The Bourne Ultimatum - US critics rave at final instalment
Story by Jack Foley
IF THE word from America is anything to go by the final film in the Jason Bourne trilogy, The Bourne Ultimatum could well be the best yet.
The film finds Matt Damon returning as trained assassin Jason Bourne for one last showdown. In the new chapter, he must hunt down his past in order to find a future, thereby travelling from Moscow, Paris, Madrid and London to Tangier and New York City as he continues his quest to find the real Jason Bourne.
In doing so, he must also try to outmaneuver the scores of cops, federal officers and Interpol agents who have him in their crosshairs.
Acclaimed director Paul Greengrass (United 93, The Bourne Supremacy) joins returning cast members Julia Stiles and Joan Allen and new additions David Strathairn, Paddy Considine and Edgar Ramirez.
Of the US reviews, Variety stated that “the third and purportedly final installment in the mountingly exciting series is a pounding, pulsating thriller that provides an almost constant adrenaline surge for nearly two hours”.
While ComingSoon.net described it as “the perfect finale to a true trilogy… the quality of the filmmaking makes it the strongest Bourne movie yet”.
The Hollywood Reporter wrote: “The Bourne Ultimatum, the culminating film of the trilogy… gets under way with a burst of nervous energy and extreme urgency and never lets up.
“It’s a 114-minute chase film, dashing through streets and rooftops of any number of international urban sprawls with Matt Damon’s redoubtable Jason Bourne hot on the trail of – himself.
“That might be the genius of the series: A James Bond-like character who can escape any pickle and thwart any villain, but all in a quest for his own identity. Jason is not out to save the world – though he might do that – he’d just like to know his real name.”
And Time Magazine wrote: “The battle is as long as it is ferocious, and in the audience I saw the movie with, nobody took a breath until it was over. Then they exhaled in a noise that exploded into a cheer.”
Roger Ebert, of the Chicago Sun-Times, opined: “Ultimatum is a tribute to Bourne’s determination, his driving skills, his intelligence in out-thinking his masters and especially his good luck.”
While the New York Times declared: “For Jason Bourne, who rises and rises again in this fantastically kinetic, propulsive film, resurrection is the name of the game, just as it is for franchises.”
The Los Angeles Times, meanwhile, felt that “Damon lends an air of conscious integrity to the part, a quality of reflective introspection that acts as an amazingly effective ballast against the complete implausibility of his continued survival”.
And Newsweek stated: “It’s bravura filmmaking in the jittery, handheld, frenetically edited Paul Greengrass style.”
The final word, however, goes to Time Out New York, which concluded: “The cat-and-mouse sequences in this film are revelatory – they’re why we go to the movies in the first place.”