All 5 Jason Bourne Movies By Their Release Year

The Jason Bourne movies have been a hallmark for people looking to watch a character-driven action franchise. With its captivating mix of spy drama, political intrigue and unrest, and some thrilling action, the Jason Bourne movies have amassed a cult following.

These gripping movie installments have had a chokehold on the top spot in the spy drama movie genre for nearly fourteen years. With a total of five movies, the first four adapt the original novels written by Robert Ludlum while the latest movie is an original.

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The first three movies with Matt Damon playing Jason Bourne are known as the Bourne Trilogy and are considered the best in the franchise. So if you want to pick up a new action thriller with a badass main character or you feel excited about spy suspense and a lot of daring stunts, the Jason Bourne movie franchise might be the one for you.

all Jason Bourne Movies

All 5 Jason Bourne Movies In Watch Order

  1. The Bourne Identity

    Streaming On: HBO MAX, Netflix, Amazon Prime, Hulu

    Director: Dough Liman

    Writer: Robert Ludlum

    Stars: Matt Damon, Brian Cox, Franka Potente, Julia Styles, Chris Cooper Clive Oven

    Genres: Action, Thriller

    The Bourne Identity (2002) on IMDb

    Based on a spy fiction thriller novel by Robert Ludlum, The Bourne Identity is a true evolution in terms of interesting storyline and terror combined with amazement that you can relate to Ludlum’s novel. During a routine fishing trip, Italian fishermen encounter a wounded American adrift on the Mediterranean Sea. They pull the body up and ted to the man’s two gunshot wounds.

    On waking up the fishermen find out that this person has no idea or memory about his identity but was able to talk in many different languages and had advanced combat skills. While inspecting his body, the man finds a tiny laser projector under his skin, which shows a safe number in Zurich, the man decides to investigate this number.

    On finding the safety box, the man finds various IDs, passports with different names, different currencies, and even a handgun, the man decides to take everything but the handgun and decides to use the name on the American passport, Jason Bourne. After Bourne’s departure, a bank employee contacted Operation Treadstone, a CIA black ops program. Conlink, Treadstones leader, issues a red alert to the police and sends out three men to assassinate Jason.

    A fresh take on the amnesia-riddled Hero genre, the first gave a much-needed boost to the action thriller genre which was taking a dip in the early 2000s. With clever plot writing, interesting character drama, and thrilling action sequences, The Bourne Identity will satisfy your action thriller hunger for 1 hour 59 minutes while the main protagonist makes several attempts to discover his past life. 

  2. The Bourne Supremacy

    Streaming On: HBO MAX, Netflix, Amazon Prime, Hulu

    Director: Paul Greengrass

    Writer: Robert Ludlum

    Stars: Matt Damon, Brian Cox, Julia Stiles, Franka Potente, Joan Allen, Karl Urban

    Genres: Action, Thriller

    The Bourne Supremacy (2004) on IMDb

    Bourne and girlfriend Marie settled down in Goa but he is seen struggling with amnesia and has started documenting his flashbacks. During the same time in Berlin, a CIA agent working for Deputy Director Landy is paying $3 million to a source for the Neski files, these files had information of a theft that took 20 million dollars from the CIA.

    Krill, a Russian Fed working for a Russian oligarch, disrupted this deal. Krill intercepts the deal, kills the source and the agent, steals all the money, and plants Bourne’s fingerprint all over the scene of the crime framing him as the perpetrator. Krill then sets out to assassinate Jason, who takes notice and tries to run away. During the chase, Krill shoots a person in the car thinking it was Jason but, Krill had killed Marie. 

    Swearing revenge on the person who killed Marie, Jason sets out on a journey of revenge and justice. With the second movie following a revenge plot, the actions and the emotions in the movie were quite high. This constant rush and feeling of not stopping are what kept the audience engaged throughout the movie, without making the movie feel rushed. The movie is considered a perfect sequel to the first installment.  

  3. The Bourne Ultimatum (2007)

    Streaming On: Netflix, Tubi TV, Amazon Prime, YouTube

    Director: Paul Greengrass

    Writer: Robert Ludlum

    Stars: Matt Damon, Julia Stiles, Joan Allen, David Strathairn, Paddy Considine, Albert Finney

    Genres: Action, Thriller

    The Bourne Ultimatum (2007) on IMDb

    Bourne is seen being hunted by the Moscow police but is barely keeping up. Six weeks later, Simon Ross, a correspondent for the Guardian, has caught on to the trail of CIA’s Treadstone operation. When Bourne comes back from Paris after informing Maries Brother about her assassination, he sets up a meeting with Ross. Unbeknownst to him, Ross has been in the CIA’s crosshair for getting too close to the truth about ‘Operation Blackbriar’.

    When the two meet up at a station they are ambushed by CIA agents, and in a nervous moment, Ross disobeys Bourne and is shot dead by the agents. With the regret of letting a humble man die, Bourne decides to blow the Blackbriar operation open and bring it to justice. With an eight-star rating on IMDb, The Bourne Ultimatum sits at the top of the list of all the Bourne series movies, and for good reason. 

    The non-stop action keeps the audience on the edge of their seats and the emotional moments hit hard. As the last movie of the trilogy, Ultimatum wraps up the story perfectly and gives closure to the characters that we have been following and loving for the last two movies.

