Great film, believable fight sequences, terrible camera work

Rating: 8/10 (13 August 2007)

Towards the beginning of the movie there is a scene where two men meet in a restaurant. This particular scene must have been around 5-7 minutes into the movie and already I had noticed and started getting annoyed with the excessive shakiness of the camera and the "artsy" behind-the-shoulder shots. The two men were simply sitting in a restaurant and talking but the camera was shaking so much that you would think they were in the middle of an earthquake. It was ridiculous and I felt that it completely detracted from what should otherwise have been an intense and revealing conversation. I have never in my life ever had the urge to leave the theater during a movie till tonight when I saw ultimatum. I then remembered the 9 dollars I had spent and decided to wait it out. I am definitely glad that I stayed because the movie, apart from the camera issues, was brilliant. Matt Damon is supremely believable as Jason Bourne. For some reason more so in this movie than the previous ones.
The beautiful action scenes were again marred by shoddy camera work. I was immediately reminded of the camera work during the action sequences in Batman Begins. The fact that I was sitting towards the front of the movie theater only made things worse as my eyes struggled to stay focused on the action for more than half a second at a time. As someone else on this board suggested, it was almost like a strobe light effect. I really think it was a lazy and stupid decision to use the Shakycam so extensively. Just like any other flourish or trick, it should be used sparingly so that it subtly enhances a certain aspect of the movie. In this case, regretfully, it took away from the movie rather than the other way around.
Aside from the camera issues, the movie was very solid on many levels and easily a great addition to the series. All in all I don't regret spending the 9 bucks and I suppose that should say it all.