"THE BOURNE ULTIMATUM" (2007) Review"THE BOURNE ULTIMATUM" marked author Robert Ludlum's last novel about the amnesiac CIA agent/assasin Jason Bourne (Matt Damon). Considering that the first two movies - "THE BOURNE IDENTITY" (2002) and "THE BOURNE SUPREMACY" (2004) - barely resembled the novels from which they were adapted. One can honestly say the same about "ULTIMATUM". Most diehard fans would obviously be upset over these loose adaptations. But since I am not a big fan of the Ludlum novels, it does not really bother me. But this latest movie does continue the saga that began in the first movie. And in one of the most surprising ways. Before I saw the movie, I had heard rumors that it began at least six months after the events of "SUPREMACY". The rumor turned out to be slightly false for the majority of the movie ended up being set six weeks later. In fact, the first scene began in Moscow, where Bourne had apologized to Irena Neski for murdering her parents and killed Marie's murderer Kirill after a high speed chase; until the story jumped another six weeks. But screenwriters Tony Gilroy and Scott Z. Burns managed to plant a surprise within three-quarters into the film that has strong connections to "SUPREMACY"'s final scene.As for the rest of the movie, like its predecessors, it turned out to be high-octane action thriller and mystery. Following his arrival in Paris, Bourne reads an article that revealed his past - including his relationship with Marie - and his connections to Treadstone. The article also featured exposure of a new CIA assassination program called "Blackbriar". Realizing that the reporter Simon Ross (Paddy Considine) of THE GUARDIAN might have a source within the CIA, he heads for London and attempts to help the reporter evade capture and possible death at the hands of a Blackbriar assassin named Paz (Edgar Ramirez) . Bourne fails to save his life and he spends the rest of the film tracking down Ross' source - a CIA section chief named Neal Daniels (Colin Stinton). He also has to deal with a paronoid CIA official named Noah Vosen (David Strathairn), who wants Daniels dead for treason. Vosen also wants Bourne dead, because of the latter's supresssed knowledge of the Treadstone program and the New York training headquarters where both the Treadstone and Blackbriar programs began. Along way, Bourne acquires the help of former Treadstone handler, Nicky Parsons (Julia Stiles) and CIA Deputy Director, Pamela Landy (Joan Allen). I found two sequences well-written and very exciting:*Bourne's attempts to keep Ross alive in London.
*Bourne and Nicky's adventures in Tangiers, while dealing with Blackbriar assasin Desh (Joey Ansah).
*Bourne's memories of his other self's [David Webb] decision to become a Treadstone assassin.Some of "ULTIMATUM"'s screenplay is excellent. And I have to take my hat off to Gilroy and Burns for creating an exciting script. But . . . I have to point out a few flaws. One, the final scenes feature fugitive Nicky Parsons learning about the exposure of the Blackbriar and Treadstone assasin programs on the news . . . and the arrests of Vosen and others involved in the two programs - CIA Director Ezra Kramer (Scott Glenn) and psychologist Dr. Albert Hirsch (Albert Finney). Frankly, I found this conclusion unrealistic. Yes, one can consider it a crowd pleaser, but there is no way on earth the CIA would allow its dirty secrets (at least recent ones) to be aired any national news program. And I doubt that Landy would have sent Vosen's secret files to the media - not if she wants to maintain her career. Chances are the CIA would have suppressed news of the programs and killed Vosen and Hirsch, and Kramer out to pasture where he can die under mysterious circumstances. Two, this movie was set six weeks after the 2004 movie. What happened to CIA director Marshall, portrayed by Tomas Arana? He was replaced by Scott Glenn, who portrayed the new CIA director, Ezra Cramer. And judging by the scenes with Cramer, I got the feeling that Gilroy and Greengrass were trying to sell the idea that Cramer had been in this position for several years. The movie even claimed that he was the one who originally approved the Blackbriar program. And this is impossible. Only Marshall or whomever was CIA director at the end of 2002's "THE BOURNE IDENTITY" could have been around to approve the very program that Ward Abbott had presented.Also in "THE BOURNE ULTIMATUM", Nicky Parsons had hinted of some past relationship between her and Bourne. I hope she was not referring to some kind of romantic relationship. Not once did Nicky ever hinted any romance between her and Bourne either in "IDENTITY" or "SUPREMACY". And finally, I feel that this movie suffered from too much action and not enough narrative . . . especially in the first half. I was surprised at how quickly the movie shifted into action in London, some