  4. The Bourne Legacy

    Streaming On: Netflix, Tubi TV, Amazon Prime, Google Play Movies And TV

    Director: Tony Gilroy

    Writer: Tony Gilroy

    Stars: Jeremy Renner, Edward Norton, Rachel Weisz, Rachel Weisz, Stacy Keach, Matt Damon, Oscar Isaac

    Genre: Action, Thriller

    The Bourne Legacy (2012) on IMDb

    After Jason Borne forced Landy to blow open the secrets of Operation Treadstone and Operation Blackbriar, other secret agencies are in unrest as they fear the same happening. Colonel Erick Byer is tasked with containing the fallout of this event. While researching, the leader of Treadstones and Operation Outcome are seen together in many youtube videos. To save his organization from falling he decides to cut Operation Outcome off and kill all the people involved in it.

    Weeks prior to this, Aaron Cross was sent to Alaska as a punishment for going AWOL during a mission, in Alaska he had to find a hut while being hunted by bloodthirsty wolves. When the destruction command is sent out, an armed drone was sent to kill him. Being able to outsmart the drone, Jason is able to rip his Operation chip out and feeds it to a Wolf.

    Jason’s exceptional set of skills is acquired from a special kind of drug “Chems”. Following these events, and what all went down in The Bourne Ultimatum, Aaron appears baffled and faces an uncertain turn of events. Aaron saves Marta Shearing, a research scientist who can get Aaron “chems” which will help him survive. Now both of them are on the run trying to dodge Byers’s assassination attempts. 

    The Bourne Legacy does an amazing job of increasing the depth of the series and making it more immersive while maintaining a good level of writing and acting. The action sequences are exceptional in their own ways. Aaron fits perfectly while showcasing some added brutality in the movie scenes. However, thrilling, you will love every minute of it and want for more as the suspense kicks in and escalates your adrenaline to another level. 

  5. Jason Bourne

    Streaming On: Amazon Prime, Hulu, Vudu, YouTube

    Director: Paul Greengrass

    Writers: Paul Greengrass, Christopher Rouse

    Stars: Matt Damon, Brian Cox, Julia Stiles, Tommy Lee Jones, Alicia Vikender, Vincent Cassel, Riz Ahmed

    Genres: Action, Thriller

    Jason Bourne (2016) on IMDb

    Twelve years after the events of the original trilogy, Jason Bourne has finally made a full recovery from his amnesia and has settled down as a street fighter in Greece. Nicky Parsons, a Treadstone technician takes the help of a hacking group to hack into CIA servers to expose its Black Ops programs. In the process, she finds documents that detail Bourne’s hiring, and his father’s involvement in it, so she decides to fly out to tell him all the information personally. The CIA comes to know about the hack and decided to send Asset, an ex-Blackbriar agent whose cover was blown due to Bourne’s actions. Parson decided to meet up during an anti-government protest but is killed by Asset before she could meet Bourne. 

    Now with the CIA on his Tail Jason discover the vault of information that Parsons left behind for him, will Jason be able to discover anything about his past? Returning nine years after the original movies, this movie is an absolute thrill ride that helps you get a deeper look into Jason’s past. Loads of Amazing acting, an intriguing plot line, and thrilling action sequences, and the action and storytelling coupled with superb action sequences and head-on combats keep the audience well-engaged right to the very end.

Conclusion

The Bourne franchise includes action movie installments that are realistic, gritty, and serious. The movies don’t downplay their seriousness, yet the story feels like a suspenseful riddle that we the audience solve along with the main character himself. 

You can really admire the amount of detail that goes into crafting the story, and how Bourne uses the smallest of clues to outplay his opponents. With a huge load of action to unfold, the Jason Bourne installments are perfect for anyone looking for an action thriller series with clever writing and spy drama that will constantly keep you glued to your seats.

All Jason Bourne Movies According To Highest To Lowest IMDb Ranking

  • The Bourne Ultimatum (2007) – 8
  • The Bourne Identity (2002) – 7.9 
  • The Bourne Supremacy (2004) – 7.7 
  • The Bourne Legacy (2012) – 6.6
  • Jason Bourne (2016) – 6.6

All Jason Bourne Sorted According To Box Office Collection

  • The Bourne Ultimatum (2007) – $444.1 Million
  • Jason Bourne (2016) – $415.5 Million
  • The Bourne Supremacy (2004) – $290.6 Million
  • The Bourne Legacy (2012) – $276.1 Million
  • The Bourne Identity (2002) – $214 Million

FAQs

How many Matt Damon Bourne movies are there?

Matt Damon was involved in a total of 4 movies, The Bourne Identity (2002), The Bourne Supremacy (2004), The Bourne Ultimatum (2007), and Jason Bourne (2016).

Why didn’t Matt Damon do The Bourne Legacy?

The Bourne Legacy is the only movie in the series that doesn’t include the lead actor Matt Damon as Jason Bourne because Paul Greengrass wasn’t directing the movie.

How old is Matt Damon?

As of writing this article, Matt Damon is 52 years old.

Is Jason Bourne based on a real person?

No, Jason Bourne is a fictional character based on the Jason Bourne series of books by Robert Ludlum.

Kierra Rowsey
Kierra Rowsey

Kierra Rowsey is a freelance TV, Film and anime critic for over 12 years, living in Arkansas with her husband and three kids. She graduated from NYU College of Arts & Science in 2008.

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