The Bourne Ultimatum

I just watched the Bourne Ultimatum there on Sunday evening in the Savoy. It was pretty good, I am not normally one for long fights or chases but these were pretty well done. Choreographed, I think is the word.

Bourne III was fairly thought provoking for a present day actiony thriller I thought. Having got half way through the first Bourne book before throwing it away in exasperation, and avoiding the first two films, I was persuaded along to this by the favourable reviews. And I would agree with their gist that it is a bit of a throwback to the 70s paranoia type films with the enemy being big government or institutions. No harm this. I can just about believe that the CIA can control the CCTV cameras in London train stations. Just about.

Also involving from my perspective was the involvement of a Guardian journalist as a key character in the setup. Now I am far from a security correspondent for a top European paper, but still, like, you know. Maybe someday.

Damon's blank baffled but competent face worked pretty well. You believe him when he says he does not who he is. None of the other cast had to rummage too deep either. Julia Style's character was laughably passive, and then just headed off out of the film on a bus, which was funny. Neither Joan Allen or David Strathairn have anything to do. Presume they got well compensated.

But in fairness the supporting cast are not the point. Paul Greengrass is the real star. His film fairly hurtles along, and you are impressed by Bourne's daring and wits. The jittery camera and snappy editing work well. The sequence where the Guardian journo is trailed through Waterloo Station is fantastically well directed and unfolded. The zooming down from directly overhead google earth style on to the streets of Turin, Paris, London, New York etc was pretty damn cool looking. As well as the janey they can see us all the time aspect it also worked well to show that most cities look and feel pretty much the same now, apart from a few details like nice tiled roofs in Morocco or the Arc de Triomphe.

So a thumbs up.