The Bourne Ultimatum, 2007, Matt Damon, Julia Stiles
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; Paddy Considine as a British journalist; and Edgar Ramirez as a new assassin sent to kill Bourne. The film continues the saga of Jason Bourne after he survives the harrowing Bourne Supremacy car chase 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. 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. The film was released on August 16, 2007, in the United Kingdom, Ireland and Singapore.
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. The Bourne Ultimatum was filmed in multiple locations including New York City, Morocco, Spain, France, Germany, the United Kingdom, and other locations in the US.
The Bourne Ultimatum earned $69.2 million during its opening weekend at the box office, a record for a single opening in August and $280.7 million worldwide as of September 6, 2007. As of August 28, 2007, the film has a 94% rating, 177 out of 189 positive reviews, at Rotten Tomatoes, higher than either predecessor. The film had a rating of 85/100 on Metacritic, again higher than the first two films.
Like its predecessor, The Bourne Supremacy, the film was criticized for its shaky camera work, as Richard Corliss of Time magazine, in a 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." This was addressed by Frank Lovece of Film Journal International, who said, "Director Paul Greengrass ... takes the kinetic clarity and moral puddle of prime John Frankenheimer and fits it into his own style of jerky, handheld-camera intrusiveness — one that doesn't seem documentary-like so much as it gives you the sense that you're following Bourne and eavesdropping on his conversations." Wikipedia
