Review #1,080: 'The Bourne Ultimatum' (2007)

One may have anticipated a drop in quality upon the release of Paul Greengrass' trilogy-capper The Bourne Ultimatum back in 2007. After all, the first two movies made no real effort to cover up the fact that they are ultimately the same movie, and Ultimatum is no different, again sending Matt Damon's haggard, amnesiac super agent on the run from serious-looking CIA agents and emotionless "assets" across a variety of countries at breakneck speed. However, the Bourne trilogy does what trilogies rarely do and gets progressively better which each movie, and this third instalment has learned from the franchise's previous mistakes.

Greengrass goes for all-out action here, barely stopping to catch its breath as the film squeezes tension out of the most ordinary of places and situations, and delivering set-pieces that dwarf anything that came before. There's no doubting that Bourne will make it out of this film alive, and no matter how dire the situations the superhuman find himself in as shady CIA heads Noah Vosen (David Strathairn) and the returning Pam Landy (Joan Allen) track him down using every conceivable piece of spy equipment at their disposal, you know he will somehow find a way to smash his way out. What makes Ultimatum so miraculous is how Greengrass manages to still keep things grounded, whether it's watching Bourne pummel an assassin with a leather-bound book or causing carnage on the streets of New York.

When it does pause for breath, Greengrass thankfully seems eager to wrap up the story of how Bourne came to be the unstoppable badass he is, and uncover the organisation known as Treadstone, the secret agency that have been hunting him down ever since he was picked up by a fishing boat with bullet holes in his back. It's a revelation without any revelations, as anyone with half a brain could fit the puzzle together from the events of the previous films, so the film doesn't spend too much time dwelling on it, cutting straight to the chase when the voice plaguing Bourne's dreams manifests itself in the form of Albert Finney.

Of the plot, there is little to write about. Bourne tracks down journalist Simon Ross (Paddy Considine), who has taken to writing pieces on the former agent's exploits and a program known as Blackbriar. Bourne's presence naturally attracts the attention of Vosen et al, and the rest you can guess. It's the simplest of McGuffin's, one that exists for the sole purpose of transporting Bourne around the globe and assaulting the senses with exhilarating action, and the experience is all the better for it. Damon is so good here that he doesn't need much dialogue to create a credible and sympathetic hero, as he manages to capture the spirit of Jason Bourne with his fists and looks of panic more than words ever could. While you may still need a barf bag on hand during some of the more frantic moments, The Bourne Ultimatum is an example of the action genre at its finest, one that will leave you scratching your head as to why the studio felt the need to add the Jeremy Renner-starring spin-off and the recent fourth instalment, Jason Bourne, to the story.


Directed by: Paul Greengrass
Starring: Matt Damon, Julia Stiles, David Strathairn, Joan Allen, Paddy Considine, Scott Glenn, Edgar Ramírez, Albert Finney
Country: USA/Germany

Rating: ****

Tom Gillespie