The Bourne Ultimatum Review

Familiarity with the American movie going public is a good thing if you want to have a hit.  Audience would rather pay $9 or $10 to see something familiar with familiar characters before seeing something truly original.  Thankfully, there is the occasional time where familiarity is welcomed.  The return of the Jason Bourne character in The Bourne Ultimatum is just one of those times.  

For those unfamiliar with the Bourne story, it goes something like this:  Jason Bourne was a CIA operative who was left for dead.  He survived, but when he woke up, he couldn't remember anything: not his name, not his date of birth, not where he was from, anything. 

The first two Bourne movies (2001's The Bourne Identity and it's superior 2004 sequel The Bourne Supremacy) focused on Bourne finding out the basics: his name, who he worked for, etc.  The Bourne Ultimatum focuses on his memory coming back, and what that could mean politically and career-wise for the CIA and the people they employ.  

Directed by Paul Greengrass, Ultimatum is an enjoyable, if slow at times, action flick that has what so many action flicks lack: a brain.  It's a refreshing change, one we can only hope Hollywood will take notice of how popular it is.   

Matt Damon as an action hero might seem a little odd, especially when he first stepped into this role.  However, he has nailed the character so succinctly that it is impossible to imagine anyone else in the role.  He is magnificent and most importantly, believeable.  Sure, there are probably a couple of scenes in Ultimatum (just as in the previous 2 installments) where you have to suspend your disbelief.  But for the most part, you feel like Jason Bourne could be a real person in the same very real danger portrayed on the screen.  And Damon's everyman way about him helps that greatly.  

Most people are calling Ultimatum the finest in the series, but I disagree.  While familiarity with the Bourne character is great, the familiarity of the fight and action and chase scenes is not.  They are still all excellently choreographed and well produced, but they also feel like somewhat cheap rehashes of the scenes that made Supremacy the best action movie since the original Die Hard.  Maybe I was unfairly hoping they could raise their game even more on the chase and action sequences, but outside of one in particular, I don't think they did.  

With that being said, Bourne is certainly the best ending to a trilogy in this summer of threes, and is one of the few action movie sequels that is actually worth a moviegoer's money.  I, for one, am hoping we can get familiar with the Jason Bourne character again sometime down the road.