Post by slapshot63 on Aug 12, 2007 22:48:42 GMT -5
Look at us. Look at what they make you give.
You know me so this shouldn’t come as any surprise at all, but up until the week after this movie’s release, I hadn’t seen any of these films. I had seen parts of the first one years ago when it first came out on DVD but that was it. I have been to the movies a lot this summer and there was a trailer for this movie nearly every single time and it looked damn good and I knew I had to see it. So I snatched up the first two on DVD and set out on a crash course to see them. I managed to watch three Bourne films in two days.
I really enjoy these movies. The Bourne Identity is a great little action-thriller that breathed new life into a dying genre; the spy thriller. It took things in a new direction and did away with the fantastical gadgets and glitz that the 007 series had become so famous for and made a realistic rough and tumble spy flick that was gritty and in your face. And it worked. Identity is a very good movie and to say that it is the weakest in this series is a wonderful thing. When your weakest entry is this good, you know you are in for something great. The Bourne Supremacy came out two years later in 2004 and there was a new helmer behind the lenses; Paul Greengrass. He is famous for his use of handheld cameras and they get quite a workout here. The change in style is immediately apparent. The camera is kinetic and frantic and always moving. I know that many people complain about the “shaky-cam” effect and I can see their complaints, but I am in the other camp, I think it works wonderfully. Identity used cameras in the normal sense and it felt like you were watching a movie. Sure the action was entertaining but there was never any danger or urgency felt and, even though it is a movie, it felt like you were watching one. In Supremacy, you are a part of the action and danger. There IS danger too. You feel as though you are taking part in the action and therefore you are always on the egde of your seat. Supremacy is a step up from the already great Identity but it still is not the pinnacle of this franchise. Wait, are you saying that the third entry is the best one?
Damn right I am. The Bourne Ultimatum is a tremendous film. This movie pinballs around the screen unlike any film in recent memory; it's a nuclear bomb of cinematic energy, suspicion, and limb snapping that brings out the best in the character and the director. Ultimatum roars with newfound franchise control, perhaps not touching the elegance original director Doug Liman brought to the material, but taking Bourne to more unrefined heights of danger and exasperation. Impatiently globe-trotting from the first frame, Ultimatum rarely stops to take a breath. Surely this is a sign of the thin plot, but Greengrass makes up for the lack of dramatic gravity by constructing an action-thriller that doesn't understand the meaning of pause. Pause has cooties as far as this production is concerned, and once Bourne senses his mission, it kicks off a series of cat-and-mouse suspense sequences, car and motorcycle chases, and the old standard of Bourne disarming and handicapping the fools who dare try to halt his progress.
For Greengrass, it's a more concentrated directorial job than his work in "Supremacy." Now appreciative of what audiences want, the filmmaker is more than willing to dish up platefuls of action, given pulsating life by composer John Powell. Of course, this means the return of his documentary-style cinematic standards, but if watching "Supremacy" made you sick, "Ultimatum" should just leave you queasy; Greengrass dials down his frenzied instincts a smidge to let the audience actually enjoy the movie. However, once Bourne goes into punch mode, the edit count goes ballistic and the visual stimulation might be a tad overwhelming to some. As I said earlier though, I enjoy the handheld camera work. That said, I feel Greengrass is one of the few, if not the only, director who can pull it off successfully. I hate it when you can see what the hell is going on, but he makes it work great here and it enhances the action on-screen to greater levels. There is one fight sequence in this one that it the grittiest fight in the whole trilogy and it is a blast to watch because of the way that Greengrass shoots it. Oh, and the car chase is phenomenal. It is ridiculously intense and is the best one in not only this series, but arguably the best one I’ve ever seen. The handeld cameras just add so much to this movie though that it definitely would not have been as interesting or as fun if it were shot traditionally. One last sequence I want to mention is in a train station. There is so much tension going on in that scene, it is unbelievable. My girlfriend, who enjoyed this movie just as much as I did by the way, was almost breaking my hand during this scene. Great stuff there. There is one big reason why these action/suspense scenes work though. That is because they happen organically. They don’t feel staged and seemingly grow out of the story. They are a part of the movie and aren’t picked out specifically. They feel like they belong, which is something that can’t be said for all movies.
Matt Damon is simply wonderful as Jason Bourne. He is 113% believable as an action star and I can only hope he changes his mind and is willing to come back for a fourth movie. Julia Stiles is, surprisingly, not shitty here. She is actually pretty enjoyable which may have been the biggest surprise of the movie. Everyone else is top notch though. You got the asshole-ish CIA guys and the few people on Bourne’s side and they all play their parts extremely well.
The score is also great as well. Composer John Powell gives us his best score yet with this one. Each scene is accompanied perfectly by the music and, while is isn’t always noticeable, the scenes are greatly enhanced by the music (as all movies should be) and is adds that much more to the tension, action and overall movie. Great shite here.
What else is there really to say about The Bourne Ultimatum? It’s the best “third movie” of the year and is a fucking blast to watch. At the end of the summer, I can definitely see this being near the top of my list. Hell, it’ll be there at the end of the year.
As the final film in the series, Ultimatum is tasked with bringing closure to Bourne's search for answers. It does this satisfactorily, and we realize that despite the scarcity of dialogue and lack of information about Bourne's pre-spy life, he has somehow become a real, flesh-and-blood, fully developed character. Damon's lone-wolf somberness, plus his ability to use just his eyes and face to speak volumes about his character's thoughts, vitalizes Jason Bourne.
5/5
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