The Bourne Ultimatum

Well, as with most things these days we have to have a trilogy, and the Bourne series is no exception. Everything good comes in threes; Arthur C Clarke's Rama series, the number of Godfather films and the legs on a martian fighting machine from War of the Worlds.* However, trying to use that line with your girlfriend to get a threeway is a diplomatic nightmare and if you can manage it......well, my hat is cocked to you, sir.

All this preamble is to say that although I enjoyed the third instalment in the Bourne series, I could have lived without it. There's nothing exceptionally new that we haven't seen before, and since Bourne spends a lot of this movie on his own, there's not even much dialogue. Most of that comes from the CIA agents trying to chase Bourne down.

Some of the best scenes are criminally short, like the scene with Bourne in Noah Vosen's office. Where was the build up to it? I can accept Bourne is a brilliant infiltration agent, but for god's sake, where was the money shot of the infiltration?

Yes, by the end you understand more about Jason Bourne and his origins, but frankly, he's never really interested me much as a character. He was better as a mysterious agent with no memory, who can take out a dozen cops without killing any of them. It's why I loved the TV show John Doe. I like the mystery, and unlike most people (and by most people, I of course mean Americans), I don't necessarily have a compulsion that drives me need to know all the answers. I often prefer not to know what's going on, even at the end of a film/series.

And yet again....my arch-nemesis rears its ugly head. The best line in the film isn't in the film!

Pamela Landy: This is Jason Bourne, the toughest target that you have ever tracked. He is really good at staying alive, and trying to kill him and failing... just pisses him off.

Score: C+
I enjoyed it, I don't regret seeing it and I would recommend it to others. I just don't think it added much overall to the Bourne story.

OQ: Jesus Christ, it's Jason Bourne!
(A quote I heard at the time and thought; I am so going to quote that out of context.)

*Except there are four Rama books, I've never seen all three Godfather movies, and despite what Hollywood says; tripods cannot walk.