Perhaps a Perfect Action Thriller

Rating: 10/10 (27 August 2007)

Paul Greengrass's sophomore outing as director of the Jason Bourne franchise is the best yet of the series.
This is a sensational film, exciting and wildly entertaining. For what it sets out to be, it's nearly perfect. The other entries were also good, but what I came away praising in those were individual action scenes. In "Ultimatum," I was finally impressed with the writing of this series. They're very carefully constructed in and of themselves, but what's more, they're carefully constructed AS a series, so that characters and plot lines develop throughout the films, and little hooks in each film keep enough loose ends untied to make you care about what happens next. For example, though these movies are streamlined as can be, and stick pretty closely with Bourne, one of my favorite elements in this film was the expansion of Joan Allen's role and the battle of wills that occurs between her character and her rival CIA agent, played coolly and icily by David Strathairn. And though there's nothing in this film to match the sheer technical mastery of the car chase scene in the second installment, there's a hair-raising chase in this one set amongst the rooftops and maze-like alleyways of Tangier that should go down as a classic nailbiter.
There hasn't been a movie this summer I've enjoyed as much as this one.
Grade: A+