Matt Damon'due south portrayal of the amnesiac American assassin, Jason Bourne, redefined the world of silver screen espionage. It acquired the flagging Bond franchise to rethink its approach and was the instigator of a revolution in cinematic combat.  Gone were the days of throwing big picture punches and over-elaborate karate moves. This was not fighting to await practiced, this was fighting to survive. So how exactly has the fighting way of Bourne developed and evolved over the course of the iv true Bourne films?

The Bourne Identity

The offset time we see Bourne's gainsay capabilities is when he takes down ii armed Swiss police officers. He's been asleep on a bench in a snow-covered park for some time, but despite his immediate disadvantage of beingness cold and wearied Bourne takes downwardly both officers with incredible efficiency.

He uses equally few moves as possible, exploding up and utilising an officeholder'south billy as a non-lethal weapon. The sequence is sped upward in post, which does detract a little from its impact, but we can encounter that Jason is more than than capable of handling himself. What'due south interesting to note is that compared to other fights in the series, this one feels more staged, with cuts on strikes, and the camera ready back a fair distance.

In the US embassy, we actually get to run into what Bourne tin can do. He takes on three members of security, all of whom are armed, and puts them on the floor. He pushes the United states marine into the line of burn of the pistol-wielding guard, demonstrating Bourne's innate knowledge of how to use the opposition's position, opinion and size in his favour. This is fighting for self-defense, non to kill.

The fight in the Paris apartment (WITH WHO?) is the foundation for all hereafter fights in the Bourne series. It could be argued that all Bourne'due south previous battles have been somewhat superhero-esque, where he totally overwhelms his opponents with relative ease and we don't really come across what happens. Also, up until this fight, everyone has been trying to abort Bourne, and so approach him with non-lethal intentions. This time, he is fighting an equal who is there to kill him and we get to see everything.

Bourne uses elements of Filipino Kali, Israeli Krav Maga, Bruce Lee'due south Wing Chun and Jeet Kune Do, every bit well every bit boxing, during this fight, demonstrating his broad knowledge of fighting techniques. It is important to note that at that place are not many punches thrown in this fight, as i might expect from a typical action picture show of this era. They are used sparingly, with Bourne and his opponent preferring to use elbows and knees.

The direction in the fight is very polish, with lots of tracking shots and so that we can see all of Bourne's abilities on screen. Compared to the subsequently films where everything was shot handheld, Identity chooses to alloy realism and stylised choreography, an important point in charting the evolution of combat in theBourne series.

Some of the later action sequences in this picture show actually undermine the excellent piece of work that director Doug Liman and Matt Damon had been doing up until them. Primarily, the final shoot-out wherein Bourne rides a dead torso as it plummets downwardly a stairwell, and shoots a CIA operator in the caput simultaneously. That sequence may have stretched the bounds of credibility, but the later films actually push the realism agenda that Bourne is remembered for.

The Bourne Identity fix the standards for the future of fighting in the series; however there were some elements that were thankfully removed once Paul Greengrass took over the director's chair.

The Bourne Supremacy

In the 2nd picture show, and Paul Greengrass' first foray into the Bourne universe, Jason Bourne begins with a much greater knowledge of what he is: a 30-million-dollar weapon designed to clandestinely assassinate America'south enemies.

Bourne is fully conscious of his abilities, showcasing them swiftly and brutally in a constabulary interview room in Naples. It nicely mirrors the first fight of the first film, although this time Jason is even more than confident. Before, Bourne was reactive in his fighting; this fourth dimension it'southward proactive, attacking at the moment that suits him best, ambushing his captors with very few strikes. There are very few cuts in the sequence, serving to emphasise merely how efficient Bourne has become after the last film.

Bourne's boxing against another Treadstone operator in Berlin is arguably the best fight in the series and a clear example of how Greengrass' arrival influenced the style of Bourne'due south fight scenes. This is an all-out tussle, designed to be as realistic as possible all the way up to the absence of a score, the soundtrack provided by the thumps and smashes of Bourne and his opponent crashing into each other.

