Friday, August 03, 2007

There He Goes Again

If I’ve learned anything this year, it’s that you can’t light a fire without a spark.

Since that has been the case with a lot of this summer’s movies, you should know that The Bourne Ultimatum – the final chapter in the Jason Bourne trilogy director Doug Liman began in 2002 with The Bourne Identity – is on fire.


Better late than never, I guess. For the season, that is.

I have been waiting for Jason Bourne to come home for quite some time, and now that he’s finally back, I couldn’t be more excited or more disappointed – for good reasons, though…for nothing but the best reasons.

Director Paul Greengrass (The Bourne Supremacy, United 93) has delivered a thrilling action film that brings the saga following Matt Damon’s signature character to a more than satisfying end.

I’ll skip the details because nothing I say can do this film justice other that I am amazed at the scope of the production, especially during the final car chase.

This new chapter sees Bourne hunt down his past in order to find a future, as he travels from Moscow, to London, to Madrid, to Tangier, and finally, to New York City, looking to find himself – all the while trying to stay one step ahead of anyone who doesn’t want him to do this.

In a summer of Spirates of the Shrekibbean and Transformers, a simple man who perhaps shouldn’t be so likable in a film featuring as little CGI as possible per the director’s insistence, definitely has been the biggest draw.

Now, that’s not saying something…that’s saying a lot.

Mind you, though, for as much as I live for Jason Bourne, and for as much as I wanted to see and enjoyed Ultimatum, I have to say I’m happy the series has come to be complete, whole.

I wouldn’t mind seeing more of the anti-hero I’ve come to worship, but I don’t want to come to feel, however fleetingly, that he has become predictable.

Joan Allen’s no-nonsense Pamela Landy knows what she’s talking about when she says Bourne is “really good at staying alive.”

Although the film finishes on an “ambiguous” note, as David Letterman put it this week, it’s best that Bourne be allowed to go out in style.

And with Ultimatum he does.

My Rating ****

Photo: Universal Pictures.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Hey you,
So did you like it?