This post contains spoilers for the Bourne movies, including the most recent.

So. I don’t know what they’re lacing these Bourne movies with, but (with the exception of that godawful, boring, too-long car chase in the second movie) I never want these movies to end. It turns out that the drug is not in fact Matt Damon, because The Bourne Legacy (out now), which doesn’t even have Matt Damon in it, has the same effect on me. Aaron Cross, you are the genetically-modified assassin OF MY HEART. But why, why? WHY do I love these movies? They are chock-full of ideological problems. (In TBL, we get to see some kickass operatives who are people of color and even one who’s a woman, and then, three minutes later, they’re all dead. Producers, you have a captive audience. Make your main star in one of these movies someone who is not a white man.) Also, the plots are absurd. (Aaron Cross is a genetically modified/enhanced black-ops assassin for the US government, but he’s run out of his daily genetic-modification medication, and if he doesn’t break free of the US government, escape being murdered by same, and, with the help of the Beautiful Scientist Lady, find a way to solve his medication problem, he will revert to the low-IQ, less-kickass person he was before. THAT IS THE ACTUAL PLOT). Nonetheless, I am thinking of canceling the rest of my life so that I can keep going back to see this movie.

I will say that what the writers did with the romantic interest in this one is, IMO, world’s above the situation with Marie Kreutz in the earlier movies, Jason’s movies. Dr Marta Shearing, played by Rachel Weisz, is more than an accessory + plot device. In fact, she even saves Aaron’s ass various times in ways that are human and believable. Whereas he, of course, saves hers in numerous ways that are superhuman and unbelievable. This interplay — the regular person and the superhero taking care of each other — becomes one of the foundations of what feels like a surprisingly almost-even friendship. This is SO much more interesting to me than the same old crap over and over. I have a glimmer of hope that if there are future movies, Dr Shearing might actually be allowed to live. Let’s not get into what a sad state of affairs it is that that would be a victory… it would be particularly awesome if she were not only allowed to live, but allowed to continue being actively important to the proceedings.

Getting back to the enchantment these movies have cast over me… I think the music is partly to blame.

Have y’all seen the Vivaldi/Bourne mashup by The Piano Guys?