The Bourne Ultimatum (film)

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The Bourne Ultimatum

Theatrical poster
Directed by Paul Greengrass
Produced by Patrick Crowley
Frank Marshall,
Paul L. Sandberg
Doug Liman
Written by Novel:
Robert Ludlum
Screen Story:
Tony Gilroy
Screenplay:
Tony Gilroy and
Scott Z. Burns and
George Nolfi
Tom Stoppard (uncredited)
Starring Matt Damon
Julia Stiles
David Strathairn
Scott Glenn
Paddy Considine
Edgar Ramirez
Albert Finney
Joan Allen
Daniel Brühl
Music by John Powell
Cinematography Oliver Wood
Editing by Christopher Rouse
Distributed by Universal Pictures
Release date(s) United States:
August 3, 2007
United Kingdom:

August 16, 2007
Running time 111 min
Country United States
United Kingdom
Language English French Russian Arabic Spanish
Budget $110 Million
Gross revenue $442,911,572 (worldwide)
Preceded by The Bourne Supremacy
Followed by Bourne 4
Official website
Allmovie profile
IMDb profile

The Bourne Ultimatum is a 2007 spy film loosely based[1] on the Robert Ludlum novel of the same name.

A sequel to The Bourne Supremacy and the third film of the Bourne Trilogy, it stars Matt Damon reprising his role as Ludlum's signature character, amnesiac CIA assassin Jason Bourne. Julia Stiles, David Strathairn, Scott Glenn, Paddy Considine, Edgar Ramirez, Albert Finney, and Joan Allen co-star. The key cast members reprise their roles from the two previous Bourne movies, with additions such as Strathairn, playing a CIA department head; Considine as a British journalist; and Ramirez as a new assassin sent to kill Bourne. The film continues the saga of Jason Bourne after he apologizes to the daughter of Vladimir Neski in Moscow, Russia, and follows the character as he travels to Paris, London, Madrid, Tangier, and New York City to uncover his real identity, while the CIA continues to send assassins after him.

Paul Greengrass directed the film from a script by Tony Gilroy, Scott Z. Burns, George Nolfi, and an uncredited Tom Stoppard.[2]

The producers were Patrick Crowley, Frank Marshall, Paul L. Sandberg, and Doug Liman, who directed the first Bourne movie, The Bourne Identity.

The Bourne Ultimatum was produced by Universal Pictures and was released on August 3, 2007 in North America, where it grossed $69.2 million in ticket sales in its first weekend of release, making it the highest August opening.[3] By the end of August 2007, the film was said to be on track to exceed the international box office gross of the first two films in the trilogy.[4]

Although all three films have been commercially successful and critically acclaimed, The Bourne Ultimatum is the only film in the trilogy to have been nominated for Academy Awards; winning all three nominations for Best Film Editing, Best Sound, and Best Sound Editing.

Contents

[edit] Plot

Jason Bourne at Waterloo Station in London trying to guide journalist Simon Ross to avoid being seen.
Jason Bourne at Waterloo Station in London trying to guide journalist Simon Ross to avoid being seen.

The movie begins immediately after Bourne apologizes to Neski's daughter. Wounded from The Bourne Supremacy car chase, Jason Bourne is still evading the Moscow police. Cornered by two officers while breaking into a medical clinic to treat his wounds, Bourne overpowers the officers and leaves them alive as he escapes, saying to one that his argument is not with them.

The story continues six weeks later as Simon Ross, a security correspondent for The Guardian, meets with Neal Daniels, the Madrid CIA station chief, in Turin, to discuss Treadstone and to look for information on Jason Bourne. Bourne goes to Paris to tell Marie's brother, Martin, of her death, then heads to London by train and reads an article in The Guardian where Ross describes Jason Bourne as a CIA officer. Bourne arranges to meet Ross in London at the south entrance of Waterloo Station. Ross, however, is under surveillance because his use of the word "Operation Blackbriar" in a phone call to his editor was tracked by ECHELON, alerting the CIA. CIA section chief Noah Vosen alerts his staff to find out any information on Ross, believing that Operation Blackbriar, a renamed Treadstone proposed by Ward Abbott at the end of The Bourne Identity, has been compromised.

