Movie Review: "The Bourne Ultimatum" (2007)

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Movie: "The Bourne Ultimatum"
Director: Paul Greengrass
Year: 2007
Rating: PG-13
Running Time: 1 hour, 55 minutes

Someone has been leaking information to the press about a secret CIA program called Blackbriar. The head of Blackbriar assumes Jason Bourne (Matt Damon) is behind the leak and continues the manhunt for him. Meanwhile, Bourne is conducting an investigation of his own, trying to uncover what Blackbriar has to do with him and operation Treadstone, as well as how he got involved in the first place.

Paul Greengrass returns to his directorial duties for "The Bourne Ultimatum," the third installment in the Jason Bourne franchise. This movie begins right where "The Bourne Supremacy" left off with Jason Bourne, again played by Matt Damon, wounded in Russia. Bourne then goes into hiding for six weeks to recover, emerging to inform Martin Kreutz, played by Daniel Brühl, of his sister Marie's death. Shortly after, Bourne learns of an investigation a reporter named Simon Ross, played by Paddy Considine, is trying to conduct on him, Treadstone, and Operation Blackbriar. When Bourne tries to make contact with this reporter, he is spotted by the CIA, who have been tracking Ross since they learned of his investigation through NSA wiretapping and information collecting. Now, the head of Blackbriar named Noah Vosen, played by David Strathairn, will do anything to keep this information from becoming public, including killing anyone who knows anything about it.

Much like the first two films in this exciting trilogy, "The Bourne Ultimatum" is an edge of your seat action thriller that piles on the tense, nail-biting moments from the start. Matt Damon once again does a superb job as the titular Jason Bourne, proving he hasn't lost a beat over the course of these three films, which span across a five year time frame. Also returning to the conclusion of this trilogy is Julia Stiles, who reprises her role as Nicky Parsons. This time, instead of being relegated to a background character for Bourne to wave a gun at when he gets frustrated, Nicky actually gets to join in on some of the action and thrills in a much more substantial role. Joan Allen also returns as Pamela Landy, who is asked to join in on the search for Bourne. Allen also hasn't lost a beat from the second film, doing a wonderful job in her role as an authoritative female who doesn't like to take shit from anybody. Landy only has one goal, and that is to get Jason Bourne at all costs, provided things are done correctly, by the book, and with no funny business. Added to this already stellar cast is David Strathairn as Vosen, who is essentially this film's Conklin (played by Chris Cooper in the first installment). Straithairn adds an air of tension because it is clear his one true objective is to protect the Blackbriar program, even if it means killing Bourne and anyone who helps him to do it. The things he does in this film are clearly done in an effort to cover himself, his boss, and those working with him higher up in the program so they are not exposed.

There fight scenes, once again, are well made and expertly choreographed. Also, if you thought there were a lot of car chases in the second film, you've got another thing coming as it feels like there is one every 20 minutes in "The Bourne Ultimatum." Still, we never tire of the action, despite "action movie physics" once again being in play here. Our one critique, which has been present since the first film, is the use of a shaky camera during filming. In this final movie, it somehow feels even worse than it has in the previous two installments. There's no need for such frantic camerawork, and yet it's as if Greengrass decided it was cool in the middle of shooting "Supremacy" and upped the ante this time around. It can get nauseatingly annoying. Overall, though, "The Bourne Ultimatum" is another solid addition to this series and a worthy third installment. This is a mystery-filled, heart-pounding thrill ride serving as the culmination of many years worth of work on a fabulous trilogy. If only they had left it at three.

My Rating: 8/10
BigJ's Rating: 8.5/10
IMDB's Rating: 8.1/10
Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 93%
Do we recommend this movie: ABSOLUTELY YES!!!