"Ultimatum" brings Bourne action to a pinnacle of excellence

Rating: 9/10 (30 November 2008)

You could say third time's a charm for the Bourne series, but only because "The Bourne Ultimatum" is merely the best of three phenomenal action movies. The team that successfully assembled the first two films delivers yet again and even more action-packed, intense and shrouded in Bourne's mysterious past than the first two films.
If you still don't believe Bourne is the action hero of the decade, then you've spent too much time being preoccupied over the re-boot of the Bond franchise. Matt Damon as Jason Bourne is the real deal and when a fourth installment comes out, there will finally be all the noise and publicity these films deserved.
This film continues directly after "Supremacy." Bourne starts to get traces of another memory returning to him of his initial transformation into a CIA super-assassin. Meanwhile, a British reporter has gotten hold of information from an ex-CIA informant about Operation Blackbriar, an upgrade of the Treadstone project that bred Bourne of which Bourne was apparently the first subject. Naturally this information intrigues Bourne and also captures the attention of the CIA who still has secrets to protect as long as Bourne is alive.
Joan Allen gladly returns for the second time as Pam Landy, who has begun to sympathize with Bourne. However, she is forced to work with Noah Vosen (David Strathairn) who is helping guard the Blackbriar secret and wants Bourne flat out killed. Julia Stiles reprises her role yet again as Nicki, who helps Bourne out in a couple spots. Also joining the cast is Albert Finney. Strathairn and Finney are two other awesome additions to the franchise that has included Chris Cooper, Brian Cox, Clive Owen and more. Clearly the producers know talent.
"Ultimatum" is a lot more of the same for the series in terms of structure and formula, although the way this film unfolds is much more straightforward than "Supremacy." All the CIA treachery stuff fits in well with the action instead of being a tangential subplot. The only real subplot is understanding what Bourne's new fuzzy memory is about. Everything else makes sense as Bourne jumps from locale to locale yet again in this film, ultimately ending up in the United States for the first time, just in time for the series' best car chase yet involving Bourne driving a police car.
The stunt work on this film is way more incredible than the last two. While director Paul Greengrass prefers the sometimes too shaky hand-held camera-work, it never gets dizzying or distracting because this film is so well edited. The way everything is strung together keeps your attention on all the right things whether details or just keeping you on where the action is so that it makes sense.
"Ultimatum" just gives you more and most applaudably without the special effects that other action films use as a crutch. It doesn't get more real than this series as far as action goes. Simply another job well done executing this film. I don't know if the formula can be relied on for a fourth (formula being Bourne tries to uncover more of his past - gets chased by CIA - beats people up in four countries minimum - car chase). There is a definitely a much clearer resolution in this film that would lead you to believe something new would need to come in for a fourth film to be made.