The Bourne Ultimatum (film)

The Bourne Ultimatum

Theatrical release poster
Directed by Paul Greengrass
Produced by Frank Marshall
Patrick Crowley
Paul L. Sandberg
Doug Liman (executive)
Written by Screenplay
Tony Gilroy
Scott Z. Burns
George Nolfi
Screen Story
Tony Gilroy
Book
Robert Ludlum
Starring Matt Damon
Julia Stiles
David Strathairn
Joan Allen
Music by John Powell
Cinematography Oliver Wood
Editing by Christopher Rouse
Studio Kennedy/Marshall
Ludlum Entertainment
Distributed by Universal Pictures
Release date(s) United States:
August 3, 2007 (2007-08-03)
United Kingdom:
August 16, 2007
Running time 112 minutes
Country United States
Language English
Budget $110 million
Gross revenue $442,824,138
Preceded by The Bourne Supremacy
Followed by The Bourne Legacy

The Bourne Ultimatum is a 2007 spy film directed by Paul Greengrass and loosely based[1] on the Robert Ludlum novel of the same name. The film is a sequel to The Bourne Supremacy (2004), also following The Bourne Identity (2002). Matt Damon reprises his role as Ludlum's signature character, former CIA assassin and psychogenic amnesiac[2] Jason Bourne. The film continues the saga of Jason Bourne as he escapes from authorities in Moscow and travels to Paris, London, Madrid, Tangier and New York City to uncover his real identity, while the CIA continues to send assassins after him. The film co-starred Julia Stiles, David Strathairn, Scott Glenn, Paddy Considine, Edgar Ramirez, Albert Finney, and Joan Allen. The script was written by Tony Gilroy, Scott Z. Burns, George Nolfi and an uncredited Tom Stoppard.[3] The producers were Patrick Crowley, Frank Marshall, Paul L. Sandberg, and Doug Liman, who directed the first Bourne film, The Bourne Identity.

The Bourne Ultimatum was produced by Universal Pictures and was released on August 3, 2007, in North America, where it grossed $69.3 million in ticket sales in its first weekend of release, making it the highest August opening in the U.S.[4] and Matt Damon's highest grossing film with him as the lead role. 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 any Academy Awards, winning all three of its nominations for Best Film Editing, Best Sound, and Best Sound Editing at the 80th Academy Awards.

Contents

Plot

Wounded by a gunshot from Russian assassin Kirill (in the previous film, The Bourne Supremacy), Jason Bourne evades Moscow police and goes into hiding. Six weeks later, The Guardian correspondent Simon Ross meets with someone to discuss Bourne and Operation Treadstone. Bourne goes to Paris to inform Marie's brother Martin (Daniel Brühl), that she is dead. The CIA begin tracking Ross after he mentions "Operation Blackbriar" over a cell phone call. Bourne travels to London where he contacts Ross and asks to meet with him at Waterloo Station after learning that Ross has been investigating Operation Treadstone, but realizes that the CIA are tracking Ross. Bourne helps Ross evade CIA teams trying to capture him, but Ross deviates from Bourne's instructions and is killed by Blackbriar assassin Paz on orders from Operation Blackbriar's director Noah Vosen. Pamela Landy, who had hunted Bourne six weeks earlier unsuccessfully, is brought in to help Vosen shortly after he spots Bourne in a CCTV camera feed. After searching Ross' notes, they figure out that Ross' source was Neal Daniels, CIA Station Chief in Madrid, who was formerly involved in Treadstone and is actively involved in Blackbriar. Bourne, having taken Ross' bag shortly after he was killed, is led to Daniels' Madrid office but finds it empty. After he incapacitates a CIA team sent by Vosen and Landy, Nicky Parsons arrives. She decides to help Bourne, telling him that Daniels has fled to Tangier and helping him escape another incoming CIA team. It's indicated that Parsons and Bourne had a deep, possibly romantic relationship before he lost his memory.

