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Bourne Ultimatum, TheIdentity. Supremacy. Ultimatum. The titles of the Bourne films reflect their terse, taciturn character Jason Bourne. He's the ex-CIA assassin who was plucked from the Mediterranean as an amnesiac in The Bourne Identity and saw his fugitive hopes of domesticity destroyed in The Bourne Supremacy.
The who-am-I? impetus propelled those first two instalments and it's no surprise that it crops up again here in what various sources have claimed is the final entry in the Bourne saga. But although Jason Bourne discovers his real name and retraces his first steps into the CIA's shady Treadstone programme, it's fair to say he's still a mystery by the time the credits roll. And that's what gives this classy thriller its smarts.
In 2007's summer of jaded Hollywood sequels, remakes and multi-million dollar adverts for toys The Bourne Ultimatum is something special: a blockbuster with brains as well as brawn. Sticking close to the original movies (though deviating wildly from Robert Ludlum's novels), it's a threequel that manages to retain its freshness by dint of its craftsmanship, not gimmicks. Using his over-the-shoulder shaky-cams, British director Paul Greengrass stages the action with balls, employing real locations and a small crew to deliver the kind of verite he put to different use in Bloody Sunday and United 93.
An early nerve-fraying sequence in London's Waterloo Station sets the taut, credible tone as Bourne (Matt Damon) meets whistle-blowing reporter Simon Ross (Paddy Considine) from the 'Guardian', who's running a story on the CIA's Treadstone programme.
The ensuing game of cat and mouse plays out with nerve-fraying tension as Bourne dodges covert operatives on the station concourse, while CIA/NSA suits led by agency mandarin Noah Vosen (David Strathairn) run the show in real-time from behind banks of monitors halfway around the world. It's like a steroid-abusing version of '24' and begs the question: how much did the original films inspire the clock-ticking TV drama?
The series has always had a keen sense of the division of labour in the spy industry, as senior suits wash their hands of the dirty business that happens on the ground. The screenplay plays that expediency to the hilt and adds a muted political dimension to Jason Bourne and his reasons for joining the CIA.
The revelation and flashbacks that show his initiation make him a morally ambivalent figure whose hero status seems to be eroding with each new instalment. There's a subversive undercurrent at work here and the film's understated take on the limits of patriotism is surprisingly daring - although so underplayed that many may overlook it.
Greengrass keeps such concerns simmering under the surface but doesn't forget he's supposed to deliver an action blockbuster. The results are exhilarating: the Waterloo opening gives way to a motorbike/foot chase through a Tangier market; a Manhattan car chase with Damon behind the wheel of a NYPD cruiser. The shooting style is immersive. You flinch, tense and dodge as Damon unleashes Bourne's inimitable Krav Maga moves, the bone-crunching sound effects expressing every snapped wrist, every choke hold.
Matt Damon's intimated that this may well be his last outing in the role. With three films already under his belt that may be the smartest move to make, especially since it's debatable how much more plot and CIA double-crosses the franchise can credibly sustain.
If it ends here, it'll end on a high note. True, there'll still be more questions than answers - but the mystery of Bourne was always part of his dangerous, disorienting allure.
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