"THE BOURNE ULTIMATUM" (2007) Review
"THE BOURNE ULTIMATUM" (2007) Review
"THE BOURNE ULTIMATUM" marked the adaptation of author Robert Ludlum's last novel about the amnesiac CIA agent/assasin Jason Bourne (Matt Damon). Considering that the first two movies - "THE BOURNE IDENTITY" (2002) and "THE BOURNE SUPREMACY" (2004) - barely resembled the novels from which they were adapted. One can honestly say the same about "ULTIMATUM". Most diehard fans of the novels would obviously be upset over these loose adaptations. But since I am not a big fan, it did not really bother me. But this last movie did continue the saga that began in the first movie. And in one of the most surprising ways.
Before I saw the movie, I had heard rumors that it began at least six months after the events of "SUPREMACY". The rumor turned out to be slightly false. The majority of the movie ended up being set six weeks after the first. Only the first scene, which began in Moscow, occurred before Bourne had killed Marie's murderer Krill after a high speed chase; and apologized to Irena Neski for murdering her parents. Then the story jumped another six weeks. But screenwriters Tony Gilroy and Scott Z. Burns managed to plant a surprise within three-quarters into the film that has strong connections to "SUPREMACY"'s final scene in New York City.
As for the rest of the movie turned out to be high-octane action thriller and mystery. Following his arrival in Paris, Bourne reads an article that revealed his past - including his relationship with Marie - and his connections to Treadstone. The article also featured exposure of a new CIA assassination program called "Blackbriar". Realizing that the reporter Simon Ross (Paddy Considine) of THE GUARDIAN might have a source within the CIA, Bourne heads for London and attempts to help the reporter evade capture and possible death at the hands of a Blackbriar assassin named Paz (Edgar Ramirez). Bourne fails to save his life and he spends the rest of the film tracking down Ross' source - a CIA section chief named Neal Daniels (Colin Stinton). He also has to deal with a paronoid C.I.A. Deputy Director official named Noah Vosen (David Strathairn), who wants Daniels dead for treason. Vosen also wants Bourne dead, because of the latter's supresssed knowledge of the Treadstone program and the Blackbriar programs. Along way, Bourne acquires the help of former Treadstone handler, Nicky Parsons (Julia Stiles) and C.I.A. Deputy Director, Pamela Landy (Joan Allen), who finds herself working with Vosen to track him down.
There were three sequences that I found well-written and very exciting:
*Bourne's attempts to keep Ross alive in London.
*Bourne and Nicky's adventures in Tangiers, while dealing with Blackbriar assasin Desh (Joey Ansah).
*Bourne's memories of his true self's [David Webb] decision to become a Treadstone assassin.
I found a good deal of Tony Gilroy, Scott Z. Burns and George Nolfi's screenplay rather excellent. And I have to take my hat off to the writers for creating an exciting script. But . . . I have to point out a few flaws. One - what happened to C.I.A. Director Marshall (Tomas Arana) from the previous film? According to the 2007 movie, C.I.A. Director Ezra Kramer (Scott Glenn) had approved of the new Blackbriar program. But the Blackbriar program had been first introduced by Ward Abbott (Brian Cox) in the first film. Only Marshall could have approved to jump start the program, not Kramer. Two, Nicky Parsons had claimed that she and Bourne had shared a past . . . in Paris. I found this claim rather startling, considering that the previous movies had never hinted of any romance between the two. The only past relationship that Nicky and Bourne could have shared was one between handler and assassin in Paris. And three, the final scene featured fugitive Nicky Parsons learning about the exposure of the Blackbriar and Treadstone assassin programs on the news . . . and the arrests of Vosen, Kramer and psychologist Dr. Albert Hirsch (Albert Finney). Frankly, I found this conclusion unrealistic. Yes, one can consider it a crowd pleaser, but there is no way on earth the C.I.A. would allow its dirty secrets (at least recent ones) to be aired on any national news program. And I doubt that Landy would have sent Vosen's secret files to the media - not if she wants to maintain her career. Chances are the C.I.A. would have suppressed news of the programs, killed Vosen and Hirsch, and put Kramer out to pasture where he can die under mysterious circumstances.
As for the acting - well it was top notch as usual. In what may turn out to be his last BOURNE film, Damon made the Jason Bourne [David Webb] role as his own. Julia Stiles continued to prove, as she had done in "SUPREMACY" that she and Damon have great screen chemistry . . . despite the discomfort and ackwardness between the two characters. This awkwardness came about Bourne's revelation of his distaste of his role as an assassin and a scene in which Nicky changed her appearance, dredging up memories of Marie doing the same in the first film. Joan Allen's portrayal of Pamela Landy was marvelous as usual. In fact, I believe that her performance in this movie was a minor improvement over the second film. Edgar Ramirez gave an intriguing performance as Blackbriar assassin Paz. Paddy Considine was effectively paranoid as the doomed reporter Simon Ross. And both David Strathairn and Albert Finney proved to be remarkably creepy and unpleasant. Although I believe that Strathairn was as good as Brian Cox, I found him to be an improvement over the slightly over-the-top Chris Cooper (as Alexander Conklin).
Paul Greengrass' direction seemed top notch. But I had one major complaint. I had barely tolerated Greengrass' handheld photography in "SUPREMACY". In "ULTIMATUM", my toleration nearly went down with the Titanic. I almost had a headache dealing with the shaky camera work. My other complaint deals with this movie's rendention of Moby's song, "Extreme Ways". Quite frankly, I hated it. I also hated Moby's new version of the franchise's theme song, "Extreme Ways".
Despite some of these changes, the hand held photography and some pretty serious flaws in the script's narrative, "THE BOURNE ULTIMATUM" proved to be just as exciting as the first two movies. And together, Damon, Greengrass, Kilroy, along with Doug Liman and Universal Pictures created a first-rate movie franchise.