Directed by: Paul Greengrass
Premise: The third installment in the Jason Bourne
franchise. In this film, Jason Bourne (Matt Damon) finds himself and the CIA the
subject of a series of articles in a British newspaper. Bourne emerges from
hiding, racing against a ruthless CIA director (David Strathairn) to discover
clues to the agency’s secret assassin program and finally resolve the gaps in
his memory and recover his pre-CIA identity.
What Works: The Bourne Ultimatum nicely
concludes the story of Jason Bourne in ways that top the previous installments
while also respecting them and brings the story to a satisfactory conclusion.
Paul Greengrass’ direction takes a step up from The
Bourne Supremacy and he shows an ability to create dramatic scenes with
the actors that are as appealing as the wild but original action sequences of
the film. Like the previous films, the action sequences of The Bourne
Ultimatum combine gritty realism with speed and big stunts, and the chase
scenes in this film exceed not only the other Bourne pictures but give
similar scenes in films like Raiders
of the Lost Ark and The
French Connection a run for their money. Damon has done some of the best
acting work of his career in this series, since the stories have allowed him to
explore the tension between acting as a hero and as a murderer, something few
action films or assassin films have bothered to address. The journey of the
character is nicely wrapped up here, as Jason Bourne faces his creators and
(figuratively speaking) reaches atonement with his parents.
What Doesn’t: The only flaw of the film is in the
length of some of the chase sequences. Although they are expertly edited and
choreographed, a few do go one a bit long (especially the chase in Morocco) and
would do with some trimming.
Bottom Line: The Bourne Ultimatum caps off a fantastic series of spy films that have raised the bar for the action and espionage genres.