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Friday, August 3, 2007 12:00 AM

"The Bourne Ultimatum"

In this exhilarating action threequel, Jason Bourne emerges as the sort of troubled but resolute hero the world needs most.

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  • Friday, August 3, 2007 01:01 PM

    hmm

    I guess to me it's simply a matter of what the technique brings to the film. Brian's Song using slow motion is arguably the same issue as Greengrass using fast cuts. They both are used to heighten the intended effect on the audience. One to make the audience cry, the other to make the audience feel the immediacy and speed of the situation. Also I agree that had Hitchcock used hyperfast cutting in Psycho it would be rediculous, but then, he wasn't making a film about a CIA-trained killing machine fighting for his life.

    I guess the best defense I can muster is the three Bourne films. I believe the second and third ones to be far better than the first. Damon's acting improved, but I give the credit mostly to Greengrass (and Doug Liman who, as producer of these films, seems to agree, as he hired and retained Greengrass). Bourne (the character) is fast, kinetic, he's never quite aware of exactly what his purpose is or what he is doing. He is at once in the middle of the action/fighting and mentally removed from it. The same can be said about the films (TBS & TBU) themselves. When the manner of presentation can become the material its presenting, that reinforces said material. Identity did not do this as explicitly (or at all) and therefore is inferior in my eyes.

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