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SYNOPSIS:
Academy-Award winner Matt Damon is trained assassin Jason
Bourne. Having lost his memory and the one person he loved,
he is undeterred by the barrage of bullets from a new generation
of highly-trained killers, tracking his every move and who
will stop at nothing to prevent him from learning his true
identity.
MOVIE
REVIEW
Undeniably, the role of Jason Bourne sealed Matt
Damon as one of the versatile group of young actors working
in Hollywood today.
As
the man without an identity and in desperate search of his
past, Bourne is a torture soul. To what extend did he sacrifice
for his country? And why did the agency goes against him and
wants him dead? What is Operation Treadstone? Those are the
answers we are craving to know. We are in the position of
Bourne in a matter of fact.
In
“The Bourne Ultimatum”, the third successful instalment
in the widely popular franchise, the answers are revealed,
peeling off layers out of Bourne’s character. The movie
wastes no time and in a clever move, the movie opens with
Bourne in Moscow being chased by the Russian police following
his meet up with the girl whose parents he assassinated (see
“The Bourne Supremacy”).
Soon,
he is in Paris then in a spilt second, the man is in London
with a fantastic foot chase at the Waterloo station. The pace
never loosen in the meantime, there are the creepy CIA officials
Kramer and Vosen played by Scott Glenn and David Strathairn
respectively hunting down Bourne who fortunately has Deputy
Director Pamela Landy (Joan Allen) who believed there’s
more than meets the eye.
Paul
Greengrass has once again crafted an espionage thriller that’s
both nerve-racking and mind bogging. Without fancy gadgets,
martinis and beautiful babes to distract your senses, Bourne
has to resort to his wit and some daily appliances (rolledup
magazine, candlestick etc) as weapons to counter his enemies.
And that leap across the roof to a window in Tangier will
stay as one of the best stunts ever performed.
I
guess Greengrass just can’t resist throwing in a love
interest, if you recall a certain Nicky Parsons (Julia Stiles)
from the earlier instalments, it’s a good thing however
the love subplot wasn’t further developed, if not it
might hamper the pacing and development of the objective.
Retaining
the usual trademark of Greengrass’s shaky camera tactics
but tone down a notch or two as compared to “Supremacy”
which left me motion-sickness for a while, the final car chase
in New York this time will leave you dizzy with delight.
Although
it took three instalments to reveal Bourne’s true identity
(as compared to the original Ludlum’s novels), “The
Bourne” series remains one of the best trilogy to grace
the big screen in recent cinematic history. “Ultimatum”
ends on such a poetic and graceful shot that you can’t
wait for Bourne to resurface to the espionage world.
SPECIAL FEATURES :
There are 12 minutes of Deleted Scenes but
there’s no accompanied director’s commentary or
the option to watch them separately. Weird setup.
In
Man On The Move: Jason Bourne, we followed
the film crew as they travelled to Berlin, Paris, London,
Madrid and Tangier for the various locations shooting. We
get to see the lighter side of director Paul Greengrass, producer
Frank Marshall and Matt Damon during the interview sessions
as well. 5 months of preparation and 4 days of shooting at
London famous Waterloo station. Watching the huge crew setting
up a simple shot will leave your mouth gaping wide.
If
you love the fight scenes, you sure will lap up Planning
The Punches. See Matt Damon and Joey Ansah behind
the scenes working with the fight coordinators in one of the
thrilling fight sequences in the movie.
Get
to know how the stuntman did the trademark leap across the
building as the camera follows behind in Rooftop Pursuit.
Matt
Damon is taught how to execute some of the hair-raising car
stunts in Driving School. Apparently, Damon
is quite a gifted driver.
In
New York Chase, we take a look at how the
heart-pounding car chase during the finale is choreographed
and shot on the busy streets of New York.
If
you are interested in the technical details and how certain
elements of the story came about, just tune to the Feature
Commentary With Director Paul Greengrass. Bear in
mind it is a pretty dry track.
AUDIO/VISUAL:
Some of the darker scenes are not that visible in this DVD
transfer perhaps it is intended to be this way as it depict
a sense of foreboding. Nevertheless, the rest of the video
is almost faultless.
With
the Dolby Digital 5.1 on cue, I’m sure you can awake
your neighbours with the tremendously loud sound of screening
tires, glass shattering. The dialogue stands on it’s
own without any distortion and is perfectly clear during the
conversational scenes.
MOVIE RATING:
DVD
RATING :
Review
by Linus Tee
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