impressive film-making, less impressive storytelling

Rating: 7/10 (6 August 2007)

"The Bourne Ultimatum" has much in common with this summer's earlier "Live Free or Die Hard," in that both movies are essentially one long chase sequence involving a protagonist whose ingenuity and grace under pressure are surpassed only by his seeming indestructibility.
This is the third, and, we're told, final installment in the Robert Ludlum series about Jason Bourne, the agent programmed by a rogue element of the CIA to be a mindless killing machine. In "Ultimatum," Bourne, who has since long disowned his professional-assassin past, is being hunted down by the Langley operatives who created him in the first place, believing that they risk career-destroying exposure and criminal prosecution if they don't silence their boy permanently.
Acclaimed director Paul Greengrass ("Bloody Sunday," "United 93") brings his considerable film-making skills to bear on the material, sprinting headlong right out of the starting gate and giving us few moments to catch our breath on the way to the finish line. By employing a jittery hand-held camera throughout, Greengrass intensifies the chaotic nature of many of the scenes and brings a spontaneity and immediacy to the action on screen. In addition, the razor-sharp editing and plethora of locales (the film makes stops in New York, Moscow, London, Paris, Madrid, Tangier and a number of other cities) add greatly to the movie's effectiveness. We're never in any one place for very long, and a mere blink of an eye or lapse of attention at any crucial moment could spell disaster for anyone dutifully trying to follow the plot.
I must say, however, that for all the tremendous movie-making pyrotechnics on display here, the movie suffers a bit from distention and overkill in the long run. After about the first half hour or so of nonstop action, the movie becomes a trifle wearying and redundant. We find ourselves wishing it would actually put the brakes on for a few moments so we could get to know the characters to a greater extent. For almost the entire movie (until the final sequences, that is), Bourne is little more than a nonstop running machine, dodging bullets, karate-chopping bad guys, jumping off rooftops, crashing through windows. All this is very impressive as stunt work and action-figure hoopla, but a little of it goes a very long way after awhile.
Matt Damon has become very comfortable in Bourne's skin over the course of the three movies, but the role doesn't provide him with a great deal to sink his teeth into in terms of genuine acting. David Strathairn, Joan Allen, Julia Stiles and Albert Finney also do well in their assorted roles, but like Damon, they are limited by the restrictive nature of the film-making.
Thus, for all its big-name, high-priced talent, "The Bourne Ultimatum" is more a director's picture than an actor's, making Greengrass the default star of the movie when all is said and done. And if we are ultimately left wondering if it may not be just a bit too much of a good thing, well, the goodness itself is treat enough these days, I guess.