DVD, The Bourne Ultimatum (2007) film
I know I've reviewed this before, but this time I've given it a better score and seen it as the best of the three, so I felt it was time to write a fresher review.
From the first frames, as the familiar music thumps out, and we're right back in Moscow where Bourne is being chased, is cornered, but chooses not to kill the policeman, we're reminded that this is a moral hero, and in the modern world such heroes are rare. I like the return to a calmer, more thoughtful Bourne, akin to the first film - after the events of 'Supremacy' where he almost fell over the brink of revenge, but refused, he still has questions, but the death of Marie is no longer a driving force, instead her life is a calming reminder to him, not only of the good times, but of the decision they both took. We see the same decision offered up to him in the shape of Nicki Parsons, the girl who has always been there in the background since 'Identity', and in an incredibly subtle conversation we learn the why's of the situation and understand her choice to help him.
When Bourne has to protect someone else's life it makes events far more exciting than if he's alone, and was one of the joys of the first film. They recreate that set-up with Nicki, and craft the most exciting film of the three, which rarely slows down or lets up. One minute he's chasing someone, the next he's being chased, and really it's a series of chases for different reasons, and that keeps the adrenaline going throughout. Early on, for us English viewers it gets especially fascinating with the sequence set in and around London Waterloo station, a place that I've been (as most people in the South probably have at some time or another), and there's a special thrill to seeing the characters in a place you've been yourself, and even more impressive as we see them film in the real location!
Simon Ross was a good character that seems like a real reporter, Paddy Considine doing a brilliant job. It's typical that he doesn't do what Bourne tells him and gets killed for it, as reporters are known for making their own decisions and taking risks. Once again, Bourne being at the event causes some to think he was involved in the death, except for those behind it, of course. David Strathairn as Noah Vosen makes an effective villain, not a crook like Conklin or Abbott, but someone who is trigger happy and willing to use licence to kill at any opportunity. The fact that they've brought back Treadstone, even under the different name of Blackbriar is damage enough, and Pam is soon sticking her oar in, in Vosen's eyes.
She's the other end of the stick from Bourne - the good at the top of the service, as he is the good on the ground. And once again it's a battle for both of them. For Bourne especially, as he comes up against a younger, healthier agent from Blackbriar (which, incidentally was mentioned at the end of the first film in a throwaway line), called Desh. The sequence where he hunts Nicki through the narrow streets of Tangier, as Bourne tries to get to her first, via the rooftops, is the most thrilling part of the film - he leaps through homes, like Neo in 'The Matrix', and at the last second, just as Desh is about to catch up to her, he leaps across a street and right through a window, which was the single shot that first made me interested when I caught the trailer on TV, knowing nothing about the films.
The best fight of all the films ensues, as Desh proves a match for Bourne's hand-to-hand skills, but ultimately makes the wrong move by cornering him... Every aspect of the production is slicker than the previous films, and builds on them, literally rising to a climax as we learn how it all started. A Bourne film wouldn't be right without jumbled memories partially resurfacing, and I would say the story is the best since the initial mystery of 'Identity', except with added tension and stunts. Albert Finney makes a suitably revelatory character, but it's the ending that rounds off the package and makes as good an ending as the first film was a beginning: Just as we were unsure if Nicki would survive (seeing as most of the recurring characters were exterminated in some way), so we fear for Bourne as he plummets from the roof.
We come full circle to the opening seconds of 'Identity' as once again he is floating, unmoving in dark waters. Then Nicki, hears the events that transpired, by news report, and that his body was never found, and she smiles to herself as the strains of optimism burst out and we see Bourne move again. One of the best endings to a film and a trilogy, certainly in the action genre, ever!
There are several throwbacks to previous films - the very fact Nicki and Jason are on the run together; the way she cuts her hair and looks like Marie, only this time Bourne doesn't allow her caring to affect him, which I liked because it shows he's learned, and it's unexpected; the way they stop at a service station, and sit in the same position as when he and Marie did the same; Paz, the other agent he's up against, ends up slumped over the steering wheel, bloodied, just as Karl Urban's character did in 'Supremacy'; the way he's always ahead, and has the conversation with Pam again, and has a similar talk with Vosen, perhaps the best line in the film ("Because if you were in your office we'd be having this conversation face to face"). Old faces are seen in files, and we even get one small flashback to Marie which was a bonus, and it was simply the most satisfying tidy up of the story.
The characters are very well used, even Strathairn who looks very much like his character in 'The River Wild' which could have put me off, was different enough. The upbeat version of the title song 'Extreme Ways' is as fitting as the more distant original, for the other two films. They even went to the trouble of making an even more detailed graphical explosion for these credits! I would say the car chase isn't up to the best one of 'Supremacy', but in almost every respect this film is slightly better than it's previous installments.
I did wonder about the conversation with Pam. Because of the flashback to Moscow I wondered if the moment at the end of the second film is a flash forward to the bit in this film where she gives his name, but then I thought it would be illogical, and the code wouldn't work if they hadn't already carried out that conversation, so it was just me being stupid. But maybe I should check the end of 'Supremacy' again...
****
