The Bourne Ultimatum
Starring: Matt Damon, Joan allen, David Strathairn
Director: Paul Greengrass
Rating: 5/5
After the summer of sequels the Bourne franchise muscles in on the act with the third installment The Bourne Ultimatum.
Ultimatum picks up where Supremacy left off Ward Abbott (Brian Cox) is dead and Pam Landy (Joan Allen) has the taped confession.
On the surface the Treadstone project appears to be dead bit in the form of Noah Vosen (David Strathairn), who will stop at nothing to kill Biurne, it lives on.
Jason Bourne however continues to stomp his way down memory lane hopping from country to country, city to city visiting Moscow, Paris, London, Madrid, Tangiers and New York in a bid to discover who the real Jason Bourne is whilst trying to out manoever cops, federal and interpol officers who would prefer him dead.
As sequels go it's fair to say that the first is awlays the best and it goes steadily downhill from there. But with The Bourne Ultimatum this is trend is well and truely broken.
Ultimatum is not a mindless sequel it's an intellegent, fast paced blockbuster making Bourne the most consistent franchise of the summer, producing three high quality movies.
The Bourne Identity kick started Damon's career, hard to believe that before signing for Identity Damon hadn't been offered an acting role in six months.
Off the back of Identity and Supremacy Damon has become a major Hollywood player working with Martin Scorese in The Departed and Robert Di Niro in The Good Shepherd.
In Ultimatum Damon is like a force of nature as the shot, beaten and blown up silent assassin who is ploughing down anyone who gets in the way of discovering the truth.
Yet his revalation to Nicky Parsons (Julia Stiles) that his past exploits haunt, him claiming he can see the face of everyone he has ever killed, is delivered with such conscious integrity and vulnerability that you find yourself rooting for Bourne more than ever.
But Brit director Paul Greengrass, who came on board for Supremacy, must take some credit. He doesn't get caught up in the action he keeps his eye firmly on the goal: to give the audience answers but keeping them onside no matter what those answers bring to light about the leading man's character.
As the movie jumps from city to city Greengrass masterfully uses the streets of London and Tangiers to create a breathtaking backdrop to the heart stopping action - in particular the chase over the roof tops in Tangiers.
Greengrass also manages to deliver one of the most exciting, yet brutal, car chases/total carnageever committed to film.
This is a fast paced, high octane movie which finally gives us answers, as Bourne delves deeper into his hazy past, as it's gradually revealed how he was re-shaped into this super-deadly assassin.
Not only is this the best film of the summerit's the best action movie of the year and can seriously be classed as one of the best of all time. While Damon cements himself as a bona fide leading man.
Helen Earnshaw FemaleFirst
Tagged in Matt Damon Jason Bounre