The Bourne Ultimatum

By far, The Bourne Ultimatum is THE BEST threequel of the summer. Maybe even the best, most solid movie of the summer, threequels aside. Or maybe even ever. I mean, come on, those fight and chase sequences are unreal, but in a more realistic way than anything seen in something like Transformers. That, of course, is due to the wonderfully fresh directing of Paul Greengrass, who mastered the classic Bourne camera movements and editing when he took over to direct the second installment (I can’t even imagine how they go about editing one of these). These movies have also proved how bankable of a star Matt Damon is, but also shows his physical prowess and just plain badassness as an actor. This time around, we get plenty of action on three continents, with exciting and tense sequences in London, Madrid, Tangiers, and New York, among other great locales. Jason Bourne is continuing his quest of self-discovery after being a CIA agent overcome with amnesia, and finally we get some flashbacks and some closure to his eerily forgotten past. I was glad to see Julia Stiles kick some ass, and that scene with her conveniently bearing a similar look to Franka Potente’s Marie from the first film was a nice, poignant touch. What’s also so great about the movie, just like the first two, is that there is such great energy exuding from the characters (even from Joan Allen and David Strathairn in their offices) and the fast pace is perfect. Now, I love spy movies and anything that involves an engaging chase, and The Bourne Ultimatum has got to be one of the best. Hot damn, that sequence in Morocco was probably one of the tightest things I’ve seen on film – and I don’t use the word tight lightly – as well as the car chase in NYC. Props to the stunt coordinators and fight choreographers for bringing some solid action-packed entertainment and for showing us all how you can kill a man with a towel and a book. Although those behind the series have mentioned a fourth Bourne as a possibility in the future, I would be completely satisfied if these three were it. The third ends seamlessly, hitting the right note with accompaniment by the perfectly placed sounds of Moby’s “Extreme Ways.” I could never get enough of Jason Bourne, but sometimes it’s good to end a respectable, well-handled franchise while you’re still on top and ahead of the game – and we all know that the man known as Jason Bourne certainly is.

Directed by Paul Greengrass
Runtime: 111 minutes