The Bourne Ultimatum (2007)
Directed by Paul Greengrass
Bourne is brought out of hiding once again by reporter Simon Ross who is trying to unveil Operation Blackbriar, an upgrade to Project Treadstone, in a series of newspaper columns. Information from the reporter stirs a new set of memories, and Bourne must finally uncover his dark past while dodging The Company's best efforts to eradicate him.
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18 films that influenced The Bourne Ultimatum
What critics say influenced The Bourne Ultimatum
When Doug Liman directed the first film five years ago, he was inspired partly by the pace and energy of Tom Tykwer's film Run Lola Run.
"Run, Lola, Run"eTMs Franka Potente, who played BourneeTMs former love interest Marie, is sorely missed here.
These are followed by a close-quarters fight in an apartment seemingly lined with breakable glass, which is meant to be (and almost is) as brutal as the Shaw vs. Connery train-compartment cage match in From Russia With Love.
He has no truck with the CGI that's got the better of "Die Hard" cop John McClane.
As with previous installments, when there is violence, it’s grim, brutal, and direct, without the dramatic flourishes and conceits of fisticuffs in popcorn movies like Die Hard.
For sheer crunch, it surpasses even The French Connection.
The tension ratchets up as Vosen and Bourne play a cat-and-mouse game in the Big Apple, where the classic chase in “The French Connection” is arguably topped by a breathtaking vehicular pursuit beginning at the Port Authority Bus Terminal.
Bourne's prolonged bout with CIA asset Desh (Joey Ansah) in Madrid is arguably the most brutal hand-to-hand fight yet in the series, while the car chase between Bourne and another asset, Paz (Edgar Ramirez), is like The French Connection on steroids.
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In his desperate run to find the people who are chasing him, Jason hooks up in Madrid with the CIA's Nicky Parsons ( Julia Stiles ), who is given several dozen words to say with somber gravity before Jason is off to Algiers and running through windows and living rooms in the Casbah; I think I recognized some of the same steep streets from "Pepe Le Moko," which is a movie about just staying in the Casbah and hiding there, a strategy by which Jason could have avoided a lot of property damage.
Now that they're over—for now, anyway—the Bourne movies have left behind perhaps the strongest residue of mainstream anti-government paranoia since '70s thrillers like The Parallax View and Three Days Of The Condor.
Now that they're over—for now, anyway—the Bourne movies have left behind perhaps the strongest residue of mainstream anti-government paranoia since '70s thrillers like The Parallax View and Three Days Of The Condor.
Bourne, if youeTMve seen the previous films and/or read Robert LudlumeTMs books on which the series is based, is still trying to figure out his true identity only, following the unfortunate elimination of his girlfriend, "this time... iteTMs personal" (to quote from "Jaws: The Revenge").
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It's like a scene out of Coppola's The Conversation kicked up to nervous high alert.
A centerpiece second chase through Tangier implements Greengrass� shaky-cam style to a nearly nauseating degree, but it works as the sheer exhaustion of Bourne�s pursuit over rooftops, on scooter and through windows is almost a 3-D IMAX experience seen through the squid devices of Strange Days.