After receiving a phone call from Bourne, Ross takes a taxi to Waterloo Station and is followed by the CIA, who believe him to be meeting his source there. At the station, Bourne sees CIA officers following Ross and places a prepaid mobile phone on him; through it, Bourne instructs the frightened journalist on how to dodge the station's surveillance, while knocking out the CIA agents attempting to kidnap Ross. However, Vosen orders their asset, an assassin named Paz, to kill Ross and his source. Vosen's team identifies Bourne on a security camera and recognizes him as the original Treadstone assassin, and assumes he is Ross's source. While Paz gets into position with a sniper rifle, Bourne tells Ross to remain hidden, but Ross panics and steps out into the open, giving Paz a clear kill shot. In the ensuing chaos, Bourne grabs Ross's notes off his body; the notes reveal Ross' source to be Daniels.

Deputy Director Pamela Landy is asked to help capture Bourne. With Landy's help, Vosen and his team realize that Daniels is Ross' source. They decide to send a team to Daniels' office in Madrid, but Bourne arrives first, finding only one photograph in an otherwise empty safe as Daniels has already left. Bourne attacks the CIA team when they enter the office and, just as he finishes mopping up the CIA agents, Nicky Parsons enters the office. Nicky tells him that she was reassigned to Madrid after Berlin, and that Daniels has fled to Tangier. She helps him escape the CIA reinforcements by telling Vosen that Bourne had already left the office. Bourne calls the police to report the sound of gunfighting; they arrive just as the second CIA team piles out of their vehicles, guns drawn, in front of the office. While in Tangier, they realize the CIA has sent assassin Desh Bouksani to eliminate Daniels. Nicky uses her official clearance access to send Desh a message, telling him to meet her for a new phone, thus allowing Bourne to follow Desh to his target. When Vosen realizes Nicky's deceit he orders Desh to kill Nicky and Bourne after terminating Daniels. Landy is outraged at Vosen's willingness to indiscriminately kill CIA personnel and quits the operation.

Bourne shortly before confronting Desh in Tangier.
Bourne shortly before confronting Desh in Tangier.

Bourne follows Desh and is unable to save Daniels, who dies from Desh's planted bomb. When Desh returns for Nicky, Bourne outruns the Tangier police and fights Desh, eventually strangling him with a towel. Bourne accompanies Nicky to a bus station where she begins her own separate life on the run from the CIA. At the Tangier morgue, Bourne examines Daniels' charred papers and finds the address of the CIA substation in New York City. Bourne takes a flight to New York City, and on arrival deliberately uses a passport that alerts Landy to his presence. Bourne calls Landy while observing her and Vosen from across the street. The ending of The Bourne Supremacy is repeated: Landy tells him his real name is David Webb and that he was born on 4/15/71, a code for the address of the Treadstone facility at 415 East 71st Street. Bourne sends a text message to Landy to arrange a meeting. Vosen and his team intercept the message and follow Landy as she leaves the building. Bourne's meeting, however, is simply a diversion to allow him to enter Vosen's office and steal classified Blackbriar documents.

Vosen realizes the diversion after a phone call from Bourne to get a recording of his voice, the key to unlocking the safe. Bourne states he is in Vosen's office, and a desperate Vosen frantically orders CIA officers back to his office to capture Bourne. Bourne escapes and enters into a car chase with CIA officers and Paz. Emerging victorious from his vehicular duel with Paz, Bourne chooses not to kill him. Just outside the Treadstone facility, Bourne meets Landy and gives her the stolen documents from Vosen's office before entering the building. Inside, he meets Dr. Albert Hirsch, who ran Treadstone's psychological conditioning program. With his help, Bourne remembers that, as Captain David Webb, he volunteered for the program and killed a man in the same room. Horrified by the memory of what he did to complete his conditioning and to assume the Jason Bourne identity, he tells Hirsch, "I remember everything. I'm no longer Jason Bourne."

