People have long been intrigued by the glamorous picture painted by the celluloid spy, starting in the 1960’s with the granddaddy of them all, James Bond. Deep undercover, engaged in covert activities, traveling exotic locales, romancing beautiful women…James sure had the life. Times change, however, and in recent years (due mostly to inept screenwriting), the Bond franchise has faltered in terms of quality. The attempt last year at re-booting the series with newcomer Daniel Craig certainly appears poised to return Bond to his former glory, but recently there have been many attempts by newcomers to take advantage of James’ current slump and usurp
the Spy King title from his clutches. Thus far, however, these attempts have pretty much all fallen short of the mark.
Enter Jason Bourne. The creation of late novelist Robert Ludlum (and considered his signature character, as James Bond was to author Ian Fleming), Bourne is a former black-ops assassin for the CIA and one of the most deadly and resourseful people in the world. Following a mission gone wrong, Bourne is betrayed, shot in the back, and left for dead in the Mediterranean Sea. He manages to survive his wounds and is rescued by a fishing boat, but now suffers from (yup, you guessed it) total amnesia. Have you ever met anyone suffering from even from
mild amnesia, let alone total? No, me either, yet in movies everyone seems to develop it as easily as the common cold.
Anyway, Bourne can’t remember anything- who he is, what he was doing for the CIA, why he was betrayed, or even how good the baked potato soup is at Houlihan’s (and it’s good, believe me). Despite this handicap, Bourne still retains his brutal combat skills and razor-sharp instincts, talents that he doesn’t hesitate to use to get to the bottom of a vast CIA conspiracy of which he is the center. His quest has been chronicled in two movies thus far- The Bourne Identity (2002) and The Bourne Supremacy (2004), both of which were based on Ludlum’s novels, albeit loosely.
Robert Ludlum only penned three
Bourne novels before his death in 2001, and the subject of today’s review, The Bourne Ultimatum, is the third and final film adaptation of that series. Despite having exhausted Ludlum’s work, future installments could possibly be based upon new Bourne novels written (with permission from Ludlum’s estate) by Eric Van Lustbader, such as The Bourne Legacy and The Bourne Betrayal. Personally, I’d like to see them start having some fun with the usual Bourne naming convention and release adventures like “Bourne Again,” “Bourne to be Bad” or even “Air Bourne.” Wouldn’t that be fun?
In The Bourne Ultimatum, Matt Damon again reprises his role as the eponymous title character and brings a certain rugged, everyman quality to the role, in addition to sufficient physicality to make you believe he is, indeed, a world class combatant. The role doesn’t really require much emotional range, as Damon is somewhat wooden throughout, but I suppose it serves to underscore the hardness and inner emotional turmoil of his character.
Working against Bourne are the CIA and its various operatives and assassins, headed up by Noah Vosen (David Strathairn). Although it appears that the deck is completely stacked against Jason this time around, he finds assistance in the unlikeliest of places- within the CIA itself. Deputy Director Pamela Landy (Joan Allen), originally working to help capture Bourne, discovers the cover-up surrounding his history and has second thoughts about her role in the situation. But even with Landy’s help in uncovering the mysteries of his hazy past, will Jason Bourne survive long enough to reclaim the life he once possessed, or is this truly the end of the line for our intrepid hero?
Overall, the ongoing plot thread that ties all three movies together is fairly unoriginal. In fact, it actually reminds me of Arnold Schwarzenegger’s classic sci-fi thriller Total Recall a great deal: we have a butt-kicking super-spy who is hounded by assassins while trying to discover his true identity, and when that identity is finally uncovered, he realizes that he may have voluntarily been involved in creating his current predicament. It’s the usual “I want my memory back, I want revenge” motif that’s been done many times in film before, but at least it’s an excellent excuse for the main character to kill lots of people.
Speaking of killing people, the fight scenes of The Bourne Ultimatum are truly a sight to behold. Jason Bourne engages in several hard-hitting instances of hand-to-hand conflict, and the fight choreography displays a man that is highly-trained in taking out opponents with maximum speed and damage. The combat suffers from the usual malady of fast edits and the reviled shaky camera work so prevalent in film these days, but if you’re familiar with the previous Bourne film (Supremacy), at least I can report that it’s more subdued this time around. Meaning, you can actually watch The Bourne Ultimatum without popping Dramamine non-stop for motion sickness.
Also of note is an excellent car chase scene that uses real cars. Yes, real cars, as opposed to the
computer generated ones used in the videogame-like Live Free or Die Hard, a recent Bruce Willis action film that took absurdity in stunt work to a level never achieved before in modern film. Despite this rare yet welcome
dose of reality in The Bourne Ultimatum, however, Jason Bourne himself seems to enjoy the same absurd degree of invulnerability to physical damage as Die Hard’s hero, John McClane. Oh well,
so much for reality.
Overall, The Bourne Ultimatum is somewhat generic in terms of plot and its title character’s motivations, but it’s still a great time at the movies. It’s fast-paced, exciting, and very clever in parts. But does this mean that Jason Bourne is set to take the crown from James Bond and reign supreme as the new king of spy flicks? Currently, I’d say no, as Matt Damon seems to lack the charisma of Sean Connery or Roger Moore, but time may tell a different story if they choose to continue the Bourne franchise and flesh out the character some more. But in the meantime, check out The Bourne Ultimatum. It’s well worth watching.
