The A-Z of The Bourne Movies

In a summer full of franchise reinventions (The Amazing Spider-Man, Total Recall et al), there's only one that we're desperately, optimistically rooting for. After three movies full of amnesiac assassins and brutal beatdowns, The Bourne Legacy is aiming to revive the 21st century's most gripping and gritty action series with a leading man and director anew. But there's still more than enough to brush up on. In anticipation of The Bourne Legacy, here's our A-Z of the Bourne series thus far…..

A is for Aaron Cross

Sure, his real name's the decidedly less spy-y Kenneth Gidson, but as far as The Bourne Legacy is concerned, Aaron Cross is the name of the new guy we should all be rooting for. What little we do know - Jeremy Renner says that while Bourne "didn't know who he was, Cross knows exactly who he is and how he's involved." And if the trailer's anything to go by, it's a motorbike-grinding, alley-parkouring, lackey-thwacking super-spy.

B is for Blackbriar

When the C.I.A.'s Operation Treadstone (see: T is for....) imploded at the end of The Bourne Identity, we should've known it was only part of a bigger conspiracy. Cue the introduction of Operation Blackbriar - essentially the umbrella operation for all of the U.S.'s shadowy assassination operations, and one that allows the CIA's black ops to sidestep Washington's red tape and make deadly, morally wonky mission decisions whenever they want.

C is for Corporate Control

While it's easy to get carried away with all the ass-kicking, the Bourne movies have always possessed a subtle but forceful subtext that's more than a little concerned with the way that corporations influence and control every aspect of our lives. Bourne scriptwriter (and soon to be director) Tony Gilroy sows the unsettling seed throughout - whether it's governmental, security or intelligence, we're all just pawns in their game. Until Bourne, Cross or some other disgruntled employee (possibly named Lesley Knope) come along to turn the Pawn-er into the Pawn-ee.

D is for Damon, Matt

Hard as it is to remember, but there was a time when Matt Damon wasn't a bankable leading man (or pronounced MAAAAT DAAAAAMON - thanks, Team America). But when The Bourne Identity was released in 2002, he went from eager ensemble player to movie-sustaining charisma machine. It was the perfect breakout role - introducing modern cinema to a hero as emotionally complex as he was air-punchingly deadly, and cementing his place as an action and A-List movie star.

E is for Extreme Realism

The series' commitment to 'keeping it realz' means that not everything is as scripted as it seems. In one of many 'real people as extras' crowd scenes, The Bourne Ultimatum's chase scene through Tangier features the public being forcefully shoved about, because the production team couldn't clear the relentless flow of people. For added authenticity, The Bourne Identity even used real US marines in the Zurich consulate at the request of producer Frank Marshall.

F is for Frequent Flier Points

Considering he's on the run, it's not surprising quite how much of his time Bourne spends globe-hopping. Across the opening trilogy, Bourne visits France, Greece, Switzerland, America, India, England, Italy, Netherlands, Russia, and Morocco - but substitutes the glamorous, swanky settings of other spy flicks in favour of a down-and-dirty, muggy and truly international feel.

G is for Genre Reinvention

2002 and the state of the summer action blockbuster/spy flick was in need of a shake up. The Bond franchise had become an increasingly ludicrous, campy farce (never forget - Die Another Day's invisible car and tsunami-surfing), and then - out of nowhere, Bourne transformed the genre and what audiences expect from such films. Brutal, exhilarating and engaging, it set a precedent that's yet to be challenged.

H is for Heart-Pounding Chase Scenes

While the hand-to-foot/head/gut/kneecap fights undeniably impress, it's the tense, riveting chase scenes that always steal the show. The Bourne Identity's Mini-kangarooed ode to The Italian Job, The Bourne Supremacy's thrilling Moscow taxi trauma, and The Bourne Ultimatum's messy Manhattan-set destruction derby are all instantly recognisable, and eternally gripping.

I is for Improvisation

With little personal, financial or weaponry support, Bourne (and we presume Cross) has to survive on his wits alone. The fact that they're extremely acrobatic and violent wits certainly helps. Whether he's utilising children's school supplies as an armoury or employing a corpse as a flying crashmat, it's these survival instincts that set him apart from the gadget-loving competition.

J is for Jason Bourne

After years of camp blockbuster spy douchery, Bourne's tortured, savage and fascinatingly layered characterisation was a breath of fresh air that kick-started cinema's 21st century need for a hero as sympathetically human as he was deadly. Ultimatum seems to have tied up most of his loose ends, but it's testament to his tabula rasa introduction that his gradual, complicated delayering has sustained a whole trilogy's worth of stories.

K is for Kali

The general mistake is that many people tend to assume the brilliantly inventive, fast and brutal martial arts used in the Bourne franchise is Krav Maga. In actual fact, it's a unique spin on the ancient Filipino martial art, Kali. Invented by a student of Bruce Lee, it takes in 26 principles of the martial art to produce a fighting style solely dedicated to bringing your opponent down in the fastest, and occasionally messiest, possible way.

L is for Ludlum, Robert

You say the word Bond and you instinctively think of Ian Fleming. But Bourne's narrative inception isn't quite as prolific. Birthed from the brain of thriller novelist Robert Ludlum, his first literary adventure hit stands back in 1980, before Ludlum finished off the Identity/Supremacy/Ultimatum trilogy in 1990. When Ludlum passed away in 2001, Eric Van Lustbader took up the pen to write another six adventures (and counting).