Upon arriving in Tangier, Parsons tries to track Daniels' location but is unable to, finding that Blackbriar "asset" Desh Bouksani has been tasked with killing Daniels. Vosen learns that Parsons logged in to access information about Daniels and sends Desh after Parsons and Bourne, a decision Landy disagrees with. Bourne manages to follow Desh to Daniels, but fails to prevent Daniels' death by a planted bomb. Bourne manages to kill Desh in a brutal fight before Desh can kill Parsons. Bourne subsequently sends Parsons into hiding. Bourne examines the contents of Daniels' charred briefcase and finds the address of the deep cover CIA bureau in New York City where Vosen directs Blackbriar. Bourne travels to New York City; Landy receives a phone call from Bourne (in a repetition of the final scene of The Bourne Supremacy), which is revealed to be tapped by Vosen. Landy thanks Bourne for the tape he sent her which revealed the corrupt dealings of former Treadstone director Ward Abbott; she also tells him that his real name is David Webb and his birthdate is 4/15/71. While speaking to Landy, Bourne notices Vosen storing highly classified materials in a safe in his office. Bourne tells Landy to "get some rest" because she "looks tired", which she and Vosen both understand to mean that Bourne is watching her. Vosen intercepts a text to Landy from Bourne of a location to meet up and leaves his office with a team to follow Landy and capture Bourne. Bourne breaks into Vosen's office and steals classified Blackbriar documents. Vosen sends Paz after Bourne, the two finally encountering each other in a car chase which ends with Paz forcing Bourne's car to crash into a concrete divider. Bourne gets out and holds Paz at gunpoint before sparing his life and continuing on to 415 East 71st Street, memories of which were triggered by the false birthday he was given by Landy. Vosen also figures out Landy's code and warns Dr. Albert Hirsch, who ran Treadstone's behavior modification program, that Bourne is coming.

Landy meets Bourne at the building, where Bourne gives her the Blackbriar files before going inside. Landy starts faxing the files to an unknown receiver, but is found by Vosen as the last page is sent. Bourne encounters Hirsch in an upper level and, with Hirsch's help, remembers that he volunteered for the program. He states that he is no longer Jason Bourne and flees to the roof from Vosen's pursuing CIA team. Bourne is confronted on the roof by Paz, who asks Bourne why he did not kill him. Bourne asks Paz if he even knows why he is supposed to kill him and repeats the dying words of a Treadstone assassin Bourne killed (in The Bourne Identity): "Look at us. Look at what they make you give." Paz lowers his gun as Bourne runs to jump off the roof, but Vosen appears and shoots at Bourne as he leaps into the East River below. Some time later, Parsons is watching a television news broadcast about the exposure of Operation Blackbriar, the arrests of Hirsch and Vosen, a criminal investigation of CIA director Ezra Kramer, and that David Webb, a.k.a. Jason Bourne, was reportedly shot and fell into the East River. Upon hearing that his body has not been found after a three-day search, Parsons smiles; Bourne is shown swimming away under water after his fall.

Cast

Production

Scenes were filmed at London Waterloo station between October 2006 and April 2007

The Bourne Ultimatum was filmed at Pinewood Studios near 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]

References to previous films

Within the series

In the audio commentary for the 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:

Outside of the series

Music

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.

Release

The Bourne Ultimatum was released nationwide on August 30, 2007.[11]

Reception

The Bourne Ultimatum earned $69.3 million during its opening weekend at the box office, a record for a single opening in August[16] and $442.8 million worldwide as of December 14, 2007.[17] As of August 2009, the film garners a 93% "Certified Fresh" rating (208 positive out of 223 reviews total) at Rotten Tomatoes,[16] higher than either predecessor.[18][19] The film had a rating of 85/100 on Metacritic, again higher than the first two films.[20] At the end of its theatrical release, the film grossed at total of $227,471,070 in the U.S., making it the highest grossing film in the series.

Like its predecessor, The Bourne Supremacy, the film was criticized for its over-use of "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."[21]

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."[22][23][24][25]

Top ten lists

The film appeared on several critics' top ten lists of the best films of 2007.[26]

Academy Awards

The film won in all three categories in which it was nominated, giving it the second highest number of awards at the 80th Academy Awards (behind No Country for Old Men):

Other awards

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."[30] Damon even said in an interview on The Daily Show that director Paul Greengrass joked that a fourth film could be titled "The Bourne Redundancy."[31] Nonetheless, 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 Greengrass on board.[32]

This was confirmed on June 25, 2008, by producers Frank Marshall and Pat Crowley in an interview with IESB.net. Marshall said "Hopefully they will finish the script in 2010 and that they will be shooting in the summer of 2011 for a release in 2012 and our favorite anti-hero is apparently headed to South America."[33] On October 16, 2008, it was announced that George Nolfi would write the script, with Frank Marshall producing, and Jeffrey Weiner and Henry Morrison executive producing. Matt Damon, Julia Stiles, Joan Allen, and Paul Greengrass were also attached to the film.[34][35][36] On August 21, 2009, it was announced that Universal had hired Josh Zetumer to help write the script.[37] Paul Greengrass has announced that he will not be directing.[38]

