Review of The Bourne Ultimatum (2007) by Barney O — 19 Feb 2017

WHAT I LIKED: After proving itself with gritty on-the-ground action and espionage excitement, the Bourne franchise returns to impress by balancing the focus both on Bourne (as in the first installment), and on the corrupt CIA. The Bourne half is definitely where this one excels most though, as the character is finally given a little more drive in his arc, and thus more room for development. This makes the action all the more exciting too, particularly towards the brilliant final act where everything comes to a head very nicely indeed. On that note, 'Ultimatum' undoubtably contains the best action in the franchise so far, which is a very big achievement indeed.

WHAT I DIDN'T LIKE: Unfortunately the espionage side that worked so well in the second installment is slightly less engaging here, and we instead resort to a slightly duller and drawn-out plot with far fewer interesting twists and turns - even it is great to see the lines between good and bad blur even further.

VERDICT: This works because the Bourne-isms are upped and the focus is put back on Jason himself. Imbetween though, there's arguably less excitement than before.