A solid spy vs spy plot, intense acting, but mostly just stellar stellar filmmaking!

Rating: 8/10 (17 July 2014)

The Bourne Ultimatum (2007)
The best of the big three Bourne movies. A have a soft spot for the first one because it was "first" and it brought out the basic ideas fresh and with some grit and invention (as in the opening scenes). By comparison the plot here, the narrative, is actually more of the same, another spy movie.
But so incredibly well done it's riveting. There are fight scenes and car chases, plenty and then some, but there is a lot of really intelligent pursuit on another level, on foot, not only of Bourne but of a couple of his accomplices. The camera then becomes a player, and the action, though fast, is absolutely vivid and discernible. There's no exaggerating the power of this kind of chase, as if you are there, first in London and then in Tangiers.
It helps slightly if you've seen the first two movies, because a lot of the movie is out to "explain" the mystery of this creation, this killing machine named Jason Bourne. Of course, this is a machine with a conscience, and his struggle for memory, and for self, is the soul of the movie. In this third installment he has some help, and some unexplained old feelings with, a woman in a pale echo of the first movie with Marie (who is mentioned many times here). And this helps give the movie feeling.
There is a ton written about these movies, and about Robert Ludlum's three books that are the core of the plots here (for deviations, see the internet). Note there is no fourth book, and the fourth "Bourne" movie—"Legacy"— is a decent wannabe without Damon and also without Bourne (as a character). The efforts of original director (Doug Liman) for "The Bourne Identity" aren't to be underestimated, but it is partly his cameraman, Oliver Wood, who makes the movie delirious and rich. And when the director was changed to Paul Greengrass for the 2nd and 3rd movies, Wood was retained, and he helps (along with the actors) give the movies coherence.
Greengrass earns his own kudos, though, for after doing a creditable but routine (and extremely kinetic) 2nd movie, pulls off this bit of movie-making masterwork. It's really something to study. It's a Hollywood piece of crap on some levels, of course, with lots of effects and a plot that isn't going to win awards for creativity. But it's so well done, and with enough touches of genuine human intensity, it works. It really works. See it even if you doubt it. And if you like this kind of movie, then you've already seen it.
So see it again. I did. It holds up great the second time.