Bourne Again

Third installment is slick, intelligent

WILLIAM O’DONNELL

This summer has seen many major movie sequels. With several of these sequels coming as the third instalment of a trilogy (Shrek, Spiderman and now Bourne), I wondered if the third movie in this trilogy would round out the tale as a complete whole.

The Bourne tale is a trilogy of books by writer Robert Ludlum. Knowing this, I ran with the assumption that this film series would complete itself with The Bourne Ultimatum. Of course, being a Hollywood film and knowing how much they love to make big-time sequels, I also had a hunch that I was not about to witness the end of Jason Bourne.

The trilogy is essentially all about Jason’s quest for identity. The screenwriters streamline this theme straight across Ultimatum. Jason’s demons nag at him about the fact that he can picture the faces of all he has killed (on assignment as a CIA killer or the collateral damage he rounds up during his many battles), but knows not a single name. On his journey, Jason also wishes to find out why he had to kill anonymous targets.

The nameless face theme reflects on those who are attempting to kill Bourne. Each “asset” (a code name for government hired assassins that amused me each time I heard it) that targeted Bourne simply got a phone picture-message of his face and a ticket to his location. Bourne, formerly one of them, knows this, leading to juicy plot devices later in the film.

Much like the preceding films in this series, it is a literal and figurative race until the very finish. In this film, Bourne races against the CIA group that wishes to eliminate him and keep the secret of his training and creation out of public knowledge. Each party travels from one person with knowledge of the program that created Bourne to another, and the body count rises each time.

Without even thinking of the name-pun, my mind began drawing comparisons between this film and slasher-horror films such as the Friday the 13th series (which features Jason Voorhees as the protagonist; hence the Jason “name-pun” I suggested before). Bourne is a killer with a blossoming awareness of what he is doing while the killers of Halloween, Nightmare on Elm Street and other such series have little to none, and both continue killing their way to some (seemingly) endless and unreachable goal. Perhaps I’m off on an illogical tangent here, but I got that funny sense that any more potential Bourne sequels would feature a loose-thread of a lead that Bourne would feel inclined to chase (probably the name of someone or something important) and kill his way to it.

When it comes right down to it, the Bourne series can be just as loud and violent as any action series, but does have a certain intelligence and slickness to it; and I’m not just referring to the supposed intelligence of the CSI TV series or its ilk. The bad guys shout out lines that sound like buzz-terms a football coach might use such as “this is just the tip of the iceberg” or “you have no idea what you’re up against,” or “I want eyes (insert obvious, plot-crucial location here).” These characters can be frustrating to the point where you find yourself rooting for Bourne even more just because you want the cocky expression on their faces to melt away after seeing how easily he lays waste to their careful and expensive plans.

Matt Damon carries the character well, still, and the supporting cast does an acceptable job bringing the story to the screen while avoiding much action movie cheesiness. Heck, even Julia Stiles manages to make it out without a word to suggest a romantic link to Bourne. It must be hard for so many actors to look dismayed for the length of a story, but it seems to work.

All in all, it’s good to see the series working well three movies in. There is enough to see that the trilogy might be final, but enough room to also see that a sequel might be around the corner too, as writer Eric Van Lustbader wrote additional titles after Ludlum’s trilogy. The Bourne Ultimatum is encouraging enough for me to want to see another . . . but fearful that a 007-like slope of quality might occur if another is made.