Reviews by Matt

Hollywood has had a long tradition of adapting books into movies. Some turn out good, others bad. Some stick to the original work and some stray. What if I were to tell you that I saw a movie that strayed so far from its literary counterpart that all that remains is the title and the main character and that this is the second time that this series of movies has done so? Sounds like a movie to avoid, right? Wrong. It seems illogical that a movie that strays so far from the book could even approach mediocrity, but that is what “The Bourne Ultimatum” has done.

Jason Bourne (Matt Damon) used to be a highly trained government agent until he failed a mission and suffered from amnesia. The CIA came after him and the woman who helped him. Then after all that was resolved and he was living peacefully, he gets framed for murder and his girlfriend, Marie, is killed. Now, in “The Bourne Ultimatum,” Jason Bourne is going after the CIA to find out what happened to him. Meanwhile, Noah Vosen (David Stratharin) and Pam Landy (Joan Allen) are going after Bourne, but when Landy discovers that Vosen is going to kill Bourne, she tries to stop him.

Matt Damon continues to earn his place on my top list of actors (behind Christian Bale and Edward Norton). He has made this character his own and there is no way anyone else can play Bourne. Damon has said that this will be the last time he plans to play Bourne and hopefully, the two other Bourne books (not written by Robert Ludlum) will not be made into movies. Damon plays Bourne as he should be, a hero who has a conscience and knows when to kill and when there are other options. He is very calculating in every move he makes. Nothing he does is by accident; it is all part of a larger plan.

While this movie has absolutely nothing to do with the book, it is still awesome. They have been successful without sticking to the plot of the last two books because it is as exciting and riveting as the plots of the books. The books do get complicated and would be tough to tell in a two-hour movie and keep it coherent. The movies take the character in a different, but equally interesting and action packed direction. The one thing that the books have that I would have loved to have seen in the movie is the interplay between Jason Bourne and David Webb (Bourne’s real name). It would have made for some interesting scenes to see the killer fight internally with Webb.

I’m going to come right out and say it. Jason Bourne would kick James Bond’s ass in a fight. Jason can and will use anything and everything to fight off and kill those who attack him. In this movie he uses a book and a towel to fend off and kill an attacker. As well as the odd weapons this movie, like the other two, has some amazing chase scenes. Whether he is on foot, on a motorbike or in a cop car, Jason Bourne can out run anyone. The car chase in this movie, while not as good as the one in “The Bourne Identity”, is still worthy of the Bourne name. At one point he drives his car backwards off a parking structure onto a lower level crushing a bunch of cars and he still manages to escape without hurting himself much.

Bourne has, over the past three films, redefined the secret agent. He is always planning, always looking for a way out and willing to do anything to get what he wants. “The Bourne Ultimatum” is a worthy ending to the Bourne series and hopefully there will be no more. Bourne is one character I do not want to see dragged out in to endless sequels. While I love the movies and the character, it would taint what makes these movies special to make more Bourne movies with any other actor than Matt Damon.

8 out of 10
Rated PG-13 for violence and intense sequences of action.
1 hr 51 mins