3rd September , 2007

LLOYD HARKNESS

The Bourne Ultimatum (M)

In A Word: Entertaining

LOOKING FOR CLUES: Jason Bourne, played by Matt Damon, continues to hunt down his past in 'The Bourne Ultimatum'. PICTURE: Jasin Boland/Universal Pictures International. Copyright: © 2006 Universal Studios. All rights reserved.   "Despite the excellently executed action sequences, this film is very much borne along (pardon the pun) by a brilliantly understated performance from Matt Damon, and to a lesser extent the supporting cast."

In The Bourne Ultimatum the cat and mouse game continues for Jason Bourne, the ever alert killing machine, who wants answers to how the man became a machine.

And answers are what he, and those of us who devoured the first two Bourne films, get.

What is Treadstone? What is Treadstone's function? Who is Treadstone answerable to? Why and how did Bourne become who he is? These questions all dovetail together and a further pressing one emerges in this film; What is Blackbriars?

These questions go to the core of the frenetic pace the film sets. Where will the corruption within the CIA take Jason Bourne? Will he be able to trust anyone in his pursuit of answers? Do you even have time to trust when one hard-nosed assassin after another is put on your trail?

The film sets change as fast as the action sequences. We move across Europe, North Africa and US as we're caught up in car chases, roof-top chases and close-in hand to hand combat. The jerky camera work and quick-fire editing are another element in this whirlwind pace.

Yet, despite the excellently executed action sequences, this film is very much borne along (pardon the pun) by a brilliantly understated performance from Matt Damon, and to a lesser extent the supporting cast. We care about the man, Jason Bourne (or David Webb as his birth certificate stated), because Matt Damon has us believing in his character. Bourne is caught in a world of espionage where betrayal and utilitarianism merge into a grey smear.

Even though there is still huge holes in his memory, Jason now cares about those being drawn into his orbit. This is why he emerges again from what he hoped would be obscurity to assist Simon Ross, an English journalist.

Ross published a story on Bourne and Treadstone not knowing what he was stepping into. Bourne quickly arranges a meeting at Waterloo Station and what ensues is a tense stalking game as Bourne and Ross try to escape from a commuting crowd which contains enough operatives to send the Fijian economy into a nosedive.

And that is where this film review will end; at the beginning of a very entertaining chapter three in the Bourne trilogy.

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