There is a clear evolution from the Bourne we saw inIdentity; now the fighting style looks fast, frantic and, virtually importantly, realistic to the point of immersion. The handheld cinematography of Oliver Wood enables the gratuitous-flowing style of Bourne to be displayed in the best possible mode, and merely like the picture show'southward before battle in that location are no cutaways to evidence the impact of his hits. Instead, it's all kept in frame, emphasising the speed and ferocity of Bourne and his assaulter'southward movements.

While information technology may be a tad confusing every bit information technology'due south so shut, this actually makes the gainsay meliorate. The roughshod, unglamorous close-quarter battles that Bourne is caught up in really put the viewer at the middle of Bourne's dilapidated world. Supremacy makes it clear that in terms of how Bourne fights, he has two distinct approaches.

The first is speed and efficiency, when Jason needs to get away every bit fast as possible, normally from unwitting law enforcement; the 2nd is used when Bourne is faced with opponents of equal power. He strikes and counter-strikes to the point that his exhausted opponent makes a minuscule error, whereupon Bourne capitalises and exploits. Information technology is interesting to note that, of the six Treadstone operatives Bourne faces in the entire series, three of them are killed by strangulation. One dies from being shot, another from falling out of a window and Bourne never even fights the sixth.

The Bourne Ultimatum

The third deed in the Bourne serial brings Jason even closer to his past, dovetailing straight with the events of The Bourne Supremacy. This is a fully operational Bourne  with combat skills every bit sharp as always. The moving-picture show starts with him taking out one of 2 Moscow police force officers with merely two strikes, and leaving the other untouched, in a moment of interesting humanity.

The existent standout fight in the film is Jason's battle confronting a rival Treadstone agent, Desh, which takes identify in an flat in Tangiers, Kingdom of morocco. Here, for the first time in the series, Bourne is pitted against a younger, more athletic Treadstone operative. We meet Bourne use a number of holds, elbow strikes, wrist locks, disarms, and his same martial art styles, but there are some new elements thrown in. Both Jason and Desh employ moves taken from the Brazilian martial art of capoeira, namely leg sweeps and kicks, and Desh fifty-fifty uses a somewhat spectacular flip to undo himself from a wrist lock.

Over again, Bourne finds himself in close confines in a residential environment, having to use walls and furniture to his advantage. There is nothing spectacular or stylised nearly this fight, it's purely for survival. Bourne knows he has to kill this opponent – notable as he really kills very few people in the serial.

It's adept to see the office Nicky Parsons plays in this fight, fishhooking Desh off Bourne to give him some breathing space and prevent his strangulation. It's a marked modify from how women in films usually accept on more than superior foes. It actually works, pulling Desh'southward caput away from Bourne, before he counters and kicks her to the basis.

The fashion the fight is shot is the almost effective of all the handheld camera fights. It's a clear development from the Berlin fight in Supremacy where it tin can be challenging to tell what is happening as the camera moves so much. Greengrass has evolved the fights to balance the talents of his actors, without sacrificing realism for spectacle as happened inIdentity.

The realism is spectacle in and of itself, making audiences wince and root for Bourne with every thump and smash and snap. We actually see Jason visibly exhausted at the finish of this fight. It has taken a huge amount out of him to overcome this equally capable and, occasionally, amend opponent. However, Bourne has won out through sheer, fell efficiency, demonstrating his abilities and skills honed through years on the run.

Ultimatum marks the finish of the initial Bourne story, defeating the traces of Treadstone and Blackbriar. We accept seen how not simply the fighting style has evolved, but how the films have adult besides. With the arrival ofJason Bourne, it volition be fascinating to see the further development of the character and how he takes on new threats in a earth he swam away from at the end ofThe Bourne Ultimatum.