about this film. The story, while having a rocky start, is still entertaining overall. The acting is solid all around, particularly from Joan Allen, who plays Pamela Landy, the agent in charge of the operation to get Bourne. Landy cuts through and takes no crap from anyone.

The Bourne Supremacy overall is a bit of a mix bag but still an enjoyable and emotional romp.

After the success of Supremacy the studio green lit another sequel, The Bourne Ultimatum (2007).

This film was directed once again directed by Paul Greengrass and returns Matt Damon as Jason Bourne.

This film is weird chronologically; it takes place primarily during the second film aside from the last 30 minutes.

Once again Jason Bourne is framed for another crime (you would think the CIA would learn their lesson from the last film) and is on the run while learning more about his agency days, more specifically who he was before he became Jason Bourne.

The film, while still containing quick cuts, cuts back on them, allowing the action to breathe.

The villain, Noah Vosen (played by David Strathairn) is not as entertaining as in the first films, but not without his moments. Overall, it’s a pretty solid film.

That cannot be said for the next film The Bourne Legacy (2012),directed by Tony Gilroy.

The film notably does not star Matt Damon as Jason Bourne.

Instead, Jeremy Renner (AKA Hawkeye from the Avengers) stars as Aaron Cross, another agent who works the same organization that Bourne used to work for.

The film follows almost immediately after Bourne Ultimatum, where Jason Bourne’s actions lead the higher ups to clean house, killing anyone connected to the organization.

This includes Aaron and Dita Mandy (played by Donna Murphy), a scientist who worked at the agency, to go on the run.

To put it simply, as an action movie, it’s OK. But as a Bourne movie, it’s not so good.

The drugs the agents previously took to help stay sane because of all the messed up stuff they did and the training they had to endure, now actually makes them smarter and stronger. That’s a premise for a Star Trek alien, not for the Bourne franchise.

This one plot point takes out all the coolness factor and mystique for the agents in the previous films. Originally, they endured hardcore training and they get broken down and rebuilt to be nothing but killers. But now we find out that it’s just the magical powers of drugs.

That’s not the only problem the film has. The action, while having even fewer quick cuts (thank God) is so over the top. At one point, a character jumps from motorcycle to motorcycle.

Without spoiling anything, the film doesn’t end, it just stops.

Now it’s not to be said that this film has no positive aspects. There’s a scene involving a drone airstrike that is down remarkably well. And the leads are likable enough and well acted.

But at the end of the day, The Bourne Legacy is certainly a mixed bag.

Thankfully the final film is much better.

The fifth and final film for this review is simply titled Jason Bourne (2016) (because yeah I’m sure that title won’t get confusing) has Paul Greengrass returning to the director chair along with Matt Damon playing the titular character.

This film completely ignores Bourne Legacy and instead Jason 10 years later is trying to lay low. That is until a character from his past brings information that a project similar to the one that created him is starting up which brings him out of retirement.

Starting off with the positives: This film primarily covers internet censorship and privacy, as the villains want a back door into the next big social media company. And handles it surprisingly well.

The action thankfully also kept the fewer number of quick cuts from The Bourne Legacy.

Tommy Lee Jones, who plays CIA Director Robert Dewey, does the job very well and adds a bit of gravitas to the character.

There are low points. The character of Heather Lee (played by Alicia Vikander) feels like Pamela Landy light.

And the final car chase, while good for the most part, has a scene that is just stupid, involving an armored truck mowing through 20 cars in a straight line.

All of the Bourne films are fun and interesting spy thrillers with action that is OK.  From best to worst: Bourne Identity, Bourne Ultimatum, Bourne Supremacy, Jason Bourne, and Bourne Legacy.

Patrick Pugh writes for the Thunderword.