- I should admit upfront that it's difficult to review The Bourne Ultimatum without simply repeating my discussion of the previous installment, The Bourne Supremacy. I like both films well enough, with the caveat that Paul Greengrass' kinetic (?) directorial style is occasionally grating. In this respect, The Bourne Ultimatum is a bit more palatable than its predecessor, but I'd still prefer Doug Liman's calm, stable visual approach to Greengrass' overcaffeination any day of the week. Anyway, the biggest innovation in this film may be its novel approach to continuity, featuring a story that the audience only gradually realizes largely runs in parallel with the previous one.
- If you've seen any of the Bourne films, you can easily guess the plot of this one. Jason Bourne (Matt Damon) is back to battling the C.I.A. for control of his half-remembered life while trying to make amends for all the bad things he's done, which I think is step nine in the Assassins Anonymous rehabilitation program. Pamela Landy (Joan Allen) and Nicky Parsons (Julia Stiles) both return as the closest thing Bourne has to friends in the Agency, while David Straithern and Scott Glenn step in as the craggy men in suits who issue assassination requests the way some people phone for carry-out. Unlike previous installments, however, the entire proceedings have been ratcheted up in intensity, making the film feel like an extended high-adrenaline chase sequence. From early scenes in London's Waterloo train station where Bourne tries to keep a Guardian reporter (Paddy Considine) alive to a visually arresting tour through Tangier in pursuit of a fellow covert operative (Joey Ansah), there is very little time for the audience to catch its breath. That's not a complaint, either--this a very exciting movie.
- Ultimately, his new set of vaguely remembered dreams leads Bourne to the deepest-voiced and craggiest actor of all, Albert Finney. Whether the hero finally gets the answers he's been seeking is a matter of some debate, but at least he gets the chance to be the voice of experience in asking a young assassin (Edgar Ramirez) to "look at what they make you give." With this line, echoing Clive Owen's from the first installment, and the The Bourne Ultimatum's final shots of a body floating in the water, the series finally comes full circle. Although the directing quality varied from entry to entry (and sometimes scene to scene), at least I can say that the series proved always to be immensely exciting, relatively thoughtful, and, perhaps most importantly to Bourne, memorable.
- Apparently one of the photos Bourne takes from the C.I.A. safe is that of made-for-TV actor Richard Chaimberlain, who played Bourne in a TV movie.
