Owing to the hugely busy Easter weekend I didn't really get a chance to watch my next rental DVD over the weekend. So instead I've been watching it in the evenings this week.
The DVD itself was the Bourne Ultimatum, which is the third of the Bourne films. It also pretty much represents the end of the trilogy. They've managed to make the films into a proper trilogy - there's a good through-plot to them all.
Although that's also one of the problems of the third film. It's very reliant on you having seen the first two films. I mean, they've tried to make it generally accessible, but I really don't think you'd get this third film if you hadn't seen the others.
That's especially problematic here where they've set this film between the last two scenes of the second film. It's therefore very much a part of the second film.
It also has a bit of problem in that in each film they've tried to give them a proper end. This means that each time Bourne beats the bad guys, in the next film you get an odd moment of "well, no actually, there's these baddies who were, like, the bosses of the last film's baddies... or something... bear with us."
It gets a little old that this keeps happening. Also it comes across as a bit odd that these bad guys keeping trying to get Bourne, despite always failing. You'd think they'd try a different tack.
The third film also pretty much lacks any sort of love interest. This makes sense given the timing of the film and what happened in the last two, but it also means it looses that element. I mean, there is a girl in it and there's a suggestion Bourne has a past with her, but he doesn't remember and it's not rekindled.
There are also a few logical flaws. At one point Bourne is knocked unconscious, and rather than the baddy kill him, he heads off after someone else. There's also a section with a reporter and it seems bizarre that the CIA or anybody initially doesn't seem to know who he is and allows him to write the stuff he does, but then decides to kill him when Bourne tries to contact him.
But where it does well is in the action scenes. The Bourne films excel at visceral, physical action. There's a reliance on practical effects, rather than digital effects and clearly a misty-eyed nostalgia for the action thrillers of the seventies. And it really works.
One thing I'm getting sick of though is the whole hand-held camera thing. It's really jerky in thsi film and it makes me a little nauseous. I mean, it's okay as a thing, but they seem to have gone a bit over-the-top here and it's very distracting.
There are loads of extras. They're of a varying quality and most revolve around staging the stunts and fights and stuff.
Overall it was enjoyable when it was going full-on action, but the story seemed a little like retreading old ground.
Also, he totally failed to give anyone an ultimatum :/.
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