The Bourne Ultimatum [M]

Ex-CIA assassin Jason Bourne is still suffering from amnesia and still being hunted by the CIA. Jason still has some muddled and cryptic clues about his past, which he seeks to discover but, now branded a national threat the hunt is becoming ever more dangerous and ever more complicated as a new stream of highly trained assassins are pouring from the CIA with the intent to prevent Jason from learning his identity and getting rid of him once and for all. 

Easily the best of the Bourne films, The Bourne Ultimatum, the third in the series, is the only one to make it into The Book… and with good reason! The fight sequences and car chases are bumped up to a whole new level in this film and the plot becomes a fantastically complicated labyrinth of twists and turns and paths that often turn and double back upon themselves. An absolute rollercoaster of an action/thriller, this movie is brilliant! 

Ex-CIA assassin Jason Bourne is still suffering from amnesia and still being hunted by the CIA. Jason still has some muddled and cryptic clues about his past, which he seeks to discover but, now branded a national threat the hunt is becoming ever more dangerous and ever more complicated as a new stream of highly trained assassins are pouring from the CIA with the intent to prevent Jason from learning his identity and getting rid of him once and for all. 

Following closely on from Supremacy, so close in fact that we see a scene from the second film appear toward the climax of this movie, which completely shattered my perception of time elapsed, The Bourne Ultimatum boasts even more action, plot misdirection, and general chaos than either of its predecessors. 

Our most memorable action sequences are, again, the punch-ups and fistfights that Jason engages in in his efforts to stay alive. One particularly spectacular one is between him and another assassin where there is no sound, no score to accompany the fight, just the sounds of grunts, thuds, and breaking glass. Director, Paul Greengrass’ documentary style of filming the car chases, crashes, and fights, is used to ultimate effect in this film with minimal layers that result in five to ten minutes of raw and quite powerful drama and suspense. 

The story, still based on Robert Ladlum’s novel, takes plot misdirection and the genre of action/thriller to new and dizzying heights as the closer the protagonist gets to his goals, the bigger and more inaccessible they become. On more than one occasion the plot doubles back on itself and becomes an elaborate web of twists and turns and shock revelations. For a fair part of the duration of this movie, I found that I was completely lost as to what was going on. But I absolutely loved it all the same. 

Starring Matt Damon, Julia Stiles, David Strathairn, Scott Glenn, Paddy Considine, Edgar Ramirez, Joan Allen, and Albert Finney, The Bourne Ultimatum is a dizzying rollercoaster of a movie that’s packed to bursting with superb action sequences, plot misdirection, and suspense. Easily the best of the Bourne films, this movie will have you enthralled from start to finish!