The Bourne Ultimatum (2007) — Jason Bourne Unleashed
Written: Sep 11 '07 (Updated Sep 11 '07)
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Product Rating:
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| Bang For The Buck |
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Pros: Great acting especially by Damon and Allen; spectacular car chase
Cons: Julia Stiles needs more to do; shaky camera work
The Bottom Line: The Bourne Ultimatum is definitely a great entry to the series. Here's hoping for more.
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| elvisdo's Full Review: The Bourne Ultimatum |
Jason Bourne has seen better days. Of course, it would help if he could remember those days. However, circumstances are telling him that he needs to recover his lost memories if he is ever wants to have a moment’s peace, and in doing so may be more than he bargained for in the long run.
The Bourne Ultimatum definitely completes the trilogy started in with The Bourne Identity and again in The Bourne Supremacy. Jason Bourne has been an enigma to many, but mostly to himself. This is no longer going to be the case as he finally seeks all the answers he needs. But at what price is he willing to pay for them?
Director Paul Greengrass is back for another tour-de-force, along with Matt Damon, Joan Allen and Julia Stiles. Greengrass fits the pieces of the puzzle together from the last movie by starting off with the immediate follow-up of the car chase scene in Moscow. An injured Bourne is on the run from the Moscow police. Why is this an important part? Because, in a clever move, Greengrass fills in the gaps from that incident to the point where Bourne learns of his real name from Pamela Landy. After that, it’s just carnage and mayhem.
The defunct Treadstone project may be history but a new project, Operation Blackbriar, has evolved from it. This has become a great concern for Noah Vosen, a CIA Deputy Director in charge of this operation, when a journalist Simon Ross starts digging into Blackbriar’s connection to the mysterious Jason Bourne. This also catches Bourne’s interest as well. He hopes Ross can lead him in the right direction to his mysterious source in hopes of finding out who he came to be this way. Vosen has other plans and wants Ross eliminated.
It only starts a cat-and mouse game between Bourne and Ross with each trying to get the upper hand. Bourne is only trying to recover his lost memories, while Vosen wants him pot of commission for good. He even brings in Deputy Director Pamela Landy to help with the operation, but how far is she willing to sacrifice in order to stop Bourne? Is he the real threat or is it someone, or something, else that she isn’t really seeing?
Once again, the action is non-stop with a few breather moments here and there. But this is a movie that requires one’s utmost attention from start to finish. By now, viewers are familiar with the formulaic pacing and atmosphere from the previous two movies. It is intense, it is kinetic and it also makes you think. It also requires a great leap of faith in what is presented. But because the action is forever in a perpetual state-of-manner, there is no time to really analyze it all until it is all over. By then, you are already exhausted from the huge adrenaline rush.
Matt Damon does an outstanding job in his third outing as the amnesiac, bewildered yet determined Jason Bourne. What I love the most about the character, and he really is the only character that receives any development at all, is his dry sense of humour whenever there is a chance to display it. He does it in such a matter-of-fact way that makes me wish I could be as cool as he.
Noah Vosen:[in car, on cell phone] Perhaps we can arrange a meet.
Jason Bourne: Where are you now?
Noah Vosen: I'm sitting in my office.
Jason Bourne: I doubt that.
Noah Vosen: Why would you doubt that?
Jason Bourne: If you were in your office right now we'd be having this conversation face-to-face.
I don’t envy Damon for the hard stunt work that he had to endure. But the stunts that are featured are incredible, especially the great rooftop chase and, of course, another car chase, which has become a signature move for this franchise.
Joan Allen and David Strathairn are excellent in their roles of CIA Deputy Directors. Both are very intense in their execution but their methods are, without a doubt, different in achieving the end goal. Noah Vosen (Strathairn) is a fanatic patriot who will protect his country at any cost, even if it means sacrificing his own agents for the cause. Lundy (Allen), on the other hand, is appalled by the secretive conspiracies within the CIA organization. The deeper she delves into the underbelly, the more she questions what she is doing.
Julia Stiles returns as CIA Agent Nicky Parsons in a very lackluster role. I thought for sure that she would have had a meaty role to bite her teeth into, but it didn’t turn out that way which proved to be a disappointment. There was so much more that could have been developed and, in a sense, her role could have been fulfilled by anyone else; there was nothing special about it. Albert Finney rounds up the cast as Dr. Albert Hirsch, the CIA specialist who supervised Bourne’s training. Quite honestly, I still see Finney as Daddy Warbucks from Annie and half expected him to break out in song and dance.
The biggest detriment is the jerky camera movement that carries over from the second movie. There are times I don’t mind it at all, and there are other times that it becomes incredibly irritating. I can understand this use for action scenes but quiet moments don’t warrant it. Luckily, there weren’t that many slower moments like that. But for those experiencing motion sickness, I recommend taking a Dramamine beforehand.
The Bourne Ultimatum does something completely unexpected—it makes people care about the main protagonist. Who cares if the car crashes are sensationalistic or leap across tall buildings like skipping stones? What happens in the movie is really a moot point. What viewers want to see is Bourne outsmarting everyone and coming out on top. In essence, this is every person’s deepest desire to be able to think quickly on the spot and pull off a MacGyver.
Related Reviews
The Bourne Identity || The Bourne Supremacy
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**This is part of CopeSullivan's 50 Reviews By Halloween Write-Off. This is 15 out of 50.
Recommended:
Yes
Movie Mood: Action Movie
Film Completeness: Looked complete to me.
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Epinions.com ID:
elvisdo
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Member: Charles "The Grim One"
Reviews written: 846
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Thank you to everybody who participated in both my write-offs. Until the next one!
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