On his way back to the substation, Vosen eventually works out that Landy gave Bourne an address in code when Landy gave Bourne his date of birth. Vosen races to the facility and confronts Landy as she finishes faxing away his documents that Bourne stole. She looks at Vosen coldly and says, "You better get yourself a good lawyer." Meanwhile, Bourne is cornered on the facility's rooftop by Paz. Paz holds Bourne at gunpoint and demands to know why Bourne spared his life. Bourne asks if Paz knows why he was ordered to kill him. "Look at us. Look at what they make you give," says Bourne, repeating the dying words of the Treadstone assassin called The Professor from The Bourne Identity. Paz lowers his weapon, but Vosen appears and fires on Bourne just as he jumps from the roof into the East River 10 floors below.

Some time later, Nicky sees a news report noting the exposure of Blackbriar, the arrests of Hirsch and Vosen, that CIA Director Ezra Kramer is the subject of a United States Senate hearing regarding his conduct, and that David Webb fell into the East River. The report notes that after a three-day search, Bourne's body is yet to be found, at which Nicky smiles. As Moby's "Extreme Ways" plays, the movie cuts back to Bourne, in an allusion to the opening scene of The Bourne Identity, floating motionless in the water; after a long moment he starts to move, and swims away into darkness.

[edit] Cast

[edit] Production

The Bourne Ultimatum was filmed at the Pinewood Studios in London and in multiple locations around the world, including Tangier, London, Paris, Madrid (as itself and double for Turin), Berlin (as double for Moscow), New York City, and other locations in the U.S.[5]

[edit] References to previous films

[edit] References within the series

In the audio commentary for the current DVD release of The Bourne Ultimatum, director Paul Greengrass confirmed the following scenes were deliberate allusions to scenes from the previous installments of the Bourne film franchise.[6] They include:

  • The opening chase sequence of The Bourne Ultimatum is a continuation of the Russian police attempts to capture Bourne in Moscow near the end of The Bourne Supremacy and takes place immediately following Bourne's apology to Neski's daughter in the previous film.
  • The scene where Bourne tells Martin of his sister Marie's death is very similar to the ending of The Bourne Supremacy, when Bourne apologizes to the Neskis' daughter for killing her parents.
  • During the car chase with Paz, Bourne's car is destroyed in a similar fashion to Kirill's in the climax of The Bourne Supremacy. The sequence also includes similar staging, such as Bourne walking up to Paz with gun in hand but deciding not to shoot.
  • In the rooftop climax, Bourne tells Paz, "Look at us. Look at what they make you give," reiterating the dying words of The Professor (Clive Owen) in The Bourne Identity.
  • The ending of The Bourne Ultimatum, with Bourne floating motionless in the East River, echoes the opening scene of The Bourne Identity, which utilizes a similar image.

[edit] References to films outside the series

  • The scene featuring Bourne desperately trying to catch a glimpse of Paz after Ross is gunned down is, according to Greengrass, a "wink" to one of his favorite films, The French Connection.[7]
  • The scenes set in Tangiers echo the famous "cafe" scene from the film The Battle of Algiers.

[edit] Soundtrack

Main article: The Bourne Ultimatum: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack

As with the previous films in the trilogy, the score was composed by John Powell. A new version of Moby's "Extreme Ways", entitled "Extreme Ways (Bourne's Ultimatum)", was recorded for the film's end credits.

