Written by: Dom and Ash at 7:52 pm
Writer: Tony Gilroy, Scott Z. Burns, George Nolfi
Director: Paul Greengrass
Cast: Matt Damon, Julia Stiles, David Strathaim, Scott Glenn, Paddy Considine, Edgar Ramirez, Albert Finney, Joan Allen
Rating: PG-13
Studio: Universal Studios
Release Date: December 11, 2007
It is rare for a sequel to be as exhilarating as the original film in a trilogy. Where most sequels fail The Bourne Ultimatum succeeds, on multiple levels. With an all-star cast and some of the best acting we knew Matt Damon was always capable of doing, The Bourne Ultimatum is the best thriller movie I’ve seen in 2007.
There are plenty of heart pounding moments and unexpected turns as Jason Bourne (Damon) returns for one last hurrah. I was hoping that Julia Stiles would sneak into the film as she did in The Bourne Supremacy as Nicolette “Nicky” Parsons. It was nice to see her in this movie, with a somewhat bigger role than the last two films and the way the film’s storyline overlapped and was interwoven with its two predecessors made perfect sense. By the end of the film, you feel a sense of closure, not unlike the closure you are to assume Bourne has felt within the latter part of the film. Nevertheless, it is nice to know that the end film of a trilogy can be finished in a logical and effective way without plot holes or lingering storylines that do not seem to have any closure to them.
Release Information:
The Bourne Ultimatum was released in theaters around the United States on August 3, 2007. Between that date and November 15, 2007, the film has premiered in innumerable theaters and countries worldwide. On December 11, 2007, Universal Studios released DVD versions of The Bourne Ultimatum, making the movie available to U.S. and various online retailers just in time for Christmas.
The Bourne Ultimatum is available in a widescreen and full screen edition with a retail price of $13.99 through the online retailer Amazon. The movie is also available in the much anticipated four-DVD box set, The Jason Bourne Collection. The collection offers all three ‘Bourne’ movies as well as a DVD filled with bonus features. This collection is available through Amazon for slightly over $42. Finally, there is an HD-DVD combo version of The Bourne Ultimatum, which was also released on December 11, 2007. This DVD retails for $27.95 on Amazon. For all intents and purposes, this review discusses what is included in the widescreen edition of The Bourne Ultimatum.
The The Bourne Ultimatum Plot
After The Bourne Supremacy ended, it was presumed that Jason Bourne, though still unsure of his past and who he was, was done with the CIA. Unfortunately for Jason, the CIA isn’t quite done with him. A newspaper reporter, Simon Ross (Paddy Considine), in London writes a story on Jason, asking the question ‘Who is Jason Bourne?’ The information that has been provided is from an anonymous source that has information not only on Bourne but on a CIA project known as ‘Blackbriar’.
While the CIA, led by newly appointed CIA director, Noah Vosen (David Strathaim), assumes Bourne is involved (and may even be the source) they target him for breaking the law and releasing CIA information. Since that would be a breach of his contract as a CIA operative, Bourne searches for answers on his own. Meanwhile, the CIA has brought in Pamela Landy (Joan Allen), since she knows Bourne, in an attempt to find out where he is. It doesn’t take Landy long to realize that her strategies for finding and bringing in Bourne differ significantly from the tactics used by the power-hungry, rage-driven Vosen.
While Jason is unsuccessful in finding out who Ross’ source is from Ross himself, he manages to get a name for the source or perhaps someone who knows the source off Ross’ notes. The name just happens to be former CIA station chief, Neal Daniels (Colin Stinton). Daniels’ last known whereabouts is Madrid. Bourne heads there and though he is too late, since Daniels has packed up all his stuff and headed for the hills, he runs into Nicky Parsons (Julia Stiles) who is now working for the CIA in Spain. Sympathetic to Bourne’s plight, having seen his transformation over the years, Nicky ends up betraying the CIA and heading off to Tangiers with Bourne, since that is where Daniels has headed.
In Tangiers, a lot of things happen, as we see how Vosen operates. He has a “bring em in dead or alive though dead is better” mentality about not only Parsons but Bourne himself. While Jason and Nicky are now on the run together, Bourne must find information to not only keep the two of them safe, but also to clear his name while finding out his identity. This takes him back to the place it all started, Washington D.C.
While Bourne and Parsons must separate for the time being, the chemistry and tension between the two is realistic and heartfelt. Bourne is on a quest to discover his identity, which is especially imperative since he’s been having flashbacks nearly the entire movie. What will happen thanks to the help of his unlikely allies is quite shocking and yet offers a sense of closure that cannot be described. You just have to see it to understand it.
The acting in this film and the directing by Paul Greengrass were superb. While the script was terrific, a lesser cast couldn’t have pulled off the amazing performance this group of actors did. The shining star of the film was, of course, Matt Damon, who played Bourne to perfection through his confusion, anger, contempt, and the myriad of other emotions that he felt as the plot unfolded and the story played out.
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Directing:
Audio/Visual:
Not only is The Bourne Ultimatum a great movie, the anamorphic widescreen format is nearly perfect. The Bourne Ultimatum was transferred at an aspect ratio of 2.40:1. The movie has been enhanced for 16×9 television sets. The visual quality was near perfect. I didn’t find any compression artifacts and there was little to no grain presented in the transfer. Overall, it was as perfect as you could expect a DVD in 2007 to be.
Likewise, the audio for The Bourne Ultimatum was stellar. The Dolby Digital 5.1 surround sound track was perfect. The music blended in well with the dialogue and nothing was too hard to hear. The music and sound effects were evenly distributed with sound moving from the front to the back and swelling in the middle of the audio track. None of the sounds were too far forward and everything seemed to flow together with little to no errors you could hear.
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Bonus Features:
The Bourne Ultimatum has some special features included on the DVD. As is to be expected, there is an audio commentary presented in English, with director Paul Greengrass. There are also 12 minutes of deleted scenes. There are multiple featurettes included on The Bourne Ultimatum DVD. These featurettes include “Man on the Move: Jason Bourne”, a featurette that is a little over 20 minutes long, which looks at all of the locations where Bourne travels in The Bourne Ultimatum, “Rooftop Pursuit”, a featurette that is five minutes long, which examines the action packed, rooftop chase that happened during Bourne’s visit to Tangiers, and “Planning the Punches”, a featurette that is five minute longs, which looks at the choreography and staging of the fights in the The Bourne Ultimatum.
That’s not all that is included on the widescreen edition of The Bourne Ultimatum. There’s a mini-featurette that is just three minutes long and is called “Driving School”. As the name implies, this takes a look at the car stunts that occur during the chase scenes of The Bourne Ultimatum. Additionally, there is a bonus featurette that looks specifically at the ending chase in New York, entitled, “New York Chase”. This feature is ten minutes long.
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Bottom Line:
I don’t know what else I can say about The Bourne Ultimatum other than to tell you to buy this DVD. This is one movie you won’t regret owning. If you haven’t seen the other movies in the Bourne Trilogy, you should check them out first. It really does follow chronological order quite well and you might be confused coming into this one with no prior knowledge of Jason Bourne or his story. Regardless, The Bourne Ultimatum is a HOT HOT HOT holiday seller and we just can’t stop gushing about how good it is. This one comes highly recommended!
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Written by Dom and Ash - Visit Website
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