On February 1, 2010, Damon, speaking at the UK premiere of Invictus, revealed that a follow-up to The Bourne Ultimatum was "at least five years away". Greengrass, also at the premiere, re-stated that he wouldn't be part of any further Bourne films "unless the right script came along". However, Damon revealed that in the meantime there may be a Bourne "prequel of some kind, with another actor and another director".[39] Matt Damon reconfirmed this on a March 10, 2010 appearance of Today and that he would only be involved if Greengrass was directing.[40]

On June 9, 2010, it was announced that Tony Gilroy will be writing The Bourne Legacy and it will have a 2012 release date.[41]

References

  1. Kirschling, Gregory (April 17, 2007). "Movie Preview: The Bourne Ultimatum". Entertainment Weekly. http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20035285_20035331_20035434,00.html. 
  2. Bruce Bennett (May 28, 2008). "Jason Bourne Takes His Case to MoMA". New York Sun. http://www.nysun.com/arts/jason-bourne-takes-his-case-to-moma/78614/. Retrieved September 10, 2009. 
  3. Tom Stoppard is verbally acknowledged as a co-writer on The Bourne Ultimatum DVD audio commentary by Paul Greengrass (DVD time - 00:45:24).
  4. "Bourne Ultimatum Accepted". boxofficemojo.com. http://www.boxofficemojo.com/news/?id=2364&p=s.htm. Retrieved August 11, 2007. 
  5. "The Bourne Ultimatum". Bourne Ultimatum official website. Universal Pictures. http://www.thebourneultimatum.com. Retrieved April 4, 2007. 
  6. Paul Greengrass. (December 11, 2007). The Bourne Ultimatum. [DVD audio commentary]. Universal Studios. 
  7. Kirschling, Gregory (Published in issue #931-932 April 27, 2007). "The Bourne Ultimatum | The Bourne Ultimatum | Movie Preview | Movies | Summer Movie Preview 2007 | Entertainment Weekly". Entertainment Weekly. http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20035285_20035331_20035434,00.html. Retrieved October 27, 2008. 
  8. "The Bourne Ultimatum Oklahoma City Premiere". The Oklahoman. http://newsok.com/article/3083167/?print=1. Retrieved July 14, 2007. 
  9. "In pictures: Bourne film premiere". BBC News. August 15, 2007. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/in_pictures/6948723.stm. Retrieved August 20, 2007. 
  10. http://www.idahostatesman.com/266/gallery/120814-a120827-t2.html
  11. "Damon's Aussie sojourn". AdelaideNow. http://www.news.com.au/adelaidenow/story/0,22606,22091056-5012985,00.html. Retrieved July 19, 2007. 
  12. "The Bourne Ultimatum (US — DVD R1". DVD Active. http://www.dvdactive.com/news/releases/the-bourne-ultimatum.html. Retrieved October 19, 2007. 
  13. 13.0 13.1 "HD DVD Review: The Bourne Ultimatum | High-Def Digest". Hddvd.highdefdigest.com. http://hddvd.highdefdigest.com/1137/bourneultimatum.html. Retrieved October 27, 2008. 
  14. "Universal Says No to 'Jason Bourne Collection' HD DVD". November 15, 2007. http://hddvd.highdefdigest.com/news/show/Universal/Disc_Announcements/Universal_Says_No_to_Jason_Bourne_Collection_HD_DVD_/1171. 
  15. "The Bourne Ultimatum (US - DVD R1 | HD) in News > Releases at DVDActive". Dvdactive.com. http://www.dvdactive.com/news/releases/the-bourne-ultimatum.html. Retrieved October 27, 2008. 
  16. 16.0 16.1 "The Bourne Ultimatum". Rotten Tomatoes. August 12, 2007. http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/bourne_ultimatum/numbers.php. Retrieved August 19, 2007. 
  17. "The Bourne Ultimatum". boxofficemojo.com. http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=bourneultimatum.htm. Retrieved August 21, 2007. 
  18. "The Bourne Identity". Rotten Tomatoes. http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/bourne_identity/. Retrieved August 28, 2007. 
  19. "The Bourne Supremacy". Rotten Tomatoes. http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/bourne_supremacy/. Retrieved August 6, 2007. 
