Movie Review, Round Two: Bourne Ultimatum

I know your mom always used positive language with you when you were little and made a point not to use "never" with you regarding what you could or could not do when you grew up.

I have come to clear up any misconceptions about yourself that this kind of optimistic fluff may have caused.

You will never be able to out-think an entire team of CIA agents as quickly as Matt Damon, nor will you be able to physically dismantle them one-by-one (or collectively, for that matter) as he does. You will never be able to drive a motorized vehicle like Matt Damon. You will never be able to track someone down and make them pay for whatever they did to you like Matt Damon. Oh, and you will never be able to do a Matthew McConaughey impression as well as Matt Damon.

Now that we've established reality and dispersed years of disillusionment (and shattered dreams...sorry 'bout that), I want to talk about The Bourne Ultimatum, which I just saw for the second time.

First word that comes to mind: Riveting. The plot does well at wrapping up a lot of the questions raised in the previous movies, but when viewed as a movie separate from the previous two, it unrolls methodically, building momentum until the end, and you are glued in your seat and don't want to miss a second -- even if you've had too much Diet Coke and the world's smallest bladder.*

The characters aren't complicated, but you've spent Identity and Supremacy with Matt Damon as Jason Bourne and you're attached to him. As I mentioned, the plot is solid, and each scene that would normally be considered cliche in a spy movie is given a unique element / twist so that you never think "Oh, this is the same old..." I know some people have complained about the "hand-held camera" shooting of scenes in the previous Bourne movies, but it seemed like this time around the cinematographer had begun drinking around noon when shooting the film as opposed to the usual 9am of his Supremacy-filming days, so this greatly decreases the likelihood of motion sickness.

I don't have a rating system, but whatever a "strongly urge in a non-coercive way" translates to in stars, or thumbs up, or percentages, I'm assigning that rating to The Bourne Ultimatum.

Endnote: Given his presence in the Ocean's movies, Saving Private Ryan and others, I realize that I may have a developing non-sexual man-crush on Matt Damon. I am taking stock and will get back to you on it.

*Interesting note on the range of my Japanese lexicon. I know the seemingly random word for 'bladder' because I needed to explain to my Japanese companions why I was going to the bathroom constantly.