Opening Night: The Bourne Ultimatum

We arrived at the theater about an hour before showtime, anticipating the line we’d wait in to get into our seats. The movie would start at 9:50, and we walked through the doors around 9:00. Alas, we weren’t early enough, and ended up with about forty people in front of us. We got pretty good seats, about mid-way up the climb, but over to one side. So not totally inline with where we wanted to be – but not bad at all. Forgettable as soon as the picture starts.

Matt & JuliaThe movie picks up right where the last one left off, but there’s the catch. The end of the second movie actually happens about halfway through Ultimatum. So if you rewatch Supremacy to prep yourself for the third, stop your player right after he walks out of the Russian girl’s apartment. The next scene, where he calls Pam Landy from New York and tells her to get some rest… That doesn’t really happen yet. So just cut it off the end of the second film. The third will then make more sense to you.

This was not my favorite of the three, but I can’t really tell you why. It wasn’t my least favorite either. Once again, I don’t know why though. The first one was pretty gigantic, because it was new. The second had a lot of good, tight action, and so did the third. It was a lot like Supremacy in that it was hard to tell what was going on with the action sometimes. The cameras were so close to the action, it was very intimate – and confusing therefore. Ultimatum had plenty of action, and car chases, foot chases, crowd scenes, etc. I wasn’t at all unhappy with the film as a complete story. But I didn’t think it wrapped up the trilogy as well as it could have. I didn’t feel gyped at the end. But I didn’t feel like it had totally delivered, either.

Nicky (Julia Stiles) plays a lot bigger role in this picture, but she still isn’t nearly the instrument she should have been in the film’s success. They should have given her a thicker part. While she was on screen for a good portion of the movie, there just wasn’t a whole lot going on with her. She was mostly silent, and though she’s very in-sync with Bourne as far as communication and knowing what he wants, what he needs, and what he means, she doesn’t really convey control of the character to me. Or maybe the character herself is just kind of blah and loose. She wasn’t bad. She just didn’t knock my socks off. I’d like to have seen her get more intense intellectually.

Anyway, I give the film four solid stars. It was good, and maybe I’ll think it was great after I see it once more. I’ll definitely add it to my collection when it comes out. But here’s to hoping there’s a fourth installment to the story. Go see it and let me know what you think of how it wraps up the story. I think all in all, the bottom line is that the wrap-up was adequate – I just don’t feel like he’s really closed off their search. I think there’s still sufficient need for someone to want to find him. And maybe that’s what they want me thinking.

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