They Saved The Best for Last
Written: Aug 11 '07 (Updated Aug 11 '07)
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Product Rating:
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| Bang For The Buck |
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Pros: Smartly written and acted, intelligent movie.
Cons: Not much at all...
The Bottom Line: A worthy third bite at the Jason Borne apple.
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| vemartin's Full Review: The Bourne Ultimatum |
Bourne is back, and this time he coming home to New York City—eventually. As I stated in my review of The Bourne Supremacy, some action movies can be judged solely on their 'money scenes': those fistfights, car chases, gun battles, and explosions that can make or break a film. Not so with the third and final installment in of Robert Ludlum’s suburb spy novels, based on character Jason Borne, The Bourne Ultimatum; it feels more like one long action sequence; from the opening frame to the closing sequence, there is scarce time to take a breath. And don’t look away! Do so and you might miss some vital element of the story that ties the rest together like so much silk string.
This movie adaptation of The Bourne Ultimatum has been the most successful of the Bourne franchise, which started with the 2002 movie The Bourne Identity the first novel in the trilogy of novels written by Ludlum centered on CIA super-spy Jason Bourne. The action continued in The Bourne Supremacy and left Bourne is Moscow. As the first frames played out on The Bourne Ultimatum Jason Bourne portrayed by an unlikely spy Matt Damon (Chasing Amy, The Talented Mr. Ripley, Saving Private Ryan), has is being chased by the Moscow police, but of course somehow he gets away, only to turn up in Turin, Spain…
Story-Line
Directed once again by Paul Greengrass (United 93), this installment of Borne’s story is true to the last two insofar as the action is intense, the story smart, and the fighting fast paced (almost too fast), and very intense and precise. Greengrass follows a tried and true formula and once again gives The Bourne Ultimatum a gritty, realistic feel that mates close camera work with fast cutaways meant mimic the fast pace of Bourne in action. Some of the important players are back for this third installment including Julia Stiles (Nicky Parsons), and Joan Allen (Pamela Landry).
As the second act of The Bourne Ultimatum opens, an unknown whistleblower meets with British reporter (The Guardian ) Simon Ross (Paddy Considine—In America, Stoned) in Turin, Italy and tells him about Blackbriar, an illegal CIA black-ops program. After reading the reporter’s story in newspaper on his way to London, Bourne contacts Ross and sets up a meeting in the hope of finding out who the reporter’s source is; good luck! Unbeknownst to Bourn, Ross is being watched by the head of Blackbriar, one Noah Vosen, portrayed by David Strathairn (Good Night, and Good Luck, Fracture). And let the action begin in earnest.
Greengrass treat us to a view of modern day London few have ever seen and utilizes its Waterloo tube station as the pedestrian-populated set for one of the film’s seminal marathon chase and stalking scenes. After Ross is dispatched the action moves to crowded Tangier, Morocco, wherein the action sequences involve local policemen, hundreds of extras and auto traffic that culminates in a very violent, yet intimate, confrontation between Bourne and his nemesis in an empty Moroccan apartment. Then the action move to the United States…
My Thoughts
The Bourne Ultimatum effectively brings real-world news and happenings into Bourne’s world and weaves it into an explosive story about a deep-cover CIA Black operation headed by an unlikely group of villains, bent on saving the American way of life by systematically violating the very tenets of her birth.
The Bourne Ultimatum conspicuously sans CGI and other cutting-edge special effects and replaces it with old-fashioned fast moving formulaic action. And it works for the movie, proving that you don’t need to spend 150 million dollars to create a compelling action flick that will appeal to a mass audience. How refreshing is it to watch an action film that delivers thrills and intensity through use of compelling characters and an engaging story over eye-candy, big explosions, falling buildings, and loud, loud, hollow noises? Very!
Matt Damon is spectacular as Jason Bourne; he plays the character so low-keyed and with such intelligence that it is always a surprise when he erupts into action. Damon brings Bourne an internal calmness that few other actors could have managed. Damon makes you care about Bourne’s plight; we want to answers as much as Bourne does.
Julia Stiles is beautifully intense in this installment and turns in perhaps her best performance—she certainly has a lot more screen time. But her characters relationship to Bourne is never properly parsed out; it was hinted at in a series of intense scenes, but we are left to guess the actual connection.
Overall I found The Bourne Ultimatum an extremely enjoyable film, one I would see again, if only to pick up on the parts I missed the first time. There is a lot to be said about the James Bond franchise; it is good naughty fun, and that never asks you to think too much. The Bourne franchise on the other hand is just the opposite; thinking is essential to the enjoyment of the films.
And the post-9-11 plotline is designed to question the CIA's, indeed the Administration’s, rationalization of shredding the Constitution in order to protect it by resorting to rendition and harsh suspect interrogation tactics in this new age of the Patriot Act. But despite these politically-conscious posturing, Bourne remains a story about a man, a very dangerous man in search of himself.
Recommended:
Yes
Movie Mood: Action Movie
Viewing Method: Studio Screening/Premiere
Film Completeness: A few glitches, but mostly complete.
Worst Part of this Film: Nothing
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Epinions.com ID:
vemartin
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Member: Vincent
Location: Aurora, IL
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