  20. "The Bourne Ultimatum: Reviews". Metacritic. http://www.metacritic.com/film/titles/bourneultimatum. Retrieved August 7, 2007. 
  21. Corliss, Richard (August 2, 2007). "The Bourne Ultimatum: A Macho Fantasy". Time. http://www.time.com/time/arts/article/0,8599,1649187,00.html. Retrieved August 12, 2007. 
  22. Bradshaw, Peter (August 17, 2007). "The Bourne Ultimatum". The Guardian (London). http://film.guardian.co.uk/News_Story/Critic_Review/Guardian_Film_of_the_week/0,,2150073,00.html. Retrieved February 26, 2008. 
  23. Campbell, Duncan (August 23, 2007). "Diary". The Guardian (London). http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2007/aug/23/1. Retrieved February 26, 2008. 
  24. Patterson, John (August 6, 2007). "Killer instinct". The Guardian (London). http://film.guardian.co.uk/interview/interviewpages/0,,2142463,00.html. Retrieved February 26, 2008. 
  25. Barkham, Patrick (August 6, 2007). "'I had to wimp down a little bit'". The Guardian (London). http://film.guardian.co.uk/interview/interviewpages/0,,2142733,00.html. Retrieved February 26, 2008. 
  26. "Metacritic: 2007 Film Critic Top Ten Lists". Metacritic. http://www.metacritic.com/film/awards/2007/toptens.shtml. Retrieved January 5, 2008. 
  27. "More action". http://www.rottentomatoes.com/features/rtawards/?category=action&rank=1. 
  28. Germain, David; Lemire, Christy (December 27, 2007). "'No Country for Old Men' earns nod from AP critics". Associated Press, via Columbia Daily Tribune. http://www.columbiatribune.com/2007/Dec/20071227Go!013.asp. Retrieved December 31, 2007. 
  29. Allen, Katie (October 6, 2008). "Rankin and P D James pick up ITV3 awards". theBookseller.com. http://www.thebookseller.com/news/68347-rankin-and-p-d-james-pick-up-itv3-awards.html. Retrieved October 6, 2008. 
  30. Thompson, Anne (May 24, 2007). "'Ocean's' gang ready for fourth; Damon says 'no' to more 'Bourne'". Variety. http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117965761.html?categoryid=13&cs=1&query=bourne. Retrieved June 11, 2008. 
  31. "Matt Damon | The Daily Show With Jon Stewart | Comedy Central". Comedycentral.com. http://www.comedycentral.com/videos/index.jhtml?videoId=90960. Retrieved October 27, 2008. 
  32. Fleming, Michael (February 22, 2008). "Universal's re-born identity". Variety. http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117981337.html?categoryid=13&cs=1&nid=2562. Retrieved June 11, 2008. 
  33. "IESB.net — Movie News, Reviews, Interviews and More! - Exclusive: Frank Marshall and Pat Crowley on the Fourth Bourne Film and the Future of Indiana Jones". Iesb.net. http://www.iesb.net/index.php?option=com_ezine&task=read&page=1&category=2&article=5134. Retrieved October 27, 2008. 
  34. Simmons, Leslie; Kit, Borys (October 16, 2008). "Next 'Bourne' lands scribe". The Hollywood Reporter. http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/film/news/e3i602dec9570e51e546848a62ac971c97a. Retrieved June 21, 2010. 
  35. "Matt Damon returning for 4th 'Bourne' - Access Hollywood - MSNBC.com". Msnbc.msn.com. October 17, 2008. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27242146/. Retrieved October 27, 2008. 
  36. http://www.comicmix.com/news/2008/10/17/a-third-sequel-is-bourne/
  37. http://thefilmstage.com/2009/08/21/bourne-four-gets-another-writer/
  38. http://www.cinematical.com/2009/12/01/paul-greengrass-quits-bourne-4/
  39. "Matt Damon says next Bourne film 'could be a prequel'". BBC News. February 1, 2010. http://news.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/hi/entertainment/newsid_10050000/newsid_10056500/10056518.stm. Retrieved February 2, 2010. 
  40. http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/26184891/vp/35794674#35796112
  41. "Tony Gilroy Will Write The Bourne Legacy for 2010". The Film Stage. June 9, 2010. http://thefilmstage.com/2010/06/09/tony-gilroy-will-write-the-bourne-legacy-for-2012-release-and-a-bourne-bible/. Retrieved June 9, 2010. 

External links