The Bourne Franchise Ranked: The Definitive Ranking

Another short franchise that deserves the definitive ranking treatment. Far from a Top Ten, so there’s that.

This is a franchise that was built a bit more traditionally, with hopes after every one that there could be more but without ever making the movies completely subservient to the idea. If the franchise had ended after any of the first four, there would have never been any feeling of need for another narratively.

5. The Bourne Legacy

“However, it takes forever to get going and never really gets its two major plot threads to convincingly and interestingly interact. Those two failures end up undercutting any impact of the third act chase where the movie had hidden most of the action, and a lot of it ends up falling flat. Maybe Aaron Cross could have gotten into more interesting adventures later, but we’ll never find out.”

4. Jason Bourne

“But, holy crap, that first thirty minutes is kind of awesome. It definitely doesn’t hold the rest of the movie up, but it does stand on its own. Just turn off the movie once Nicky gets shot, and you’ll be happy.”

3. The Bourne Identity

“The Bourne Identity is a good little movie that could spawn sequels but feels complete enough on its own. It’s got that right kind of mix in the ending where Jason has completed a journey but enough has been set up within the film that any sequel could take a new direction somehow. We’ll see, I guess.”

2. The Bourne Ultimatum

“The movie is more purely an action spectacle than The Bourne Supremacy, and in that it excels with one of the best single sequences of the franchise (Waterloo) and a strong final car chase.”

1. The Bourne Supremacy

“The Bourne Supremacy is a great film. It’s a great action film. It’s a great thriller. It is Paul Greengrass elevating the material and Tony Gilroy finding a way to deepen it. I love this film.”