fifteen minutes into the film.As for the acting - well it was top notch as usual. In what promises to be his last film, Damon makes the role Jason Bourne [David Webb] as his own. Julia Stiles continued to prove, as she had done in "SUPREMACY" that she and Damon have great screen chemistry . . . despite the discomfort and ackwardness between the two characters. This ackwardness came about Bourne's revelation of his distaste of his role as an assasin and a scene in which Nicky changes her appearance, dredging up memories of Marie doing the same in the first film. Joan Allen was marvelous. In fact, I believe that her performance in this movie was an improvement over the second film. And both David Strathairn and Albert Finney proved to be remarkably creepy and unpleasant. Although I believe that Strathairn was as good as Brian Cox (as Ward Abbott), I found him to be an improvement over the slightly over-the-top Chris Cooper (as Conklin).Paul Greengrass' direction was just as top notch as Kilroy and Burns' screenplay. But as with the movie's script, I have a complaint about him. I had barely tolerated Greengrass' handheld photography in "SUPREMACY". In "ULTIMATUM", my toleration nearly went down with the Titanic. I almost had a headache dealing with the shaky camera work. My other complaint deals with this movie's rendention of Moby's song, "Extreme Ways". Quite frankly, I hated it. I hated the changes made to the song's tempo and vocals. Despite all of this, "ULTIMATUM" proved to be just as exciting as the first two movies. And together, Damon, Greengrass, Kilroy and Universal Pictures have themselves a first-rate trilogy and franchise.
"THE BOURNE SUPREMACY" (2004) ReviewI have read only one of three novels written by Robert Ludlum about the amnesiac spy and assassin, Jason Bourne. And it was the 1980 novel - the first one. It was pretty good novel, but it bore scant resemblance to Doug Liman's 2002 movie, "THE BOURNE IDENTITY". I never saw "THE BOURNE IDENTITY" in the movie theaters. But I did see it on DVD and became an instant fan. It did lead me to see the 2004 sequel, "THE BOURNE SUPREMACY" in the theaters. I never read the 1986 novel from which the movie derived its title. It was just as well. This movie bore no resemblance, whatsoever, to Ludlum's second novel.Set two years after the 2002 movie, "THE BOURNE SUPREMACY" began in Berlin, Germany; where a C.I.A. operation to obtain information on an Agency mole that stole $20 million dollars of allocation money. The operation was led by a C.I.A. Deputy Director named Pamela Landy. However, a Russian F.S.B. agent named Krill killed Landy's source and a field agent, stole the evidence and framed former operative Jason Bourne for the crime by planting a false fingerprint. Krill's benefactor, an oil magnate named Yuri Grelkov, ordered him to kill Bourne, who was living in Goa, India with his girlfriend, Marie Kreutz. Krill ended up killing Marie after a high-speed chase in Goa. And Bourne returned to Europe to exact revenge upon the C.I.A., believing they were responsible for Marie's death. At the same time, Bourne has been besieged by dreams and memories of an early assignment that led to his murder of two people in a hotel - an assignment that ended up having strong links to the botched operation in Berlin."THE BOURNE SUPREMACY" turned out to have the shortest running time in the entire movie franchise. Although it featured two chase sequences - one in Goa and the other in Moscow, it seemed less action-oriented than the other two films. If I must be honest, this BOURNE movie is noteworthy for two things, the death of Marie Kreutz and the introduction of C.I.A. director Pamela Landy. It has never received the same level of attention that the other movies have. And yet . . . it is my favorite one in the entire trilogy that features Matt Damon.I have at least two problems with "THE BOURNE SUPREMACY". My first problem featured the character of Jarda, portrayed by actor Marton Csokas. During his confrontation with Bourne inside his Munich home, Jarda claimed that they were the only two Treadstone operatives still living. Originally, I thought Jarda was the same guy who had killed Alexander Conklin in "THE BOURNE IDENTITY" (portrayed by actor Russell Levy). But I learned that Conklin's killer was named Manheim. And according to the 2002 movie, there were only three other Treadstone operatives, aside from Bourne. Jarda was NOT one of them. Had screenwriter Tony Gilroy forgotten about Manheim? "THE BOURNE SUPREMACY" marked Paul Greengrass' debut as the director of a BOURNE. Doug Liman, who had directed the first film, served as one of the film's producers. It also marked the first appearance of the shaky-cam style filming that I have grown to dislike. Such style of filming is fine in a war movie or a documentary-style flick. But it almost made the chase