Saturday, September 01, 2007

The Bourne Ultimatum

Who is Jason Bourne? It's the question the Matt Damon character has been asking for three films now and in The Bourne Ultimatum we finally learn the truth. Sort of.
Bourne, who was last seen at the end of Supremacy in Russia, is hunting for the men who know his past and , as in the other films, this takes him all over the globe in remarkably quick time.
Still on his case is the CIA. Pamela Landy (Joan Allen) was the one chasing Bourne in the earlier film but she's been outranked by an agency bent on killing Bourne and anyone else who gets in the way.
When Bourne learns of project Blackbriar he finds the key to unlocking his past.
That's the plot, which sadly is a little secondary in Ultimatum compared to the first two. There's certainly plenty of action and cool car chases (well one cracker in particular).
In the end, do we really learn who Jason Bourne is (or was). Yeah we know his name is David Webb but that seems insufficient. In the end, Jason Bourne is Jason Bourne as he turned his back on Webb long ago. I don't think there's any big secret or spoiler there.
The Bourne Identity raised the bar for this genre of film, which is why Mission Impossible 3 sucked so badly. The third (and seemingly final as Damon has apparently said no to any more) film is no better than its predecessors but it is well worth another journey into the world of Jason Bourne. An entertaining 8 out of 10, but it could have been heaps better too.

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