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Derek Malcolm's rating
Bourne makes a run for it - and doesn't stop
By
Derek Malcolm
16 Aug 2007
You couldn't make this stuff up," says Scott Glenn's CIA chief. And indeed you couldn't, though Hollywood movies often do. The third Bourne film in what looks like a franchise that will run and run is virtually one long chase scene that tours the world, from America to Moscow, London, Paris, Madrid, Tangiers and back again.
It's action, action all the way, perpetrated by some 200 stunt men. Buildings and cars are wrecked as if there were no tomorrow, and a grim-faced Matt Damon as Bourne is left with little to do that isn't either desperate or dangerous - or both. If it wasn't for the fact that the director, Paul Greengrass - returning to the series for the second time - is more than capable in his most popular guise, and that the story itself has an edge that comfortably outdoes the simplicities of 007, we might be longing for a bit of quiet between the insistent roar of it all.
This time round, we again find Jason Bourne as a fighting machine without a country or a past that he can remember. He's been trained by people whose faces he vaguely recalls but whose names are nothing to him. And he wants to know who killed his lover and who taught him how to kill. Then he wants to forget the life that's been stolen from him and disappear.
Meanwhile, Treadstone, the black-ops programme that created him, has been restructured as something even more sinister. It's now Blackbriar, a joint Department of Defense, with a new generation of trained killers at the US government's disposal. Bourne is thus a liability who has to be stopped. But to him Blackbriar is the same thing, and one or other is going to gain the day.
There are really no roles that require more than perfunctory acting. But we get Julia Stiles as the CIA agent who takes Bourne's part and may or may not have been a previous lover, Joan Allen as the investigator who thinks Bourne ought to be brought in quietly and treated with respect, and David Strathairn as the shady head of Blackbriar. Finally, there's Albert Finney hamming away deliciously as Dr Albert Hirsch. I couldn't make out exactly how he fits into the complicated scheme of things but it was nice to see him anyway.
The whole is fast, furious, insistently inventive in its editing and overtly critical of the CIA's capacity to foul things up with possibly the worst of motives. It is hardly political in intent but there is something there that proclaims Greengrass, maker of the excellent United 93, to be more than a clever and innovative action director.
One would have liked more space for the actors to do more than run after each other and shoot their weaponry, but you can't have everything, and the least you can say is that The Bourne Ultimatum delivers more than most of the Hollywood biggies of the summer season, if never quite enough for this carping critic.
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Reader views (9)
If you like action movies, you will like this film. It could have been a lot better if they didn't have the 'jerky' action scenes which, for me spoilt some of the enjoyment as I couldn't see clearly what was happening.
- Felix Wong, Liverpool, 28/08/2007 11:31
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Hollywod has done it again, taking a very intriguing series and turning it to a mediocre trilogy. The only similarities between the books and the movies are the character names. Fight sequences and car chases (what else is new?) were predictable.
- Bode, London, 22/08/2007 23:58
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Good film but agree with the first comment, the action scenes (which actually is most of the film) were filmed very jerkily and you often couldn't follow what was going on.
- Jill, London, 22/08/2007 16:48
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Watched it and would highly recommend it to anyone, my next task is to read the books to see how different they are to the movies.
- Ciar, London, 21/08/2007 12:18
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The movies are excellent but they barely resemble the books. This latest film has the character of Jason in common with the book and the CIA but that is about all that is common. The second movie had both Jason and Marie in common although in the movie she dies early while in the books she is married to Jason with 2 kids and there at the end of the 3rd book.
I really enjoyed the movies, as I'm sure most will, but one has to remember that Hollywood takes stories from books and then creates something that is barely recognisable.
- Lionel, Concord, CA USA, 20/08/2007 19:26
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Mr. Malcolm, I'm surprised you seem to have forgotten that this series of 3 movies was first a series of 3 books that were best-sellers in the '70's. The movies actually follow the books quite well, if my memory is correct. This is a fairly recent trend since Lord Of The Rings, and one I'm glad to see. The way Hollywood has always butchered excellent books in the process of turning them into movies, has been downright painful in the past.
- Christine, Loveland, CO, USA, 20/08/2007 16:21
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I loved the scenes in Waterloo Station - it will never look the same to me again.
Brilliant movie. I have loved all three and would watch another ten and still love it.
- Charlie, London, 19/08/2007 19:31
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This film is incredible. The scene in Waterloo station is fantastic. Anyone who likes smart thrillers will love this and unlike most sequels I think this may be the best film in the series.
- James, London, 16/08/2007 14:13
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I thought it an excellent thriller but some in our group found the jerky camera action too off-putting. It has to be said as well that some of the plotting / continuity was a bit thin in places. Great music and visuals.
- Peter Bench, London, 16/08/2007 12:33
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