sequences in Goa and especially in Moscow visually confusing.Despite what I believe were flaws in the movies, I cannot deny that I love "THE BOURNE SUPREMACY". It may have been the least action-oriented film in the franchise, but I firmly believe that thanks to Tony Gilroy's writing, Paul Greengrass' direction and Matt Damon's performance; it was the most emotional film of the three. And it featured great character development for the Jason Bourne, Pamela Landy, Nicky Parsons and Ward Abbott characters. This movie, I believe, featured Matt Damon's finest moment in the entire trilogy and some of his best acting, period. Ludlum's 1986 novel included a plot line that featured the character of Marie St. Jacques Webb being kidnapped to coerce David Webb into assuming the role of Jason Bourne again in order to deal with a deadly assassin. Gilroy was inspired by this plot line to create a story in which Bourne's past as an assassin would force him to atone for his crimes - especially the one crime that started his career for Treadstone. Marie's death at the hands of Krill forced Bourne to seek out the C.I.A. again. It also led to what I believe to be the best scene in the entire trilogy - Bourne's meeting with the young Russian girl, whose parents had been his first victims. But there were other scenes that either took my breath away or strongly impressed me. They include Marie's death in Goa, the verbal confrontations between Pamela Landy and Ward Abbott, Bourne's fight with Jarda, Nicky Parson's terror-filled conversation with Bourne about his first assignment, Bourne's realization that he had been tricked into committing two unsanctioned murders by Conklin and Abbott, Abbott's final conversations with both Bourne and Landy, and the Bourne/Krill car chase in Moscow. Looking at this list, I realize that many of these scenes were dramatic, instead of action-oriented. And this does not bother me, because the level of drama and the performances made it all worthwhile.I cannot talk about "THE BOURNE SURPEMACY" without discussing the cast. I have already expressed my delight at Matt Damon's acting in this film. He gave his usual, top-level performance. And as I had stated earlier, his scene with actress Oksana Akinshina, who portrayed the daughter of the Russian couple he had killed years earlier, was probably the best I had seen in the franchise. I found it intense, yet subtle and emotional. Joan Allen made her first appearance as C.I.A. Deputy Director Pamela Lundy. I have a deep suspicion that her role was inspired by Judi Dench's tenure as "M" in the last six James Bond movies. Allen proved to be equally strong and commanding as Lundy, yet at the same time, managed to quietly express her character's insecurities in her scenes with Brian Cox's Ward Abbott. I must admit that I was not hat impressed by Cox in the first BOURNE movie. He seemed to be overshadowed by Chris Cooper's more showy portrayal of Alex Conklin. But he was in top form as the quiet and desperately manipulative Ward Abbott, who along with Yuri Grelkov, was responsible for the theft of the missing C.I.A. funds. Like Cox, Julia Stiles' second appearance in a BOURNE movie proved to be a lot more impressive. Her character, Nicky Parsons, transformed from the shadowy Treadstone operative to a woman frightened at the idea of facing a murderous Jason Bourne. Her emotional scene with Damon's Bourne in Berlin proved to be one of the best in the movie. Franka Potente briefly returned as Bourne's doomed girlfriend, Marie Kreutz to give a first-rate performance in a scene that featured the character's attempt to keep Bourne's raging paranoia in check. Her death at the hands of Krill proved to be one of the most surprising moments I have encountered in a movie in years. For someone who spoke very few lines, Oksana Akinshina did an excellent job in her portrayal of the Neskis' daughter. That confession scene with Damon would have never worked without her spot-on response. Although I had seen Karl Urban in two "LORD OF THE RINGS" movies by 2004, his performance as the cold-blooded F.S.B. agent Krill, finally led me to take notice of him as an actor. Urban radiated more presence in this role than he did in Peter Jackson's movies. And he managed to achieve this with less lines. More importantly, his Krill proved to be a VERY effective nemesis for Bourne, despite being a lesser trained operative. And finally, the movie also featured a brief appearance by Tomas Arana in a sharp performance as the sardonic C.I.A. Director Marshall.Yes, "THE BOURNE SUPREMACY" has its flaws. I cannot deny this. Just about every movie I have seen has flaws. I have also noticed that it has attracted less attention than the other two BOURNE movies. Yet, thanks to Paul Greengrass' direction, Tony Gilroy's script and a superb cast led by Matt Damon; it is my favorite film in the franchise.
