More of the same makes this top notch fun!

Rating: 9/10 (20 August 2007)

The last time we saw Jason Bourne, he was on a search to find the one's who killed his girlfriend, finding those responsible he dealt with them. Before that he was on a path to recovering his mind with questions flying everywhere. Fighting his way through two movies with a strong silent sadness, we all know what he's after. Answers. Where did he come from? How was he made? Is he just the product of a company running experiments on mind control, or is he something special? This is a man, who can't remember his past, or how he can kill the way he does. All he wants to do is rememberand he wants it very, very badly. If you've been living in a place that doesn't recognize some of the best spy-thrillers in recent years, The Bourne franchise is an espionage Hollywood actioner based on the books by Robert Ludlum, and helmed by director Doug (Swingers) Liman and since the second film, Brit maker Paul Greengrass. What makes these films affective is that it is blockbuster action, done by filmmakers who are very comfortable in the low budget independent world of film-making. Without the use of over the top special affects and unbelievable plot lines, we have a new franchise that is taking things back to basics, successfully drawing in the audience with its powerhouse rawness and suspense high enough that the skin around the tips of your fingers will surely bleed due to the absence of fingernails. So in the third and unlikely final installment of this now trilogy, how does director Paul Greengrass keep the hits coming? Merely days after The Bourne Supremacy, Bourne gets sucked into the killing of a British Journalist who was close to uncovering the truth behind the CIA's involvement within the Treadstone project. A new conspiracy emerges, people start chasing him again, and so Bourne follows his new leads with the help of some old friends. The story gives the audience answers, and since Greengrass has more than proved how capable he is at handling this material ("Supremacy", "United 93" anyone?) he raises the bar with the action even higher. The film moves with a pace so fast you can get lost in where a cut is made in the editing, and where another begins. The shaky camera work (although hated by many) stems from an independent field of movie making which beautifully and sometimes disturbingly puts the audience right in the middle of Bourne's confrontations. This is more than "edge of your seat action"; this is an adrenaline cocktail of stunning camera work, great choreography and state of the art stunt work. Its swallows other films of the genre with an expressionless modesty, with the director unwillingly proving to us something he already knew long before we did. Paul Greengrass has to be the most promising filmmaker of the genre today, and his time to shine is very much upon us. With a satisfying gulp of closure oozing down the throats of those going to see The Bourne Ultimatum, the long hard impatient time of waiting for the follow up will begin the moment the credits role. Or if we are lucky enough, our man from London may grab the reigns of another soon to be made project, which will undoubtedly hold infinite possibilities in the progression of indie film-making, and some solid action movies. This films holds a lot of what many of us have been waiting for, and feeds us more Bourne than many of us will know how to chew. An action trilogy is now complete, yet many of us will still shout out "Bring on Bourne 4", oh please do.