M is for Mental Programming

Amnesia may have pressed Bourne's mental reboot button, but that wasn't the first time he's had his noggin noodled. An integral part of his assassin-in-training experience was a rather morally dodgy tendency to inflict mental programming upon its subjects, breaking down their moral compass and helping turn them into the world's deadliest killing machines.

N is for Nicky Parsons

The closest and most consistent thing Bourne has to an ally, Nicky Parsons (Julia Stiles) is also the only character to have appeared alongside Bourne in all three movies. Sure, she starts off a Treadstone operative, but the closer she gets to Bourne's story, and unravelling the cynical corruption fuelling it, the more it's hinted that they once had a pre-amnesia relationship. Cue lingering looks.

O is for Operation Outcome

While little is known about The Bourne Legacy's shady operation of choice, it's rumoured that Outcome surpasses the genetic and mental experiments imposed on Blackbriar or Treadstone's subjects. Agent Aaron Cross is rumoured to have had surgical enhancements that allow him to heal and fight better, faster and avoid the side-effects (depression, anger, headaches) caused by Jason Bourne's.

P is for Paul Greengrass

When Doug Liman quit the director's chair after The Bourne Identity, no-one expected Paul Greengrass to take up the baton. By making the series grittier, more visceral and embracing a more intimate directorial style (read: over the shoulder shaky-cam), the series garnered critical acclaim and Greengrass formed a friendship with Damon that would lead to Green Zone - and more importantly a simultaneous departure from the franchise after Damon refused to participate without Greengrass's vision to steer him.

Q is for Queasiness Warning

While it's theoretically impossible to develop motion sickness when you're not in motion, The Bourne Ultimatum caused many people to feel queasy, sick and even vomit thanks to its intense 'shaky cam' action. There is such a thing as 'simulation sickness' however, which confuses the inner ear, eyes and brain, leading to headaches, nausea, dizziness and sweating. The cure? A hefty dose of growsomeballs.

R is for Retrograde Amnesia

Fittingly enough for a movie intent on reinventing the spy genre, Jason Bourne's retrograde amnesia does the job of not only catalysing the plot, but helping audiences forget other spy movies that came before it. The term - given to people who suffer a loss of memory after a traumatic injury - propels the trilogy and a character truly endeavouring - in every way - to find himself. Fun fact - the name Bourne was inspired by Ansel Bourne, a preacher who developed the first ever case of 'dissociative fugue', a sister(ish) condition to retrograde amnesia.

S is for Simon Ross

The only thing worse than being a deadly, super-survival skilled assassin aiming to expose an infinitely resourced, global snuff squad? Attempting the same thing, with all the killer instinct of a furby. Paddy Considine's journalist patsy was The Guardian scribe who began tugging at the corners of both Operation Blackbriar and Treadstone. And while he's not the most imposing of Bourne characters, he's the one who's ultimately responsible for kick-starting their downfall - and he paid for it with a timely sniper bullet to the back of the head.

T is for Treadstone

Operation Treadstone is the super-secret black ops program to end all super-secret black ops programs. When the Congressional Act explicitly banned the U.S. from getting involved in assassinations, Treadstone was set up on the sly with a plan to to recruit U.S. Service members, brainwash them and train them to become the ultimate killing machine. As is always the case with top secret shadow-y CIA hitsquads, things didn't quite go as planned. Bourne is the sole surviving member.

U is for Unhappy, Mr.

Hilariously, Jason Bourne only smiles once during the whole trilogy - and that's in a flashback to happier, less stabby times.

V is for Vengeance

When it comes to character motivation, they don't come more emotionally or violently loaded than good old-fashioned, uncomplicated vengeance. And with treacherous bosses, murdered wives and assassinated friends, both Bourne and Cross have more than enough traumatising life experiences to have a multitude of axes (and biros and sniper rifles and knives etc) to grind.

W is for Ward Abbott

The epitome of ruthless corporate espionage, Ward Abbott (Brian Cox) is the ultimate boss from hell. One of the few people with classified knowledge of Operation Treadstone, his standing as CIA Deputy Director means he has a long way to fall when their best laid plans go to ass-kicking waste. And he's determined to stop at nothing to save his bacon - murdering colleagues, introducing just-as-terrifying contingency operations, and attempting to frame Bourne is all part of the day job.

X is for X-Rated Spoofs

Urban Dictionary defines 'Bourne Porn' as the thrill that men derive from watching Jason Bourne films. If that doesn't quite float your boat, then The Porn Identity probably will. The 2005 adult movie follows the troubled life of Jasmine Bourne - a nymphomaniac agent of the Treadbone Project, on the run from an 'ass-ass-in'.

Y is for "You ask too many questions"

Whether it's Bourne's insistence on reclaiming his identity, Ross's attempts to unravel Treadstone, or Cross's trailer-pondering about life outside his black-ops bubble, Tony Gilroy (writer of the first trilogy and director of Legacy) continually imbues the series with the theme of challenging authority and questioning what's going on around us, lending a surprisingly weighty moral compass to all the blockbuster action.

Z is for Zero CGI

It doesn't matter whether he's running, jumping, stabbing, punching or driving, CGI is barely - if ever - used, proving once and for all that even if he's not the most iconic, Jason Bourne is undoubtedly the most bad-ass on-screen super-spy yet.

Source : feeds.ign.com