The Bourne Ultimatum ---- Matt Damon as Robert Ludlow's character for a third time

Matt Damon returns for the third installment if the Jason Bourne film serious; this one being called The Bourne Ultimatum. The films are loosely based on the books by Robert Ludlum, surrounding a character that lost his memory in the first part, and has been trying to discover things about his past ever since. Along the way he has battled assassins, be-friended a woman he would get very close with, and started to uncover how he became a lethal agent for a branch of the U.S. Government. As Bourne has gone through the motions, and revelations from his past have become known to him, the audience finds out at the same time. His major problem though, is that people within the U.S. Government want him eliminated for fear that he will remember his past and use it against them. At the end of the second film, Bourne found himself on the run in Kievsky, and the third film picks up the moment the second one ended at a vast car chase.

As the film kick-starts itself into this third chapter, you can see that the writers tried to include many of the same themes and filming techniques that impressed audiences the first two times around. Though I was not a fan of the second film as it totally threw the original novel out the window, I fell right into a high enjoyment level of this story and how the audience was given a front row seat to all of the events and dialogue. Through his investigation into his own past, Bourne is inevitably drawn (finally) to United States soil, in an effort to get even closer to figuring out his past. Sure it might sound exactly like the first two films in the series, but this one ramps up the dramatic overtones as well as the level of action to really get your heart pounding during the chase scenes.

The Bourne Ultimatum is a story discovery, and the ultimate culmination of the story that has been building up since The Bourne Identity hit theaters in 2002. As an action film it is entirely enjoyable from that aspect, but there are additional nuggets thrown into the mix to create extra tension and drama that will have many audience members on the edge of their seats about what might happen next. With a leading character that is continuously struggling with his own morals and what he discovers he has done in the past, it really humanizes Damon (Bourne) and draws all of us in to his story and the plight he is experiencing. The pacing doesn't give you time to over-analyze some of the down spots in the frantic story, and it helps accentuate what has been good about the story all along. That includes the constantly moving camera that could remind you of an episode of NYPD Blue, and the zooming in and out of scenes as if it is candy.

If there is one thing that I have to pinpoint about The Bourne Ultimatum as needing improvement, it would have to be the choices of the women actresses. I would have liked to have a bigger screen presence from them, where they could really steal the spotlight for a few moments, because some of the roles they have to play are far more important than the dialogue they were given. But other than that, I really enjoyed everything they did with the story, including the fast-paced action sequences that fulfill all expectations, as well as the internal dialogue that Jason Bourne goes through in the form of flashbacks and actions. This film was almost good enough to stand on its own, but is probably better understood by seeing the first two in the series. They are good films, but if you want to enjoy the Bourne series even more, I would highly recommend going with the original books by Robert Ludlum. It allows an even deeper look at the characters, and the story is even more involved because it lacks the constraints of film. That aside, I still recommend the theatrical release of The Bourne Ultimatum.