by The Film Blogger

Created on: September 05, 2009

The Bourne series (comprising of The Bourne Identity and The Bourne Supremacy) has, up to this point, been noted for its intelligent, old-school action pieces, its well-executed plot, and whether you love it or hate it, its violently kinetic camerawork (or "that annoying shaky camera", as some profess to call it).

Ultimatum, the third (and purportedly final) instalment in this wonderfully consistent series seeks to solve the mystery of Jason Bourne's identity, whilst providing audiences with smart thrills-and-spills, and a winding plot that's packed with tension to an almost unbearable, Hitchcockian level. To say that it delivers in all of these aspects is to merely touch the surface, and hardly do this smashmouth rollercoaster-ride of a spy thriller justice.

It has famously been said that act one of a play is "the cat getting up the tree", act two is "what the cat encounters whilst in the tree", and act three is "the cat getting down from the tree". This series in of itself is something of a tripartite-structured play, and in Ultimatum, this crucial, explosive, frenetic third act, Jason Bourne gets down from the tree, and does so kicking and screaming for near enough the entire 115-minute running time.

This globe-trotting adventure (which sees Bourne travel to Paris, London, Madrid, Tangier and back home to New York) continues quite literally where Supremacy left us, although to say too much about this would spoil a surprise regarding the first 80 minutes of the film. In short, the first two thirds of this film will likely leave you thinking "Wait a moment, where does this slot in?", and then you'll have your feet kicked out from under you and soon enough realise quite what's going on. I imagine some people may not enjoy being lead down a path like this, but I felt that it worked, even if it wasn't really necessary.

Supremacy saw Jason Bourne attempting to make amends for his past transgressions as an assassin, and this theme is somewhat recurrent through Ultimatum, although is admittedly overshadowed by Bourne's undying, almost desperate need to know who he is, and how he became this person. Bourne does make amends, but as he finds others able to help his cause, he inadvertently makes them targets also, in one instance resulting in their rather shocking death.

The tense cat-and-mouse game in London introduces us to the latest bureaucrat baying for Bourne's blood - the thoroughly dislikeable CIA official Noah Vosen, played with an appropriate level of slime

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