Jason Bourne comes storming back hard

Rating: 9/10 (26 August 2007)

I never thought I'd hear myself say it but I love the Bourne trilogy more than I do James Bond. After a stunning "Identity" and a lacklustre "Supremacy", Bourne is back in full force with "Ultimatum".
Once again, the big bad CIA totally gets the wrong end of the stick by assuming that Bourne is a mole, revealing classified intelligence documents to a London journalist. After a gun battle at Waterloo train station, Bourne goes on the run, determined to prove once again that he is not Langley's enemy, while Langley has already decided that Bourne should die. They send their "best" assassins after him but they don't realise (or don't seem to remember) that Bourne IS the best. Cue lots of battles and high body counts.
For the next 2 hours, we go all over the world as Bourne is finally determined to find out once and for all who he really is, how he got into the dirty business of killing and also to find a corrupt CIA station chief who holds the key to Bourne's past (but who is also targeted for assassination by the CIA for betraying them).
What I particularly love about the Bourne movies is that you are thrown right into the fighting scenes so when Bourne punches someone, you kind of feel the blow yourself. The camera gets right into the middle of the action, so close up that you can smell the adrenalin and sweat of those in the scene.
I also like how you can relate to Bourne on an emotional level. He is not the macho flawless fighting machine that James Bond is sometimes made out to be. This is a guy who is flawed, vulnerable, scared and in search of his identity. All he really wants is to be left alone and he only fights when he has to, when his back is to the wall and there truly is no other way out.
My only complaint is that they tragically under-used Scott Glenn and Albert Finney. These extremely talented actors should have been given more screen time.
A very enjoyable movie and definitely on the same level as "Identity". Forget the flop of "Supremacy" - "Ultimatum" has given the Bourne franchise a huge adrenalin shot in the arm.
You will definitely LOVE this movie! Matt Damon is the man.