Susan Year Itch

The Bourne Ultimatum: When I Was Bourne for the Third Time

2007, Paul Greengrass

(guest review by Kelly!, who gives 6 out of 10 stars)

The previews shown before The Bourne Ultimatum were the semiannual Wahlberg, Washington, and Foxx films about corruption and responsibility, and all were choppy
and strangely colored (a bright tint of a washed out urban setting is now
the official shot of the Middle East). I had no idea what was happening in the previews since my eyes couldn't adjust to how quickly everything had been edited, so I dismissed the Box Office Boys, trusting that Little Matty Damon and his assassin with amnesia
would not lose me so easily.

Bourne!

The Bourne Ultimatum is the third installment based on the Robert Ludlum
thrillers. Damon reprises the title role of Jason Bourne as he continues
to search for his identity and the person(s) responsible for making him who
he is. Or WHAT he is (jk, it’s who).

The first few sequences are helped along with flashbacks from the earlier
films. Bourne’s girlfriend, played by Franka Potente, is wrangled in as an accomplice in the first film and murdered in the second film, which provides further
motivation to find out what sort of government program Bourne is a product of.

Bourne!!!

Why do I like the movies? Because they are smart, quick, and rewarding. However, watching the flashbacks, I realized that I have no memory of the previous films. That may be a drawback to the slick, fast editing that shows Bourne as a ruthless and resourceful fighter. The fights are exciting and tense but are so quickly sliced together that until the dead body is still for a moment there is no image for the audience to take in. Remembering the Bourne films is like trying to remember a dream: they were in Milan, Albert Finney was there, and someone was punched in the face with a cookbook. (A sidenote to filmmakers: although Finney was a real fox years ago, Finney and Brian Cox are the exact same person to everyone else. When Cox’s character was killed in the second movie it confused me that he was continuing to menace Bourne in the third, until I was reminded that Finney had played someone different).

I am a big fan of the previous Bourne films, as well as Damon, and I think
the casting is terrific and an opportunity to give interesting international actors a chance to play small roles (Clive Owen, Paddy Considine). It’s even nice to have a reminder that Julia Stiles ever existed. Stile’s Nicky and Joan Allen’s Pamela, both in the previous films, add emotional strength as CIA agents who have reservations about Bourne’s role as the enemy.

BOURNE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Paul Greengrass takes his second crack at directing the series, and I was entertained throughout. I just wish I could take more of the film with me. Maybe it’s me. Maybe
it’s Julia Stiles.