[view trailer] JASON BOURNE (MATT DAMON) of the Bourne trilogy is this century's ultimate spy, even better than Bond…any of them. Watching DAMON, one of the supreme practitioners of the lethal stillness mode, actually offers a fine example of how to look calm in the face of insurmountable odds. Sure death is seemingly the only possible outcome for this career—except if you are Jason Bourne—and DAMON makes you believe it.
The Bourne character is the MacGyver of espionage. Bourne has his own cloak of invisibility and apparently absolute control of technology. His skills encompass obtaining passports, having as much cash as is needed, and effortlessly accessing any security system. As need be, he can even hotwire cars that he must have selected from the old-fashioned few that one can still pull wires out from under the dash, without disabling the vehicle.
Parking lots are Bourne's personal 'shopping' areas. I can't tell one car from another, but of course he can and does. He hotwires vehicles from Moscow to Paris, London, New York, Madrid and a moped in Tangiers. The Bourne character could also work as a stuntdriver, if his day job will just go away. (The car chase scenes in the first two movies were increasingly outrageous to film, and for the final wildly out of control chases, the genius is quite apparent.)
Bourne must put to bed his curiousity about his true identity, for once and for all. That isThe Bourne Ultimatum. Bourne moves about the entire planet seamlessly, invisible, aware of every surveillance camera, every toe of a shoe in a doorway. He sees all, and is rarely seen by others. Everyone he does encounter is no match for his carefully thought out operations. That obstacle-free world is the one in which we would all prefer to breeze about, so we love the Bourne character. Who amongst us untrained dunderheads doesn't dread a trip to DMV?
A well executed thriller is a tough ride. Such is the case with the Bourne movies, and The Bourne Ultimatum, being the last of the trilogy by no means takes away the rush. The lights go down, you find Bourne fleeing for his life. He's limping, wounded. Not good. The scenes ramp up incredibly fast, confusing images, noise, you can't get a handle on what's going on. Immediately your adrenaline starts pumping. Your adrenaline pump runs empty by the time the last of John Powell's pounding sound track plays over the scrolling credits.Quite possibly you will be wore out before the end, but stay you must, of course. Nary a person in the auditorium leaves unsatisfied, there isn't time to even think about anything but the film.
The Bourne Ultimatum is less about bringing a book to life on the screen than it is a tour de force for the director, screenwriters, actors and editor of the film. The footage includes spectacular armchair travel experiences, however brief. The action rips your attention from the horizons, truncating the views, the crowds, the actual people of far-flung regions. Camera angles, the close-in shots of covert agents in conversations about dangerous ideas, gives an illusion of evesdropping, of taking the measure of the speaker—there is no sensation of just watching 'talking heads.'
The first time the camera pulls in on the face of Neil Daniels (COLIN STINTON), the head of the reporter, Simon Ross (PADDY CONSIDINE), blocks part of Daniels' face. Had this been a lower budget, independent film, I might have felt the director sloppy. We listen to the conversation while the lens tightens until just one eye and cheek are visible—the eye registering alarm, the face twitches slightly. That is a first taste of a unique way to tell a story with film. You feel ill at ease and that pretty much is your mental state the entire movie, with strong blips during some of the more intense chases, verbal battles and incredibly physical fights.
Paul Greengrass is accumulating huge credibility as a director of a visceral, 'you are there' storytelling style. It is very stylish, and to me, amazing. There are still completely new ways to engage a viewer! He has a filmic storyteller's grasp of tension, fear and the tiniest of cues our minds pick up on when the thrill ride turns deadly dangerous. Greengrass and his team can pull your mind right into the action on screen. Safely seated, your body nonetheless reacts to every bit of the action, every twitch, dodge, your breathing shallow. I am not kidding, people gasped, jerked, even applauded after one particularly viscious fight sequence (that univeral reaction demonstrated their personal investment in the outcome). Each of us was with Bourne on this leg of the race, his long exile briefly suspended by his quest—he wants answers, the truth about himself.
The Bourne Trilogy is a searing peek at the ghost life of the walking dead that serve our country in the name of intelligence gathering. Robert Ludlum was at the top of his game when he wrote the Bourne odyssey, the story of many a spy, a spook as they are called by their own. Some of the field agents on their surreal espionage career paths live to old age. Then their past catches up to them and they're dead. Most die early on, their wits and responses too slow. Those who manage to stay alive do so by practicing invisibility, personal emotional stillness and keeping a constant eye on everyone around, even the toe of a shoe in a doorway. A favor to yourself would be to set aside some time to actually read the books. You will still catch yourself shallow breathing. Alas, his written words and your own imaginations can not match the approach Greengrass takes to depict this career lifestyle.
The screenplays were tasked to writers who needed to lift out parts of the books, update the technology and synthesize riveting movie masterpieces of international intrigue. Not to diminish in any way the premium cast of actors that slip ominously into their characters' roles, it does make a long list, which follows this review. Tops were JOAN ALLEN, JULIA STILES, EDGAR RAMIREZ, JOEY ANSAH, and DAVID STRATHAIRN.
The Bourne film trilogy is the first of what I think we may end up calling the 'post-futuristic' stories set in the early twenty-first century. After all, we now say, "We are living in the future." Greengrass' vision of the future of film is quite up to par, exceeding expectations. What a ride, dark, but thrillingly 'real,' from a theatre seat. Wouldn't want to be ya…
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Reviews are © Carol Lane Patterson and reprinted with permission.
