Mini Movie Review – The Bourne Ultimatum

I have a hard time watching movies based on books I’ve read. The inherent differences between a two-hour movie and a full-length novel mean that the movie has to cut corners, sacrifice depth, and compress exposition. And often times the challenges of making a movie require wholesale changes to characters and plots. All of these things were present in Doug Liman’s 2002 adaptation of Robert Ludlum’s The Bourne Identity. Yet instead of feeling disappointment when I left the theater I felt nothing but exhilaration. Liman had managed to make me not care about the changes from the book by creating a different type of action movie: one that combined well-rounded characters and drama with impeccably executed chases and fights.

Two years later, anticipating the release of the sequel, The Bourne Supremacy, I was worried. Worried because it was a sequel and sequels tend to try to improve on the original by giving the audience more. More chases. More explosions. More twists. Worried because Liman had turned over the director’s chair to Paul Greengrass, a director I knew nothing about. And worried because I was afraid if the sequel was no good it would somehow taint my memory of the original. Luckily my worries were unfounded. The Supremacy, while a slight notch below The Identity, was still an excellent spy movie. Needless to say, with Greengrass back at the helm I was eagerly anticipating the penultimate chapter in the Bourne saga, The Bourne Ultimatum.

My only reservation about The Ultimatum was what I call Multiplicity Syndrome, where a copy of a copy ends up as a pale representation of the original. That reservation was eased about 5 minutes into the film. After that I was sucked along for the ride. The movie kept me captivated through several fights and chases, all of which were incredibly conceived. But what really held my attention was the overall plot.

Inherently the Bourne movies are about the protagonist’s quest for answers about his life. The writers and directors do an excellent job of revealing those answers to the audience. At times the audience doesn’t find the answers until Bourne himself does, while at other times they are given the information in advance to heighten suspense. This balance constantly engages the viewer and makes them feel deeply invested in the characters and story. In The Ultimatum the viewer must piece together information from reporters, government agencies, and inside Bourne’s head to figure out the next move. This grabbed my attention and didn’t let go through the entire film.

Though the movie as a whole was brilliant it was not without flaws. As is all too common in modern movies the action sequences were filmed with handheld cameras positioned extremely close to the action. I guess this is supposed to convey a sense of the chaos that’s going on in the moment, but what it leads to is a general feeling of “What’s going on?”. However those same sorts of shots were used to great effect in the non-action sequences, with many shaky over-the-shoulder shots giving clues to characters’ unease.

In the end The Ultimatum turned out to be not a pale imitation of the original, but rather a fitting capstone to the trilogy. It joins the select club of sequels that actually top their originals.

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