Film Footle: The Bourne Ultimatum

As intelligent action films go there are fewer than you might think. To my way of thinking "intelligent" applied to action films doesn't necessarily mean the loss of rather tawdry product placement or even the ruthless excising of action stereotypes, but a solid plot, a bit of character ambiguity and some well-choreographed set pieces. The first two films in the Bourne trilogy more than met this ideal, and with Paul Greengrass back at the helm for a third installment, it was more of the same and good.

The Bourne Identity was a cracker, and the change of director for The Bourne Supremacy marked it out as a different and excellent sequel. The Bourne Ultimatum has less to go on than the previous two and therefore resorts to an inexplicably unpleasant deputy CIA Director to drum up the tension. Thankfully a clever casting move sat David Strathairn in the role and all was well. Unexpected deaths, very little dialogue from the main man, a cameo from Goodbye Lenin's Daniel Bruhl followed and all in all I was highly entertained.

I was familiar with Greengrass's hand-held directorial style, and his propensity to use close ups so that every thudding punch is heard - almost felt - and the obligatory car chase was as visceral as those that came before. Because this film required Jason to take some responsibility for who he was and who he has become there wasn't much time to establish any sort of connection with other people much less a new love interest. The return of Julia Stiles's Nicky Parsons and Joan Allen's self-righteous Bourne sympathiser Pamela Landy gave some support to the excellent Matt Damon as he mined the film's scant emotional core.

This being the end of the story that began with The Bourne Identity there's no need for masses of exposition or a brand new plotline, and the ending... well, while it's not the most unpredictable of endings I'll leave it for you to see.