[edit] Release

[edit] Benefit premiere

The Bourne Ultimatum HD DVD retail packaging
The Bourne Ultimatum HD DVD retail packaging

A premiere of The Bourne Ultimatum was held in downtown Oklahoma City on July 31, 2007, at Harkins Bricktown Theaters[8] to benefit The Children's Center, located in suburban Bethany. The film was shown simultaneously on three screens. Matt Damon was at the event to greet guests.

[edit] UK premiere

The film premiered at Leicester Square in London on August 15, 2007, with Matt Damon, Julia Stiles and Joan Allen attending. The film was released the next day.[9]

[edit] Australian premiere

The film premiered in Sydney on August 8, 2007, at the State Theatre, with Matt Damon attending. The Bourne Ultimatum was released nationwide on August 30, 2007.[10]

[edit] Home Video Release

The Jason Bourne Collection DVD retail packaging
The Jason Bourne Collection DVD retail packaging

The film was released on both DVD and HD DVD Combo Format on December 11, 2007 in North America.[11] The DVD was released in both Fullscreen and 2.35:1 Widescreen aspect ratios. The HD DVD and DVD special features[12] includes several deleted scenes, featurettes, audio commentary, and exclusively on the HD DVD version, HDi Interactive Format features such as Picture-in-Picture Video Commentary.

In addition to the stand alone DVD release, there is a limited edition 'The Jason Bourne Collection' gift set, featuring all three films on DVD and a bonus disc with a myriad of bonus features such as deleted scenes and featurettes. The gift set features Swiss Bank safe deposit box packaging including foreign currency and a Jason Bourne passport.[13][14]

The film and special features on the HD DVD version are presented in 2:35:1 Widescreen high definition 1080p and offer Dolby Digital TrueHD 5.1 lossless and Dolby Digital Plus 5.1 audio options.[12]

[edit] Reception

The Bourne Ultimatum earned $69.2 million during its opening weekend at the box office, a record for a single opening in August[15] and $441.2 million worldwide as of December 14, 2007.[16] As of March 2, 2008, the film has a 93% fresh rating (195 out of 210 positive reviews) at Rotten Tomatoes,[15] higher than either predecessor.[17][18] The film had a rating of 85/100 on Metacritic, again higher than the first two films.[19] At the end of its theatrical release, the film grossed $227,471,070, making it the highest grossing film in the series.

Like its predecessor, The Bourne Supremacy, the film was criticized for its shaky camera work, as Richard Corliss of Time magazine, in an otherwise positive review, wondered "why, in the chat scenes, the camera is afflicted with Parkinson's? The film frame trembles, obscures the speaker with the listener's shoulder, annoys viewers and distracts them from the content of the scene."[20]

In the British press, the inclusion of a fictional journalist from the real British paper The Guardian and scenes set in the United Kingdom (particularly Waterloo railway station) were commented upon. In particular, that newspaper's reviewer noted that dodging "bullets from a CIA sniper... is the sort of thing which happens to us Guardian journalists all the time."[21][22][23][24]

[edit] Top ten lists

The film appeared on several critics' top ten lists of the best films of 2007.[25]

[edit] Academy Awards

The film won Academy Awards in all three (second highest amount of awards at the ceremony) of its nominations at the 80th Academy Awards:

[edit] Sequel

In May 2007, prior to the release of Bourne Ultimatum, Matt Damon claimed that he would not be interested in returning for a fourth Bourne film, stating (of his participation in the Bourne franchise): "We have ridden that horse as far as we can."[28] However, the financial and critical success of Bourne Ultimatum has led to speculation in several magazines and Internet forums that another Bourne film might be produced. On February 22, 2008, Variety reported that a fourth film was indeed in the works, with both Damon and director Paul Greengrass on board.[29]

