The Bourne Ultimatum (12A)

Directed by Paul Greengrass, Written by Tony Gilroy, Scott Z Burns, George Nolfi, Robert Ludlum
On general release from 17th August 2007

Reviewed by Colin Serjent

Of its genre - a fast paced action thriller spiced with political intrigue - The Bourne Ultimatum is a very engrossing film.

With the use of hand held cameras throughout most of the movie, you get a strong sense of intimacy with the frenzied nature of a lot of the sequences enacted, be it leaping from great heights, speeding cars, helicopter rides, pursuit through Waterloo train station(!), and so on.

In a nutshell, Jason Bourne (Matt Damon) had his identity wiped out by apparently the CIA and his mindset re-programmed in order to carry out missions to kill enemies of the organisation and the US government. But after he gained a lot of inside information about the CIA, which could have incriminated a number of top-ranking officials, he became a marked man in their eyes.

The use of super hi-tech equipment, notably that used in the CIA building in New York, is pretty much awe-inspiring, and proves one of the strongest components of the film.

Equally effective is the series of flashbacks of his past, including when he adopted a new identity, that Bourne experiences that help him piece his life back again.

This type of film is not usually to my taste but this proves to be an exception.

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