Great fun

Rating: 7/10 (4 September 2010)

A typical criticism of the Bourne series is that it is all style over substance; flashy and fast-paced but lacking in heart. Were any tears shed at the departure of Bourne's love interest Marie (Franke Potente)? Do any viewers have even a vague interest the relationship that is hinted at between Bourne and Nicky Parsons (Julia Stiles)? I would go as far as to question whether the primary Bourne audience has much concern for the character of Jason Bourne and the truth behind his identity. This is a series of films so slick and disinterested that they often seem to hold you at arm's length whilst you take in the absurdity of what's occurring on screen. Luckily, to make up for this Bourne assaults your senses in such bombastic fashion as to make such concerns irrelevant. Every roller-coaster is built to make money, but if it's built well, it's also a damn fun thrill ride, even if it fails to live on in our memory for too long.
Ultimatum actually serves as something of a prequel/sequel to Supremacy as the concluding scene of the second instalment is repeated and expanded upon somewhere in the middle of this film. But, we open where the action in Supremacy ended, with our favourite amnesiacally-challenged superspy mid-chase (of course) as he attempts to avoid the Moscow police. Still plagued by flashbacks of an abstruse, curious past, Bourne now seeks answers from those who made him the man he is. At the same time the CIA are once again after Bourne believing him to be the man responsible for leaking important information regarding off-the-books taskforce Blackbriar to the British press. Plot summary be damned, the story primarily serves as an excuse for director Greengrass to execute a game of cat and mouse between Bourne and those who seek him across beautifully photographed locations in Europe and New York.
There are two major points of contention with this film: the camera-work and Matt Damon's performance. Supremacy and Ultimatum are labelled by some viewers as nauseating, headache-inducing due to Greengrass' insistence on 'shakey-cam' where the camera unrepentently nods and wobbles up and down instead of staying fixed and focus. It's not as effective here as it was when Greengrass utilised it during Bloody Sunday, United 93 or even the later Green Zone as those films often play with a kind of documentary realism absent from the clearly absurd Bourne.
Indeed if one looks too closely at Ultimatum it can affect adversely one's enjoyment of the film. At one stage, distracted by the frantic editing at witness in the film I began counting the length of every shot. Soon I became distracted by the camera-work and noticing its erratic path began to get that headache-feeling that everybody refers to when mentioning these films. Eventually though I gave up fighting the film and enjoyed it for what it is – a knock-about action jaunt that's fun so long as you roll with the editing techniques and the unpredictable nature of the camera. It is best just to let these things wash over you so as to not disturb your enjoyment of the film. Indeed, at times the camera can add a degree of intensity that would not be present in a steady-cam shot and can make the action-scenes even more forceful. It is an effective tool for ramping up the tension.
It has also been said that Matt Damon's performance is too one dimensional – that although he has the body of an action man doll, he also displays about as much emotion as those plastic features can. Although I don't agree with those on the other end of the spectrum who declare this a supreme, masterful performance, there's much about Damon's adept measured performance to recommend. He brings an intensity to the character which is necessary to drive the plot forward and carries off the various chase and fight scenes with aplomb. It's a good action performance in a role which is perhaps is non-too-demanding (at least in an emotional sense) and thus never fails to reach the kind of levels of, say, Bruce Willis in Die Hard.
The Bourne Ultimatum is a success because it plays to its strengths and delivers thrills and suspense, some might say despite the deviant camera-work. There's a technical brilliance underlying the tightly choreographed chase scenes (and one could argue this film is one long chase) that leaves you sometimes in awe. There is no doubting the kind of influence that Greengrass' directorial style and this series of films in particular have had on the way action films are presented to their audience. Quick edits and wild camera movements are now the blight of a good number of camera movements. Whatever you think of this legacy, it's a testament to Greengrass' ability that he was first to recognise the potential of this style and remains perhaps still the only one to fulfil it.