‘Bourne’ again …

• Posted in At the Movies

Saw The Bourne Ultimatum this weekend.

And loved it. I’m a total sucker for spy movies, and I’ve enjoyed the first two Bourne movies. They’ll never replace my rabid, fangirl love of the James Bond franchise, but they’re darn good action movies. And, it’s rare that a movie series maintains such quality from film to film, without dissolving into a muddled mess. But Bourne manages to do it. Unlike, say, Pirates of the Caribbean.

Matt Damon is back as Jason Bourne – a man of few words, but many punches, car chases, narrow escapes, and moody flashbacks. This time, he’s determined to get to the heart of the matter and find the guy who created the shady spy organization called Treadstone — and ultimately, Jason Bourne himself. The action picks up right where the second film left off, sometimes even jumping back in time to the second film. But those scenes were used seamlessly and actually added to the story, filling in the gaps, as they were.

There’s a really intense cat-and-mouse scene where Bourne chases a bad guy who’s chasing Julia Stiles through the streets. Another great scene is Bourne giving a reporter instructions via a cell phone on how to avoid surveillance.

I always enjoy little details, throwbacks to older movies that the audience can pick up on. There were plenty of those in Bourne. There are a couple of scenes that eerily mirror those in previous movies, like when Julia Stiles cuts and colors her hair in order to go on the run. She looks so much like Marie from the first movie, it’s scary. You wonder if Jason picked Marie in the first movie because she looked like Julia, or if he didn’t kill Julia before because she looked like Marie. Add that to the fact that Julia hints that she and Bourne had a relationship before he got amnesia, and things get really interesting regarding the Bourne-Marie-Julia love triangle.

The only thing I had an issue with was the apparent ease at which Bourne breaks into CIA headquarters and steals classified documents. He basically uses a stairwell, and bada-bing, bada-boom, he’s inside. In real life, I imagine it would be a little more difficult than that. At least, I hope it would be.

I also wanted one more scene at the end between Matt Damon and Julia Stiles — a reconciliation scene were they run off into the sunset together. Sadly, I did not get it, but given how much money the movie made this weekend, I’m hoping they’ll do a fourth one. Fingers crossed. 😎

Bourne is definitely the best movie I’ve seen all year. Although, that’s not saying much, since I’ve only been to the theater three times so far. 🙄

What about you? What’s the best thing you’ve watched this year? Inquiring minds want to know …

11 Responses to “‘Bourne’ again …”

  3. Edie says:

    The first Bourne movie was terrific, the second was okay, this last was good, but…it was like one long chase movie. It kept me tense almost the whole time–although about 2/3 through, it got a little ridiculous. But I would have liked to see Bourne use his wits more and do something to surprise me. Once I left the show, I pretty well forgot it.

    I’ll see Becoming Jane this weekend with a friend. My husband doesn’t want to go. I don’t know why. 😆

  4. Mike Mendoza says:

    I’ve heard lots of good things about this movie, even from people who aren’t typically into spy thrillers (like my sister). I’ll have to check this out.

    As for my favorite movie of the year, so far that’s Children of Men.

  5. Jennifer Estep says:

    Edie — I agree with you. I think the second and third movies suffer a little bit because Matt Damon doesn’t have Marie to lighten him up.

    And telling the bad guy you’re in his office wasn’t the smartest thing to do. But still, I really liked Bourne. I’m such a fangirl … 😎

    Mike — If you like lots of action, you should like Bourne. Haven’t seen Children of Men. That’s the one with Clive Owen, based on the graphic novel, right?

  6. Michelle says:

    Jennifer, I liked the first and second Bourne movies, and I’ll definitely see the third. My main hurdle was getting over the fact that the movies are nothing like the books at all. Completely and utterly different. Treadstone and the name Jason Bourne are all they have in common. Once I was able to deal with that disappointment and take the movies as something totally on their own, I thoroughly enjoyed them.

  7. Jennifer Estep says:

    Hi, Michelle. Oh no. The books don’t rememble the movies at all. The first book and movie are sort of alike, but after that, they take major detours from each other. I don’t think it’s necessarily a bad thing, though. I always thought the second and third books really stretched the bounds of believability.

  8. Michelle says:

    LOL, I totally loved the whole series. I am completely capable of suspending all disbelief if the payoff is a good read, so books two and three were fine with me 🙂 .

  9. Jennifer Estep says:

    Book 2 was okay, but in Book 3 when Bourne was playing cat-and-mouse with the other assassin in that underground Russian replica of a U.S. city … that was a little too unrealistic, even for me, the girl who loves James Bond movies and The A-Team. 😎

  10. Michelle says:

    You know, I’d forgotten that. I thought it was above ground though, but they ended up below in the lecture halls or something? LOL, too long ago. I was young and willing to read anything back then 😉 .

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