
Director : Paul Greengrass
Starring : Matt Damon, Julia Stiles, David Straithairn, Joan Allen
Genre : Action, Thriller, Sequel
Language : English
Trailer : http://www.apple.com/trailers/universal/thebourneultimatum/th_medium.html
Remember Everything. Forgive Nothing.............
Background :
The Bourne ultimatum is the sequel to the extremely successful bourne series (The Bourne Identity and The Bourne Supremacy ) , based on the characters created by Robert Ludlum. Matt Damon returns as Jason Bourne in this third installment in the series. As does Julia Stiles as Nicky Parsons, who has a substantial role this time. And Joan Allen reprises her role as CIA Dy Director Pam Landy.
The movie has been directed by Oscar nominated director Paul Greengrass, who also directed the second movie in the series, The Bourne Supremacy. Paul Greengrass had earlier got an oscar nomination for his movie 'United 93' , a movie about the passengers of the flight of the same name, which was supposed to hit the white house on september 11. Paul Greengrass didnt win the award though as the Oscar Academy wanted to honour Martin Scorcesse this time after ignoring his several superior works from earlier.
The Bourne series is based on the characters created by Robert Ludlum in his books of the same names. However, the stories of the movies are entirely different from the books. The first movie atleast had the same premise of Amnesia as the novel. However, the Bourne Supremacy is not related to the book in any way. The same goes for The Bourne Ultimatum, which has a completely different story to the novel. In essence, you dont need to be a fan of the books to enjoy this movie, although , a little background from the first movie would help.
The Movie:
Jason Bourne is a fascinating character. In the first book as well as movie of the series, He doesnt remember who he is , or what he used to do, but realises that he has a few skills that make him quite a potent weapon. He speaks several languages fluently and has many passports. He doesnt need guns or weapons to disarm people.
The movie opens with Jason Bourne a.k.a David Webb being chased by the cops in Moscow. The CIA is paranoid that he wants to get to them and sees Bourne as a threat who needs to be get rid of (As if they thought that was possible, there are 2 movies before this to prove that the CIA can do nothing to get to Bourne even if he is right in their office ) . It turns out that Bourne was in Moscow coz that was the place of his first assasination and he wanted to apologize to the family members of the victim. The action soon shifts to London, where Bourne picks up the Guardian and we are shown an article about a CIA operation called 'BlackBriar' which encompasses the the Project Treadstone, of which Bourne was originally a part of . He tries to meet the reporter but ofcourse the CIA is watching him and Bourne manages to talk to him inspite of that, before the reporter gets killed. After a series of fast twists and turns and chase scenes and flying through several cities, Bourne gets to the original place where he was turned into the killer that he was. He meets the doctor who trained him. In the midst of all this, he has time to play games with the CIA and also meet Nicky Parsons, who is now posted in Berlin. It is hinted that Nicky and Bourne could have been romantically linked before his Amnesia. But that is for another movie perhaps. How Bourne exposes the CIA and its director for the project Blackbriar , which is an experimental programme to bypass all red tape , forms part of the climax.
Analysis:
As an action movie, The Bourne Ultimatum delivers. Matt Damon is Jason Bourne and he fits the role perfectly. Paul Greengrass employs his trademark 'shaky camera' technique for almost the whole of the movie. While this enhances some of the fight scenes, it also annoys you in some other scenes. I believe that Greengrass should move onto other techniques and not get stuck with this, before people start finding him boring and predictable.
The pace and action of the movie is relentless. Its non-stop action from start to the end and the twists and turns keep the user on the edge of the seat. As is common with Hollywood movies where the hero is not working for the CIA, the CIA comes across as unbelievably incompetant with all the technology at their disposal. They can monitor all the phone lines in the world and have all the satellites to track everyone down, but they cant catch Jason Bourne who calmly enters their office and steals one of the most top secret files from the Dy. Director's Office. Besides, the novel says that Jason Bourne is a master of disguise, who can pass off as a completely new person everytime. But in the movie, we never see him employing any disguise at all. He just walks past customs, cops and moves from one country to another without anyone ever noticing him. That just tells us how incompetent the CIA is . In one scene, he is talking to Pam Landy from the building across the CIA office and says that she looks tired. The bad guys monitoring the call cannot even guess where he is calling from. It does not take rocket science to guess that he would be seeing her from a building across the street and the logical thing would be to seal that building and search it completely. I think Bourne must be thankful, I dont work for the CIA :) . There are a lot of scenes put in to impress the viewer of the amazing abilities of Bourne , but when seen logically, come across as stupid or amateurish. Like the scene where he is talking to Vossen on phone and tells him that he is actually in Vossen's office and that he has got hold of the secret file. That scene would quite please the gallery but if I were Bourne, I would have waited till I got out of the building atleast before telling him that.
Julia Stiles has got a more substantial role this time out , as Nicky Parsons. Shes pleasing to the eyes and little more than that and comes across as another incompetent CIA agent. However, that can be explained off , as she was only incharge of Logistics and wasnt a field agent in the true sense. However, since she was involved in a top secret operation like Treadstone, we do expect her to be atleast a little competant. There are also hints that before Bourne lost his memory, there could have been a romantic linkup between the two. So we can expect more along this story line if a sequel is made. I wouldnt mind seeing more of her in the next movie, although she cant act much.
People who have read the novels would realise the differences between the books and the movies. In the books, Jason Bourne is not exactly a killer (although he does kill a few people, especially in the Bourne Supremacy and the Bourne Ultimatum books ) . He was originally created to catch Carlos the Jackal. Bourne visits places of assasinations and makes them look like he killed the person, creating a legend of Bourne. The plan is to draw out Carlos and then capture him. Obviously, they couldnt use the same story for the movie as Carlos was captured some time back. And as a result, in the movies, Bourne is a CIA made assasin, who kills people without questioning, but things change due to his unexpected Amnesia.
Inspite of the minor flaws, or rather, minor irritants, Bourne Ultimatum is a movie that delivers on what it promises, that is , non stop action. Its an action packed ride from the first frame to the last. Paul Greengrass has created another good action movie that is way better than the other action movies of the year.
Conclusion:
The Bourne Ultimatum is a treat for action movie fans. Its a fun filled action packed fun ride from the beginning to the end. Its definitely one of the better action movies of the year. Fans of the books need not feel offended to the liberties the writers have taken with the story, as the movie is better than other adaptations. Matt Damon will for long be remembered as Jason Bourne inspite of doing some other good roles like Linus Caldwell ( Oceans 11, 12 and 13) , Will Hunting (Good Will Hunting), Private Ryan ( Saving Private Ryan ). All in all, a must watch for action movie buffs.