CINEMA: The Bourne Ultimatum

He’s back – and he’s better than Bond!

Matt Damon’s Jason Bourne has become the action hero for the noughties; a mean, lean killing machine who always manages to stay one step ahead. This third installment of the super assassin’s story takes us through Europe and England, into Africa and across the Atlantic to America.

When newspaper reporter Simon Ross (Paddy Considine) writes a story mooting that Bourne is still alive, the ultra-secretive Blackbriar Special Ops goes into overdrive. Agents Noah Vosen (David Strathairn) and Pamela Landy (Joan Allen) are soon tracking Bourne using every form of electronic surveillance open to them as he attempts to make contact with Ross. But Bourne’s not about to let them catch him and with the help of CIA agent Nicky Parsons (Julia Stiles) he starts to close in on the men who made him what he is. Jason Bourne wants answers and he’s going to get them no matter how many trained killers are sent in to take him out.

Director Paul Greengrass choreographs the action superbly with the chase and fight scenes having real drive and energy. Two astonishingly detailed sequences – shot on Waterloo station’s crowded concourse and across the rooftops and through the alleys of Tangier – give maximum exhilaration and have the audience whooping in their seats, while the obligatory Bourne car chase (this time in New York) is a (literally) smashing scene.

Damon brings real depth to the Bourne role, showing the vulnerable man inside the cold killer, while Allen and Stiles both show moral fortitude in the face of their bosses’ immorality. This is truly exciting stuff with the camera zooming and swooping over the action at such a fast pace you’ll need to concentrate to keep up. However, if you pay attention you’ll discover this is an action movie with more than one layer. Basically Bourne is the bees’ knees: bold, brilliant and breathtaking.      Dee Pilgrim