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Director: Paul Greengrass
Script: Tony Gilroy and Scott Z. Burns
Cast:
Matt Damon ... Jason Bourne
Julia Stiles ... Nicky Parsons
David Strathairn ... Noah Vosen
Scott Glenn ... Ezra Kramer
Paddy Considine ... Simon Ross
Edgar Ramirez ... Paz
Albert Finney ... Dr. Albert Hirsch
Joan Allen ... Pamela Landy
Tom Gallop ... Tom Cronin
Corey Johnson ... Wills
Daniel Brühl ... Martin Kreutz
Joey Ansah ... Desh Bouksani
Colin Stinton ... Neal Daniels
Dan Fredenburgh ... Jimmy
Lucy Liemann ... Lucy
Genre - Spy thriller
Story:
In the latest and the last saga of the Bourne
series, The Bourne Ultimatum, Matt Damon returns triumphantly as
the well-oiled machine and assassin, Jason Bourne. The first two
sagas, 2002's 'The Bourne Identity' and 2004's 'The Bourne
Supremacy', the two smash hits, have earned over $ 500 million
at the global box office. And director Paul Greengrass ('United
93', 'The Bourne Supremacy') has already ensured a ringing box
office of the return of Jason Bourne the first weekend itself.
He, along with other returning cast members, the talented Julia
Stiles and subtle Joan Allen and the new additions David
Strathairn, Paddy Considine and Edgar Ramirez turn out the best
spy thriller in a long, long time.
All Jason Bourne wanted to do was to become
annonymous and faceless. Instead, he finds himself hunted again
by the very same people who turned him into what he is now.
Still recovering his memory and having lost the one person he
remembers having loved (in the second part, the Bourne
Supremacy, in a scene in Goa, India), he battles raging bullets
and highly-skilled killers. But he has decided on his objective,
to go back to finding out who he really was.
He travels across the Eurpoean continent to
hunt down his origins. He travels from Moscow to London, Paris,
Madrid, Tangier and finally home in New York City in his quest
for the truth. On the way he successfully outmanouevres killers,
cops and Federal agents and finally reaches his destination.
He gets to the truth and is helped by Pamela
Landy (Joan Allen) and Nicky Parsons (Julia Stiles) in this
search.
Review
The Bourne Ultimatum is the ultimate in spy
thrillers. As good as any Bond (probably better), the movies is
filled with pulse-pounding excitement, nerve-wracking sequences
and tremendous human interest angle, a combination as rare as
you can get. The human interest angle is almost non-existent in
a Bond movie.
Matt Damon is simply re-living the Bourne
saga as only he can, looking vulnerable yet tough. Clever yet
human. Revelling in the car chases (remember the one in the
first movie, 'The Bourne Identity'? What a hooter that was!),
the escapes, the fight scenes and the barrage of flying bullets,
Damon is astonishingly human, yet the perfect killing machine.
We know he is not a baddie by choice and that urges us to almost
scream everytime he gets into a tight situation.
The movie is not meant for people with weak
hearts. It is action-packed and you better visit the rest-room
before the movie begins because after that for a little over two
hours you will be at the edge of your seats. The sequences
involving Black-Ops agent Vosen (David Strathairn) and Pamela
Landy (Joan Allen) are very well-etched too, with ruthlessness
of a desperate man depicted very well against the sympathies of
an honest agent. Nicky (Julia Stiles) returns and you almost
think a love interest is developing again, but it only flatters
to deceive, though the ending does make you feel as though there
might be one.
Matt Damon is a subtle and effective spy. He
is smashingly brilliant as Jason Bourne and lives the role so
effortlessly that you do not realise that he is acting. His
performances in other movies are also unforgettable. Joan Allen
superbly underplays Pamela Landy and is just right for the part.
David Strathairn is the surprise package in this movie. An
unlikely character in this kind of a movie, he revels in his
role and walks through it with sincerity.
This movie is proof that you do not need a
100 million dollars to produce a slick thriller. The noise level
is kept to a minimum and sometimes you just hear the swishes and
fists and that is all you need, you realise.
The movie, on the whole, is the best of the
year so far. Fast, unceasingly furious and full of tense
moments, the movie more than lives up to the Ludlum novel.
The weak points? Well, surprisingly there are
a couple. The camera work is jerky at times and the script has a
few holes (come on, you expect us to believe that a guy involved
in a mutliple car pile up comes out unhurt?). Yet, you hardly
realise the flaws as you grip the seat handles and spill popcorn
during a tense scene.
Final score: Three-and-a-half out of four
stars
Sam Walker
California |
