One thing that The Bourne Ultimatum does exceptionally well is to acknowledge its place in the continuity of the series without leaning too heavily on the earlier films for inspiration. There's no doubt that Identity and Supremacy inform every minute of the film, and the movie offers tremendous rewards to fans of the earlier movies, but this isn't a formula movie that is content to run the bases again for an easy home run. In fact, Greengrass' film is tremendously sophisticated in the way that it wraps itself in all of "what came before" by offering sly references to the Bourne history without simply recycling (two favourite moments immediately come to mind, both with the deja vu written clearly on Bourne's face: once as he watches Julia Stiles' character dying her hair; the other as he faces a would-be assassin behind the wheel of a car). At first pass, it would be easy to mistake these familiar echoes as the beginnings of the sequel formula - the director has begun repeating the same plot elements - however everything in Ultimatum is played at a slightly different pitch. Yes, there's another car chase, another grapple with the police, another opportunity for Bourne to scope out his pursuers from a rooftop across the street. But one gets the sense that all of this is done with a canny sense of history repeating. [And Lordy, the less said about those brilliant final shots of the film...the better.]Despite all this, Greengrass' greatest accomplishment is his ability to sustain an unbearable level of tension for almost 120 minutes. It's a bit like listening to a virtuoso musician hold the high note for an entire performance: after a while, the act itself becomes awesome. Never mind that it's virtually impossible. The performer makes it appear easy and natural. Greengrass does the same trick by opening the film already running at full sprint, and then never giving the characters any downtime. Simply put, there's no bathroom breaks in The Bourne Ultimatum for anyone. The movie moves too fast to do anything but react for 2 hours.
The heartiest example of this is the protracted foot-chase through Morocco which seems to intensify well beyond the point of reason, and then still continues to turn the screws. I can't begin to guess how long the sequence takes to play out (one of Greengrass' superhuman abilities is the manner in which his editing makes time fly) but when Bourne and his assailant finally start grappling, you realize that you haven't taken a breath in 15 minutes. And that fight? Maybe top 10 ever. No hyperbole. Every punch makes the theatre seats shake.
Performances in the film are top-notch and for proof of how strong the Bourne franchise has become, you need only look at the talent it attracts. Matt Damon has already proven himself to be a rich and complex Jason Bourne, but the addition of David Strathairn, Paddy Considine, Scott Glenn and Albert Finney to the cast are masterstrokes. Strathairn in particular brings his top game, creating a heel that is devilish without ever resorting to action-movie cliché. Joan Allen is also wonderful, finding new notes in the Landry character and finding a new relationship to Bourne from that of the second film.
It's been said that Matt Damon doesn't intend to return to the Jason Bourne character and like a lot of recent summer blockbusters, the studio has been pretty clear that this is intended to be a finite trilogy. It's one of those rare instances where even after a movie this great, I hope they hold to their word. The world doesn't need any Bourne film after this; the series has reached an indefinable climax and to be the perfect cynic, there's nowhere to go in Movie #4 but back down to earth. Paul Greengrass and Matt Damon are at the top of their game, yet I'm still dubious that they could hit this level again. Ultimatum is truly awesome stuff.
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