WATCH NOW
Biting down his teeth, his brow furrowing and his body tensing like a coiled spring, Matt Damon tackles “The Bourne Ultimatum” at breakneck speed. He is a man on a mission, our Matt, and so too is his role, Jason Bourne, a near-mystical enhanced super spy who has lost everything, including memories and sense of self, and comes to the grim realization that he has lost part of his soul. For Bourne, who continues to rise and rise in this fantastically kinetic, propulsive film, resurrection is the name of the game, and so it is for franchises. This is the passion of Jason Bourne, with a bullet.
With their eyes focused beyond conventional genre parameters, the three Bourne movies very much cut into your mind as much as they cut into to your body. Industrial entertainment in particular is of an unusually high caliber, with action choreography matching the direction of the films. Doug Liman had the reins on the first movie, with Paul Greengrass taking over for the second and third. And while the two men take different approaches to similar material (the more formally bold Mr. Greengrass shatters movie space like glass), each man approaches the subject matter differently. Namely remorse: in these movies, you don’t just feel Bourne’s hurt, you feel the hurt of everyone he kills.
The Bourne Ultimatum begins on the heels of the set-up in the Bourne Supremacy. This ex-CIA black ops assassin is moving relentlessly toward a final resolution. After brushing into happiness with the German woman (Franka Potente) he briefly met in the first movie “The Bourne Identity” and then lost in the second, he is now in London. Stripped of his identity, country and love, Bourne is now very much a man alone, existentially and otherwise. Mr. Damon makes him haunted, brooding and dark. Wonder seems to have in his eyes but the skin stretches so tightly across his cantilevered cheekbones that if one could see the outline of his skull, its macabre silhouette, he would see death.
In contrast with other action movies, the Bourne franchise tends to serve its character death in a unique fashion. You see, his death is always intricate, purposeful and boring. There is a lack of entertainment when a man dies or gets killed on screen, although it is pleasurable to some extent when explosions go off or a car blows up. With this specific series, there is pleasure to be found, but it isn’t in the form of violence. In a way, dynamic water boarding has its moments of entertainment, but it forces the audience to think in terms of morals. Having a window of morality is always a good thing for a Bourne movie and forces the audience to not be bored out of their minds. Think of it like this; when a character within the movie is to ito pose a threat to the viewer, then yes, the audience needs to be able to gasp at them. And this series does that pretty well. An example of this is how a woman vomited after watching a man jump out of a window because she hadn’t encountered the ‘Bourne shock’ before.
This scene quickly highlighted the core gravity of the series, especially regarding the use of violence. The new film contains a similarly important scene at the end of an unbelievable chase scene in which Bourne is being chased by the cops leaping through open windows and scaling sun-scorched ceilings. He runs, and runs, and runs. He is in pursuit of a man trying to capture Nicky Parsons (Julia Stiles), who is one of Bourne’s colleagues. When Bourne is toe to toe with the other man, Mr. Greengrass grabs the camera and violently moves it, which puts each of us in the middle of the conflict. While it is thrilling at first, as the fighting monotonously continues and the bodies start slowing down, a book is viciously shoved into the neck of one of the men, which is spine first, and it becomes grotesque.
By design, this endeavor ends up being an intentional buzz kill, the fight effortlessly manages to remind you of how remarkable it was to be flying across the rooftop. Even for a second! (Look at the dude go!). Mr. Greengrass understands how to do his job effortlessly, and at this point, there is not one individual in Hollywood that manages action scenes at the same level as him. He is merciless with the pacing, relentlessly staying in rhythm without mercy or distractions in between heavy scene after heavy scene.
Though he, together with the writers (here, Tony Gilroy, Scott Z. Burns and George Nolfi), intend to add some complexity, sowing some discomfort in the low-key pleasure that unfolds. Not that he’s a sadist, or at least not completely, but his brutish series is, at any rate, about consequences, about coming home to roost.
“The Bourne Ultimatum” makes a point of driving even deeper into the heart of the matter and as a result, getting some eye twitches and seat jumps from the audience, but it is also eager to avoid leaving any real damage to the viewer. This is filmmaking literally with a rubber hose. It unveils a handful of power-grabbing, smooth-talking ghouls and, amid the new and familiar faces of David Strathairn and Joan Allen, puts forth the stark reminders of Abu Ghraib that may make one feel nauseated even if they are not inclined to vomit. Rolling Eyes. As Bourne has inched closer to solving the rebus of his identity, he has not always liked what he has found. And he is not alone. Honestly, movies like to play their spy games purely for the fun of it, treating us to lazy attack and cool brutality disguised with delightful gadgets powered by gentlemen who come in tuxes or tracksuits.
The Bourne movies have a degree of picture violence, where the Bourne series has replaced the enjoyment of cinematic bloodshed with that of movement. Action and not just gory sights, when done with technique, is where Mr Greengrass and his great crew dazzle. They hurt us from deep within, as the camera moves through wrecked train stations and small rooms, bombs go off, bullets strike their victims, and bodies fall to earth, all while a shaky lens shatters the room into pieces. As usual, Mr Greengrass divides the pieces of reality so superbly that he is able to create a new location for Bourne, who is always one step closer to uncovering the terrifying truth of his life.
To watch more movies like The Bourne Ultimatum (2007), visit 123movies
Also watch for more movies like:
