The Bourne Ultimatum

Cast, Etc.
Dir. Paul Greengrass, Matt Damon, Julia Stiles, Joan Allen, David Strathairn, Scott Glenn, Brian Cox, score by John Powell, rated R, 2007

Synopsis
Jason Bourne returns to put an end to what's happening to him.

Review
In this third and (hopefully) last installment of the Jason Bourne saga, we pick up where The Bourne Supremacy left off, with Jason Bourne (Damon) on the trail of whatever or whoever Treadstone is/was. The good people at the Department of Homeland Security start tracking him and run into contention with Pamela Landy (Allen), the case worker who was involved with Bourne the last go-round. Inch by inch, Bourne gets closer to unraveling who is and what was done to him/by him for the CIA or whomever it is to keep sending people after him. What follows is another good, rousing, exciting spy movie that only in places feels like a re-tread of the first two, but moving ahead of the second installment to adequately end the trilogy (although there are rumors of a fourth movie). Matt Damon again makes a very good spy and his Jason Bourne is not someone to meddle with. The fun of the movie, aside from trying to figure out what's going on before Bourne does, is how he gets from one situation to another without dying. Each movie has shown us a little bit more of what Bourne can do, even though he doesn't know it, and each time it's even more impressive. The action sequences are again done very well, especially a rooftop chase that culminates in a heck of a jump through a window. Julia Stiles returns from the second movie as a case worker who gets pulled into what's going on and does an okay job. Joan Allen is again very good in a slightly bigger role this time around; David Strathairn plays a good up-tight DHS director who doesn't know what he's getting into with Bourne. A problem with the film is the hand-held camera/documentary style in which some of the scenes are shot; it was interesting in the first film, annoying in the second for its prevalence, and tiresome and a bit sickening (physically) in the third. Enough, please.

Highlights
Damon; the train station; Spain; rooftop chase; revelations

Rating
I give this film a beer rating; it's action-packed, brutal, and fun to watch if it weren't for the camera style. As a Bourne movie, it's better than the second but falls short of the first. The villains of the "good guys" in the DHS and CIA are okay as foils for Bourne to reveal as not smart as they think. The score by Powell is more action stuff and not memorable.