The Bourne Ultimatum

Another movie on the list which, in my opinion, isn’t really a “Martial Arts Movie”. The Bourne Ultimatum however, does showcase some pretty cool martial arts in a few quick flashes, but is driven by an intriguing story as Jason runs around the world making things difficult for his enemies.

This film continues off after The Bourne Supremacy with Jason Bourne (Matt Damon) is in Paris to tell Martin Kreutz that his sister Marie (Jason’s girl from the first two Bournes), was killed .

But things get interesting when a Journalist named Ross mentions “Operation Blackbriar” over the telephone, causing the usual government bad guys to track him, and find out who his contact is before leaking too much information about them. Then Bourne shows up to help Ross out and to also find out some more information. When trying to help out Ross, Ross goes against Bourne’s advice during a chase and is killed, so everything turns into a big hunt to kill Bourne and anyone associated with him.

All the while Jason Bourne is tracking down bits and pieces of information to help discover more about his beginning, tracking down where everything began – where and who made him become ‘Jason Bourne’ and find some answers.

More or Less – the same stuff.

Bourne is back as the big kid outsmarting the little kids. He makes all sorts of intelligent moves and escapes rather narrowly before having the autorities chasing their tales.

It feels the same, the chases are the same and everything that was reasonable about the first two movies is repainted onto a duller canvas of ‘Bourne’ plot. I say duller because while much of the aspects of the first two movies are present, the really smart and resourceful moves of Bourne are almost diminished. He tends to rely more on his fighting ability and general flukeyness to get out of trouble. This makes the third movie a little less interesting than the first two, relying more on the action, which just isn’t enough to make the movie as entertaining as the first couple.

In saying that though, they have gone for a nice little ‘trilogy framing device’ (as it could be seen before the release of Bourne Legacy) by going back to the beginning – the origins of Bourne.

Back to the Beginning (spoilers)

During Bourne’s efforts to outsmart the little kids, thet give him some information about his past – his name is David Webb, and using his birthday as code, they give him the address of the training facility where things all started.

Upon his arrival his self righteous mission is kind of thrown back in his face when they jog his memory a little, reminding him that he volunteered to become a secret ops soldier and accepted the identity of Jason Bourne quite freely. But he justifies himself (fairly enough too I suppose) by saying that he was willing to fight fo rhis country and instead was used as a personal tool. He then turns his information over to some interested parties who shut down the operation and the men behind it.

This wraps up Bourne quite nicely, but still leaves everything open to the opportunity for a sequel, which they of course eventually made. So they did do a good job in giving the movie something extra, but I was pretty happy that they also improved and slightly changed the nature of the fights in this film.

Action & Martial Arts

Like the previous films, pace and events are what make the movie exciting and ‘actiony’. But the Martial Arts sequences are bit more intelligent than the first.

We see the same no nonsense moves of Bourne, but smart fighting concepts which any martial artist would be happy to see. The quick but not over-milked use of his opponents and shields during multiple attacks is done so well, with vital targets being what Bourne goes for. He’s breaking wrists and hands and tearing apart his opponents with precise and down to Earth moves.

The only weakness of these fights is that they last a good second. The shots are choppy to disguise any shortcomings in the fights (again, like the first two) and are often shot from bad angles or in dark areas.

A bit of trivia: You get to see Scott Adkins make his way toward Bourne a little after half an hour into the film. He’s dealt with pretty quickly though by Jason.

The Verdict?

Another Bourne film with slightly better fights but a slightly less intelligent strategy behind his movements. The loss and gain I think puts it pretty much on par with others. There’s ultimately nothing new worth mentioning, but it is still entertaining.