Review

Review Date: 1-August-07
Spoiler Rating: Medium
Juju Judgment: Juicy

The Bourne Ultimatum (2007)

"The Bourne Ultimatum" is a stellar action flick and a fitting finale to one of the best trilogies ever made. Matt Damon reprises his role as the amnesiac super-agent called Jason Bourne who must repel hordes of anonymous enemies on his way to the truth and a life unencumbered by conspiracy. With nods to the previous films, "The Bourne Ultimatum" finds the hero following clues to his origin as a trained killer through London, Madrid, Tangiers, and New York, eventually coming full circle to the very room where it all began. The action starts sensationally in a crowded Tube station where a reporter learns that Bourne's story is out of his league. The tension of this scene is later echoed when a former acquaintance (Julia Stiles) helps Bourne and ends up running for her life as well. In a reverse of the standard formula, the plot slows down at the end of the movie both literally (less motion) and figuratively (less cleverness). Bourne's ultimate discovery is not anything that he (or we) hadn't already surmised and requires a certain amount of naiveté to appear dramatic. (What? The CIA brutally molds people into assassins who sometimes terminate even U.S. citizens? Unbelievable! Not.) Fortunately Damon has the skill to pull off both the physical and psychological aspects of Bourne's journey.

Damon's fine performance notwithstanding, the real star of the show is director Paul Greengrass, hot off his Academy Award nomination for "United 93." As in "The Bourne Supremacy," he ably uses the camera and music to emphasize the characters' feelings of entrapment and confrontation. For example, when a clandestine phone call occurs he shows the recipient through window blinds and then leaps in for a closer shot to depict the personal impact of the news. His fight and chase scenes are raw and immediate, an effect enhanced by his preference for shooting in authentic locations.

Note should also be made of returning cast member Joan Allen as a fed who is noble and newcomer David Strathairn as one who is not. The scenes involving these strong personalities mostly serve to give one the heebie-jeebies about how invasive Homeland Security measures may have become. I have no idea if the movie is accurate in showing the government routinely eavesdropping on personal cell calls, even overseas, and blithely tracking anyone, anywhere if they feel the urge. Maybe it's a good thing that "The Bourne Ultimatum" is so entertaining. It allows one the pleasure of escapism as it adorns itself in the garb of reality.

Copyright © 2007 The Jujube (M. I. Kim). All rights reserved.