The Bourne Ultimatum

Paul Greengrass, US, 2007, 115 minutes

Exhilirating. That was my immediate response when asked to describe The Bourne Ultimatum. The audience at the screening I attended staggered out of the cinema, squinting in the glare of the sunlight. It’s a tiring experience, but an incredible one nonetheless.

The Bourne Ultimatum emerged in the midst of one of the worst cinematic summers in living memory. Of the rash of threequels that emerged, from Spiderman to Pirates to Shrek, the overwhelming feeling was of a studio system bereft of ideas and reliant on ailing franchises with a guaranteed following. However, while those films retained the original stars and increased the budget to allow bigger and better thrills, too often they sacrificed such basics as a coherent plot and a script containing a semblance of wit. The exception to the rule was Bourne, which lived up to all expectations.

The film is a non-stop adrenaline ride. While the second film spent much time dealing in murky internal politics and double-bluffs with its audience, Bourne 3 is a much more straightforward tale, continuing Bourne’s quest to uncover the programme which produced him. That’s not to say that politics is absent from the film: on the contrary much of the film can be construed as an attack on the foreign policy of the Bush White House, specifically its human rights record with regard to torture. However, while this political element is present for those who wish to analyse the film in detail, the film can be enjoyed equally while ignoring this completely.

A film of this nature lives or dies by the quality of its action sequences. And oh, what action sequences they are. Bourne 3 retains the director of the 2nd film, Paul Greengrass, and thus the style of the film will be instantly familiar to viewers of Supremacy. The use of handheld cameras, originally unsettling in Supremacy, is now a great strength of the series, providing a rawness and vibrancy to proceedings. The set pieces, which range from a jaw dropping rooftop chase in Tangiers to an achingly tense escape through a packed Waterloo station, are probably the best yet seen in the series.

The film’s trump card, as in the preceding two in the series, remains Matt Damon. Prior to the Bourne Identity, I for one would never have chosen the star of Good Will Hunting as an action star. But Matt Damon IS Jason Bourne. The role fits the actor perfectly, with Damon providing a refreshing vulnerability alongside an impressive physicality, best showcased in an utterly brutal fight scene in Tangiers. You genuinely believe he could kill you with a spoon. With Damon on record as stating that he expects this to be his last outing as Bourne, it appears that Ultimatum will be the last in the series. If so, what a way to go…

Review by Neil Henry
Written for EUFS Programme Spring