Ultimately Bourne

In the times when action movies equivalent with high quality CGI shots and blowups, it is perhaps refreshing to see one which actually minimize them (I can even count the number of gunfight scenes and explosions in one hand), and gone back to solid storytelling and achieved maximum effect as the result. So when Paul Greengrass (Bloody Sunday) shouted "Action" in directing Bourne Ultimatum, he really meant that.

Bourne Ultimatum is the latest (and some source says last) installment of the Bourne series, which chronicled the story of a CIA assassin who on one of his mission, got amnesia and found conscience. Jason Bourne (Matt Damon) was through with killing people at the end of the Bourne Identity (the first installment of the series), and after apparently successful in evading CIA pursuit, live happily with his girlfriend Marie (Franka Potente). However, when Marie was killed in another CIA attempt to killed Bourne in Bourne Supremacy, he was determined to get back to the people who killed her, and ultimately the people who made him what he were.

Ultimatum continue exactly after Supremacy finished, and it picked up the pace right there. Bourne investigation led him to Simon Ross (Paddy Considine), a London journalist who have uncovered Blackbriar, the continuation of Treadstone, which is the project who trained and assigned Bourne to missions in the first place. From here, Bourne's effort to found out about Blackbriar and his real identity took flight.

Like in the previous two, Bourne's journey to achieve his goal full of thrilling suspense and action. Besides gathering information, he's also have to evade the CIA effort to killed him and anyone who helped him. Bourne's resourcefulness in outwitting the CIA agents and getting what he want is one of the key entertainment in this movie. He doesn't rely on gadgets, but instead on quick thinking and improvisations to get out of trouble. One of the most thrilling sequence in the movie was when Bourne and Ross was trying to dodged CIA surveillance in Waterloo train station with Bourne guiding Ross' movements using a cellphone.

Another strength is the previous two movies is the fight scenes, and this one is no different. I like the way the filmmakers make Bourne fights utterly believable. He was using martial arts, but not the flying and roundhouse kicks ones. He grappled, kicked, punched like street fighting, but there's a certain elegance and efficiency in his moves.

Matt Damon shines again in portraying Bourne loneliness and his one track mind to find out who he is. Julia Stiles finally got a bigger role here as Nicky Parsons, the CIA logistic agent who befriended Bourne in the first two movies. And here in Ultimatum, her interaction with Bourne was excellent. There's a certain poignant feeling about when they talked (and not talking) in a coffee shop, which led to further questions. But the ones that I'm glad that this movie decided not to answer. Joan Allen as Pamela Landy, perhaps the only person in CIA who doesn't want Bourne dead was also good. David Strathairn though was the best as Noah Vosen, a CIA director who was hellbent in his pursuit of Bourne.

It was a really good end to the series. For once this the third movie in a trilogy that doesn't try to be too smart, or try to be something it's not. A syndrome that plagued the likes of Shrek, Spider-Man and X-Men. This movie also announced the triumph of good old-fashion movie making, proving that to make a good entertaining action movie, you can rely on solid story and acting, not just big explosions and CGI.

Thank you Paul Greengrass, Tony Gilroy, and Scott Z. Burns!