Matt Damon doesn’t like to compare his character Jason Bourne with that other spy guy, James Bond, but really, the comparison does need to be made.
The second Bourne film, “The Bourne Supremacy,” with its gritty, realistic take on espionage and covert politics, made more money than the Bond movie “Die Another Day” two years before it. Therefore, it was not surprising when filmmakers reinvented the ailing Bond series with a new star and a grittier, more flawed version of the classic British spy in “Casino Royale.”
Despite the fact that the films seem to be similar, Bourne and Bond themselves aren’t that much alike. Bourne is a former killer fighting against his government to discover the truth behind his past, which he can’t remember, and Bond is a tuxedo-wearing spy who drinks martinis and kills at the drop of a hat.
But Bourne, as both a character and a film, is a model of what action movies should be like, and the latest Bourne film, “The Bourne Ultimatum,” continues to please with its mixture of political and emotional drama and high-octane action.
The film picks up immediately after the ending of the second film. Bourne is still on the run, but now he’s starting to get flashes of his past, and he makes it his top priority to find out just what happened to him before he lost his memory. He is still mourning the death of his love, Marie, which is part of what makes Bourne so much better than Bond – he’s not a womanizer; he’s a one-woman kind of guy, and it is therefore much easier to sympathize with his situation.
Like any good action movie, though, the plot doesn’t dwell too heavily on the emotional aspect. Instead, the film shifts pretty quickly into heavy action with an intense scene in a crowded London train station in which Bourne tries to elude the government in a sea of commuters. It’s an unlikely place for the government to go after Bourne, but the filmmakers stick to reality well enough that the situation quickly becomes a sticky one for the government.
The film’s anti-government sentiment is another aspect that sets Bourne apart from Bond, and in “Ultimatum,” disdain with the government is at an all-time high. There’s something refreshing about seeing a hero battling his government on-screen rather than working with them. It’s a total reversal of the traditional spy movie, because Bourne comes to realize that he’s not the killer the government wanted him to be.
Just like with the first two films before it, this is what makes “Ultimatum” so great; there is no unnecessary killing of random people, nor action just for action’s sake. Rather, Bourne works to prevent the government’s various assassination attempts, and the film’s action sequences are necessary as Bourne goes to desperate and risky measures to keep himself alive – and the government has to try to keep up.
“Ultimatum” is that rare sequel that, amongst today’s multitude of sequels, prequels and worn-out franchises, is just as good – if not better – than the films before it, completing a trilogy that, whether you want to admit it or not, updated the spy-thriller genre for modern filmgoers.
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