The Bourne Ultimatum **** (out of *****)

I loved The Bourne Identity. It may be my favorite action flick (though The Italian Job is up there too). I was really disappointed by The Bourne Supremacy. The relationship that I loved so much between Jason and Marie was ended 15 minutes into the movie… and needlessly so. The movie left me wanting to keep Jason and Marie at the little seaside scooter rental shop (with the burn bag flower pot) that was the end of Identity.

Even with all that being said, I was very excited to see The Bourne Ultimatum. Watching Jason Bourne work within the system to fight the system is still fun – and Ultimatum provided a lot of that. The film’s first sequence – between Bourne and the reporter – provided the audience with a glimpse of the amazing training that Bourne had received and also again revealed Bourne’s incredible intelligence. He was always one step ahead and that was exciting to watch.

The movie continued without much of a plot and of course included much mayhem along the way. Julia Stiles gave her best performance of the trilogy (though I love Julia Stiles, that’s not saying a lot). But still, it’s nice to go out with the best. The action part of the movie was great – fantastic explosions and even some Crouching Tiger fight scenes. Of course Jason Bourne is invincible throughout all.

By the end of the movie, Jason has remembered everything – more than he wanted to, but the memories provided closure for him that he couldn’t have achieved otherwise. Treadstone is evil and Bourne finally escapes once and for all (well for now I guess. There’s still a little wiggle room left for another movie…). However I choose to believe that the series is over.

All in all, Ultimatum was a very good action movie and it was leaps and bounds above Supremacy. It was still nowhere close to Identity. But it’s definitely a fun ride – just don’t expect too much plot along the way!