A spy thriller is a classic weekend watch, curled up on a sofa and watching the twists, turns and action of espionage has proven itself to be big business.
But aside from the classic James Bond films there’s an often overlooked spy trilogy that proves itself to be just as good, and all three films are now available on Amazon Prime.
Matt Damon starred in the first Bourne film way back in 2002 as The Bourne Identity would be the perfect set up for the franchise that would soon produce four more films.
Based on the 1980 Robert Ludlum novel, the first film follows Jason Bourne, a man suffering from amnesia who must piece together his past and evade assassins in order to discover his true identity and piece together his mysterious link to the CIA.
The film was an almost instant hit, going on to make $214 million worldwide, not only a hit at the box office, but also with critics who gave it an impressive 84% on Rotten Tomatoes.
Two years later and to the delight of fans Bourne was back in The Bourne Supremacy. The film follows a similar story as before as the spy still suffering with amnesia looks to find out even more about his past while he is once more enveloped in a conspiracy involving the CIA.
The film is a solid sequel and builds on much of the material of the first film to create an action-packed second iteration. Once again it was a success in the box office earning $80 million more than the first film while being received the same with critics.
The final film of the original trilogy is the standout of the three. Without spoiling the previous films, The Bourne Ultimatum follows Bourne as he searches for answers to his previous life while being hunted down by trained assassins, although the final instalment comes at his past with a whole new dynamic.
Audiences and critics loved the film at its release, scoring a staggering 92% on Rotten Tomatoes and making it one of the highest-rated modern spy films of all time.
One Google reviewer who gave the film five stars said: “A spectacularly luxurious thrill ride, where they rounded off his search for identity in an invaluable way. The film begins with an escalation in Russia, where the previous sequel ended, so we are forced to immediately get hooked on the screen from the first second, so as not to miss anything.
“The paranoia is captured perfectly, where you are not really safe anywhere in the world and that you can be killed or wiped out at any moment, no matter how safe you think you are.”
For any fans that want even more Jason Bourne, a fourth in the franchise was released in 2012 but follows Jeremy Renner’s character Aaron Cross, with parts of the Legacy happening at the same time and being affected by the actions of Jason Bourne in Ultimatum.
Matt Damon did come back to reprise the character one last time in 2016 for Jason Bourne, which follows Bourne on the hunt to find secrets about his father.
Both sequels were not as well received critically, but still offer a perfectly fun watch for fans of the franchise.