The Bourne Ultimatum

Jason Bourne makes his return to the big screen in the third installment of the Bourne series, The Bourne Ultimatum. Much like in the first two films he does not disappoint.

Love, loss and revenge were among the highs and brutal lows of his last outing. The effect on Bourne is transforming, he's left irrevocably altered- stripped of his illusions, numbed by cruel experience, and perhaps sheltering one remaining core drive,curiosity - the desire to find answers to unresolved questions of his own lost identity and that of the men who have created him.

The backdrop of the film assumes a more political tenor under the capable direction of Paul Greengrass, a luminous talent who manages to transform a criticism of the exigencies of the war on terror into entertainment of a higher order. Bourne encounters it all: CCTV cameras, GPS tracking , central data banks mined, the kind of all pervasive surveillance that shadows and pinpoints him and his allies within brief spans of real time.

But there's more to Bourne than these pyrotechnics. Perhaps even secondary to the action are the contradictions of the character, his near total awareness of the game, always able to stay steps ahead of the Big Brother enemy that breathes down his neck and yet still at a loss to either recall his own identity or understand the motives of the shadowy figures that pull the strings in the background. There is at the core an underlying innocence and vulnerability to Bourne, qualities that play a counterpoint to his lethal abilities.

When he pummels two beat cops who question his sleeping on a park bench in the first film the stunning display of violence is as much a revelation to him as it is to the audience. Yet there's no adolescent rush of pride in his abilities and the film's pace ensures little time for reflection. The violence is integral to the story and it's well negotiated here. Bruce Lee had imagined a fighting style as fluid as water in his writings on Jeet Kune Do. Bourne's fight sequences succeed in capturing the spirt of Lee's ideas on film. They're sudden and utilitarian: movement that continues with brutal intent until the rival is put down, and then just as suddenly it is behind him. And while he never fights without reason the effect of that violence on him was less explored in earlier films than it is here. A new more deliberative Bourne is unable to forget the faces of those he has killed.

The spy/espionage thriller a time honored genre is brought up to speed with Bourne. As in the Bond series setting plays a large role as Bourne moves without pause from Moscow to Paris to London and then to Tangiers and New York. The location is always large and real here not the overlay to exotic fantasies seen in the Bond films. Bourne fits in, speaks the languages and makes no assumptions. Unlike older characters created out of Cold War certainties Bourne is a new post modern anti- hero, one who despite his abilities is stretched to the limits by pursuers who exploit interconnected digital networks to follow his every move, and who are always uncertain of his loyalties and motives. He asks questions like why and is haunted by his conscience and lost love. Bourne is everyman, a reluctant hero who is gripped by a past that he wishes he could escape but one from which he finds he cannot walk away. The ambiguity is delivered with a panache that ensures its appeal.