Movie Review: The Bourne Ultimatum

Margaret and I went to The Bourne Ultimatum on Sunday 16th September. This is the third film in the Bourne series, and probably the last. The main thrust of the film was Jason Bourne's attempt to discover who made him into a brutal assassin. In the previous movies he came to reject his brutal role, though in all the movies he continued to use the skills his training had given him to stay alive.

This is pure multiplex escapist entertainment, and as such is entertaining but not particularly memorable. If the mark of a great movie is to leave you thinking about the issues raised after you leave the the cinema, then this was not a great movie.

This is a very white hat / black hat story. The villains in the CIA who have set up the "Black Opps" assassination program which created Bourne are back without any shade of gray. The CIA operative who is trying to stop them is similarly unrelieved white. The program which equipped Bourne with such effective killing skills also seems to have given him other less likely skills, namely a fluency with language. Bourne speaks three languages fluently, four if you count English.

Bourne is shown solving many problems effectively, so that some unlikely achievements can be easily glossed over. He can open any locked door, and even enter a CIA controlled building effortlessly - though we are not shown how. He crosses national boundaries seamlessly unless he wants to be noticed. He can be blown up by a bomb or involved in a high speed car crash and walk away with a nary a scratch.

The cinematography is annoying. Virtually the whole film seems to have been photographed by a hand held camera. This works very well in the action scenes, increasing their realism and immediacy, but the camera bobbing around while two people sit quietly at a table holding a conversation is very annoying.

Irrespective of all of the criticisms, it is an entertaining multiplex thriller, if you don't think about it much.

Rating: 3 stars.