The Bourne Ultimatum (2007, USA)

If there’s one thing that makes Jason Bourne stand out in the current landscape of cinematic action heroes, it’s his stoicism. No wisecracks, like John McClane or James Bond, and no otherworldly powers to grapple with, like Peter Parker/Spiderman. If there’s anyone at all to compare him to, it might be Bruce Wayne/Batman, but Bourne lacks the darkness that makes the Batman character unique. Bourne may grapple with his conscience, but he never makes light of his abilities – he’s relentless, and that’s what The Bourne Ultimatum feels like as well – relentless. Many critics have labeled it one big long chase scene, and they’re right. From start to finish, the action scarcely slows down, as we leapfrog with Bourne across Europe and North Africa, finally landing in New York City for one of the most spectacular car chases in a recent film not called The Bourne Identity or The Bourne Supremacy. Apart from this sequence in Midtown Manhattan and a game of hide-and-seek set in Waterloo Station, the Morocco segment is probably the most pulse-pounding, combining an awesome rooftop chase with a brutal fistfight, shot tight with no backing music.

One of my favorite aspects of the Bourne films is how lucky and innovative they’ve been in casting their villains – Chris Cooper, Brian Cox, Joan Allen, and now David Strathairn and Albert Finney (though it’s somewhat sad to see how old Finney has gotten in the past few years). I suppose that in the face of these actors, Damon has little choice but to remain stoic – not to say that he’s a particularly bad actor, because he’s not, but he simply doesn’t have the chops to stand up to any of these people in a show of emotion. He’s the unstoppable force of nature, pushing the burden of feeling back onto the villains or sympathetic bit players such as Franka Potente, Julia Stiles, or Paddy Considine (another welcome cast addition in Ultimatum).

For the third time in this series of man vs. C.I.A., we see that when pitting action against pure calculation, action wins out every time. The Bourne movies are probably what Shooter aspired to be, but the latter film lacks any of the panache or the central moral struggle of Bourne. When we finally see what happened to make Bourne what he is, the reveal comes with the idea that creating a relentless killer may in fact have had the side effect of making a better man (a bit disturbing, actually). The ending leaves the door cracked open for a possible fourth movie, but if the filmmakers are wise, they’ll leave good enough alone.