The Bourne Ultimatum is the final* part of the Bourne trilogy which bears little to no resemblance to the Robert Ludlum books. Incidentally, Ludlum is one of those masterful authors who manages to publish new titles despite being long dead.
Anyway, back to the film which is once again directed by Paul Greengrass. What can I say? It’s superb. It begins seconds after the previous film, The Bourne Supremacy has finished, with Bourne on the run in Moscow. He’s getting ever closer to finding out who he is, but he’s still against some mean CIA black-ops who will stop at nothing to get rid of him. The action moves from Italy to Paris to London to Tangiers to New York. And along the way we get some fabulous visceral set pieces.
In London there’s a frightening CCTV sequence set in Waterloo Station as Bourne tries to rendezvous with a Guardian journalist.
In Tangiers, there’s a great sequence set on the rooftops with Matt Damon’s Bourne and Julia Stiles’ Nicky. You really don’t know what’s going to happen, and although Bourne is always likely to survive, the same is not true for anyone else around him.
Once again, there’s an awful lot of handheld work here, with fast-cutting meaning that you’re really in the midst of the action. It’s done superbly well, and the action and pace just never lets up. It really is like a skillfully designed roller-coaster with the occasional chance for you to gather your breath before the next thrilling element.
I came out absolutely full of admiration for all concerned.
*Paul Greengrass jokingly told Simon Mayo that if Spurs finished in the top 4, he’d make another one. This is obviously unlikely in the extreme (Greengrass himself is a Crystal Palace fan), but even then, with Mayo taking his joke too seriously, he found himself backing out of it in the course of the interview. Not that Spurs is going to manage it, with Martin Jol surely counting the days not until he’s out.