[edit] References

  1. ^ Movie Preview: The Bourne Ultimatum.
  2. ^ Tom Stoppard is verbally acknowledged as a co-writer on The Bourne Ultimatum DVD audio commentary by Paul Greengrass (DVD time - 00:45:24).
  3. ^ Bourne Ultimatum Accepted. boxofficemojo.com. Retrieved on 2007-08-11.
  4. ^ McClintock, Pamela; Dave McNary (2007-08-24). Overseas holidays good for B.O.. Variety. Retrieved on 2007-08-26.
  5. ^ The Bourne Ultimatum. Official site (Universal Pictures). Retrieved on 2007-04-04.
  6. ^ Paul Greengrass. The Bourne Ultimatum [DVD audio commentary]. Universal Studios.
  7. ^ The Bourne Ultimatum.
  8. ^ The Bourne Ultimatum Oklahoma City Premiere. The Oklahoman. Retrieved on 2007-07-14.
  9. ^ In pictures: Bourne film premiere. BBC News. Retrieved on 2007-08-20.
  10. ^ Damon's Aussie sojourn. AdelaideNow. Retrieved on 2007-07-19.
  11. ^ The Bourne Ultimatum (US - DVD R1. DVD Active. Retrieved on 2007-10-19.
  12. ^ a b hddvd.highdefdigest.com/1137/bourneultimatum.html.
  13. ^ Universal Says No to 'Jason Bourne Collection' HD DVD (November 15, 2007).
  14. ^ www.dvdactive.com/news/releases/the-bourne-ultimatum.html.
  15. ^ a b The Bourne Ultimatum. Rotten Tomatoes (2007-08-12). Retrieved on 2007-08-19.
  16. ^ The Bourne Ultimatum. boxofficemojo.com. Retrieved on 2007-08-21.
  17. ^ The Bourne Identity. Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved on 2007-08-28.
  18. ^ The Bourne Supremacy. Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved on 2007-08-06.
  19. ^ The Bourne Ultimatum: Reviews. Metacritic. Retrieved on 2007-08-07.
  20. ^ Corliss, Richard (2007-08-02). The Bourne Ultimatum: A Macho Fantasy. Time. Retrieved on 2007-08-12.
  21. ^ Bradshaw, Peter. "The Bourne Ultimatum", The Guardian, 17 August 2007. Retrieved on 2008-02-26. 
  22. ^ Campbell, Duncan. "Diary", The Guardian, 23 August 2007. Retrieved on 2008-02-26. 
  23. ^ Patterson, John. "Killer instinct", The Guardian, 6 August 2007. Retrieved on 2008-02-26. 
  24. ^ Barkham, Patrick. "'I had to wimp down a little bit'", The Guardian, 6 August 2007. Retrieved on 2008-02-26. 
  25. ^ Metacritic: 2007 Film Critic Top Ten Lists. Metacritic. Retrieved on 2008-01-05.
  26. ^ More action.
  27. ^ David Germain; Christy Lemire (2007-12-27). 'No Country for Old Men' earns nod from AP critics. Associated Press, via Columbia Daily Tribune. Retrieved on 2007-12-31.
  28. ^ Thompson, Anne. 'Ocean's' gang ready for fourth; Damon says 'no' to more 'Bourne', Variety, May 24, 2007. Accessed June 11, 2008.
  29. ^ Fleming, Michael. Universal's re-born identity, Variety, February 22, 2008. Accessed June 11, 2008.

[edit] External links

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to:
v • d • e
Jason Bourne
Robert Ludlum novels
Eric Van Lustbader novels
TV film
Hollywood films
The Bourne Identity (2002) · The Bourne Supremacy (2004) · The Bourne Ultimatum (2007) · The Bourne 4 (In Negotations)
Video games
v • d • e
Theatrical Feature Films directed by Paul Greengrass

Resurrected (1989) • The Theory of Flight (1998) • Bloody Sunday (2002) • The Bourne Supremacy (2004) • United 93 (2006) • The Bourne Ultimatum (2007) • Green Zone (TBA)
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The Simpsons Movie		 Box office number-one films of 2007 (USA)
August 5, 2007		 Succeeded by
Rush Hour 3