Its been at least five minutes since Jason Bourne’s last whirlwind of action and suspense, and apparently the last wave of destruction wasn’t enough. After a blur of action that picks up right where Supremacy left off, and a few flashbacks (some to moments of intimacy between Bourne and his now-deceased girlfriend Marie, others to vague images of Bourne’s training/torture experience) the viewer is suddenly struck by the realization that this is not just another of this summer’s mindless shoot ‘em up revenge action-drama. Of course, it is all of those things, with the possible exception of mindless. But, just like its title character, the Bourne Ultimatum has yet another layer.
Matt Damon again plays everyone’s favorite James Bond reincarnation, Jason Bourne (aka David Webb, who also happens to be my grandmother’s jeweler) who begins to remember tidbits of his origins as a member of Treadstone, the supposedly scrapped military training program that created his identity. The film opens with Bourne seeking out the reporter who obtained an interview with an insider in the Treadstone project. Discovering the existence of a new program, “Blackbriar,” an expanded and updated initiative to train private killers for the CIA, Bourne proceeds to track down clues and persons who can help him recover memory of his past, only to have them ripped from his fingertips at the hands of police and Blackbriar assassins. Finally, with the help of the ladies of the CIA (roles reprised by Julia Stiles and Joan Allen) Bourne makes his way back to the training facility in New York City where he confronts not only his trainer (played by Albert Finney) but the reality of the initiation of his training. As Bourne plunges into the depths of the East River from a multi-story drop at the close of the film, the air bubbles rising to the surface serve as a prelude to Moby’s “Extreme Ways.” Again. After all, what’s a Bourne movie without a little Moby?
The action sequences are well orchestrated, and once again Bourne’s fist-fighting techniques are only upstaged by his quick-thinking and problem solving. A beautiful chase sequence occurs by foot atop the flat roofs of Morocco and a pins-and-needles instruction-over-the-phone relay takes place in a crowded Waterloo Station. And, again typical of the Bourne trilogy, the car chase sequences are among the best in the cinematic experience, including a real arm-rest clincher involving a stolen police car, New York’s finest, a Blackbriar agent, and a median divider. More so than the previous Bourne movies, the action in Ultimatum is riveting and simultaneously unbelievable. Each sequence seems to be an attempt to one-up its predecessors, which makes for excellent special effects and consequently results in a significant reduction in plot and characterization.
The one plot element that does seem to run a bit deeper this time around is the American government’s role in the progression and cover-up of the story. The relevance of seeing the inner-workings of the CIA in their attempts to eliminate Bourne and erase their own fingerprint is significant, and as a result the characters involved in these processes have a depth unrivaled by Bourne himself, who seems limited by countless flashbacks and one-line macho-isms. David Strathairn makes for a convincing and ruthless department head whose strings are pulled by Scott Glen’s CIA Director. When Joan Allen’s Pamela Landy makes it clear she thinks Bourne is no threat, rather unobtrusively and fairly early on in the film (which makes the viewer wonder why she’s even on the project to eliminate Bourne at all) the agency dives into unprecedented webs of lies and deception, culminating with the revelation that Joan Allen is the CIA’s fall girl.
But let’s get real; even in real life the first person you’d say you trust isn’t going to be the director of the CIA. The film’s thin plot hinges on the self-discovery of its main protagonist, and as Bourne discovers his own forms of self-deception, the viewer can’t help but feel at least somewhat betrayed. After all, in a film full of deception that is very clearly deemed immoral in the filmmaker’s (and viewer’s) eyes, the degradation of the character who upholds the moral standard comes as a bit of a shock. But maybe it’s a commentary on the true state of affairs in the world today; we can’t trust even ourselves to make things right. Or maybe it’s simply a device used to put us in Bourne’s shoes for just a few minutes.
Whichever is the case, you shouldn’t trust a critic when you can see the summer’s most engaging action film for yourself.
4/5 stars
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