Jason Bourne is back with a vengeance, overshadowing, out-running and over-thinking modern mayhem movies. Into the midst of summer bursts Bourne -- smart, edgy, ambivalent about its mission but not its message -- both cinematic and political.

One of the most successful scenes is the wedding of this couple, with a sumptuous cake and colorful balloons flying in the air, while a crowd of young upper class wedding partyers boisterously cheer.

Certainly the pedigree of Child 44 makes it seem promising. But the timing of the release -- April, a pre-summer graveyard -- and the fact that it wasn't screened for critics until shortly before opening both mitigate against it.