The Bourne Ultimatum

The Bourne Ultimatum is the third and final installment in the Jason Bourne story adapted from the books by Robert Ludlum. It picks up almost straight after the events of The Bourne Supremacy.

Marie is dead and Bourne (Matt Damon) is still looking for revenge and information about his true identity. With the suicide of Ward Abbot (Brian Cox), Treadstone has been closed down and the CIA are trying to clean house and that means that they're still looking to terminate Bourne.

When journalist Simon Ross (Paddy Considine) writes about an Operation Blackbriar, to all intents and purposes Treadstone Mark II, in his newspaper column, Bourne makes contact thinking Ross may have information on his past. Of course the Blackbriar team are out to silence both of them.

While The Bourne Identity and The Bourne Supremacy were cracking spy thrillers, this really didn't hit the mark for me as well as I thought it would. Sure there was loads of fast-paced action and Matt Damon played Bourne as sharply as before but it just seemed like more of the same as was dished up in the last movie. Bourne's journey to find out his real identity while avoiding the constant stream of Blackbriar assassins, sorry assets, is all a bit too formulaic.

The female interest here is ex-Treadstone agent Nicky Parsons (Julia Stiles) and the script did allude to her having more of a relationship with Bourne than was actually stated, which led me to think that it may have been taken from the books and never fully explored. Not that the movies bear much of a resemblance to the books other than the fact that they start off with him floating in the sea.

That said, it's still a good movie and I did enjoy it for its fast pace and well shot action sequences. The chase over the rooftops is excellent. Worth seeing if you've seen the first two movies but not quite as good as either of them.

Genre: Action, Adventure, Mystery, Thriller
My Rating: 7/10