The Bourne Ultimatum review

The Bourne Ultimatum opens with Jason Bourne being chased, and for the next 111 pulsating, action-packed minutes the chase continues, barely ever pausing for breath. The third in the Bourne series based on Robert Ludlum's airport fodder novels, Ultimatum ratchets up the pace a notch from the first two, neither of which was exactly pedestrian.

During the unrelenting chase, which has Bourne alternating between being the pursuer and the pursued, there are a number of truly spectacular sequences. One in particular involves a car chase in Manhattan which has you reaching for a seatbelt as it places you firmly in the action. A refreshing feature of the big action set-ups is that they are real. As sophisticated as CGI has become, there is no substitute for the real thing and the climax of the car chase feels shockingly real. The rapid-fire editing and close-up, hand-held photography involves you in the action rather than safely observing it. The only criticism of the extravagant stunts is that Bourne has evolved from a tough, but plausibly realistic person to an indestructible automaton whose ability to emerge unscathed from horrific accidents and murderous fights puts him on a par with the Terminator.

The appeal off the Bourne series is the elevated intellect of the central character, who is classifiable as the thinking man's action hero. Their success is in large thanks to the casting of Matt Damon who is one of a small number of box office stars who truly possesses the intelligence required to play Bourne convincingly. Another key component of Bourne's continued success is director Paul Greengrass who has stamped his energetic and gritty style on the last two films. His raw, edgy cinematography is taken one step further here with cameras being issued to stuntman, making it feel as if you are there with them as they crash through windows, weave through narrow streets on motorbikes and jump rooftops.

For those unfamiliar with the first two films, The Bourne Ultimatum does a seamless job of bringing the story up to speed. The central theme being Jason Bourne's pursuit of his true identity and how he came to be an assassin for the CIA. The plot picks up with a reporter for The Guardian, Simon Ross, (Paddy Considine) finding himself in possession of information about a covert CIA operation called Blackbriar. Upon discovering Ross might be able to help him in his quest, Bourne seeks him out. The scene in Waterloo Station in which Bourne tries to protect Ross from a team of CIA agents, under the orders of Noah Vosen (David Strathairn), who are out to kill him, is a quite brilliantly choreographed and taut scene.

More than ably filled with a cast of the old (Joan Allen, Julia Stiles) and the new (Considine, Strathairn, Albert Finney) The Bourne Ultimatum is equal, if not superior, to its predecessors, which is no mean feat. Written as a trilogy, Ludlum's Bourne series was designed to end here, but the final scene suggests that Bourne's cinematic future might yet continue. On this evidence, let's hope so.

Kevin Murphy