Bourne Ultimatum

i love the franchise and the ultimatum was a great movie. I do agree with the shakiness, it was a bit much. The action in the movie was amazing and Matt really owns the part. Theres something about the Bourne movies...they feel so original and just set a higher bar for the genre. The ending did leave me a little unhappy but it was nothing to gripe over. All and all i highly recommend it.
 
I was surprised at how much I enjoyed the first one, since I was not expecting much, and I thought the second one was also quite good. I am looking forward to seeing this third installment, and have been for some time now.

The real impact of this series is how it brought about a re-thinking and re-tooling of Bond, which had become a stagnant franchise, having decayed into some sort of lame caricature of itself over the years.

After Connery, there were too many ponces doing ridiculous stunts with silly gadgets, and it ruined the whole thing (in my opinion). When he was announced as the new Bond, Daniel Craig was lambasted in the media by certain 'fans' as being too different. In the end, people lauded his turn in the role, and it was a hugely successful film. Had Bourne not been made, I doubt this transformation would have come about.

I didn't like Casino Royale all that much, but at least I could sit throught it and not moan at how cheesy it was (having said that, Pierce Brosnan was okay, but he was too much Moore and not enough Connery- and the gadgets were stupid).
 
I just saw this a couple nights ago and I was completely satisfied with the movie-going experience... there was some OLD white dude next to me that got a text message and replied to it... and wanted to show his old lady the message... and that made me want to sock him in the ear... because the lit up phone and his typing was almost as distracting and disrespectful as taking a fuggin' phone call... I couldn't believe that this guy... some "old" dude... and NOT a teenager... was doing this!

BUT... the movie was so well done that I actually didn't even care... after seeing the other summer action movies I was THRILLED to see an action movie that at least pretends to be rooted in reality... all action movies feature impossible action to keep it interesting... but in this flick you get all the thrills without having to completely shut your brain OFF to enjoy it.

This was one of my favorite flicks so far this year. Intelligent action is hard to come by these days. The verite' style of shooting was borderline too much at times, but I was grinning ear to ear through the fight scenes, because I admired how much they respected the audience intelligence whiie putting Jason through impossible events.

Superbly executed action sequences were unrelenting... in a good way... I may even see this again before it leaves the big screen... and for me that's unheard of.
 
I finally saw 'Ultimatum" last night and I have to admit the shakycam stuff almost ruined it for me. When it wasn't nauseating me, or distracting the hell out of me (technical issues should never do that, IMO), it was spoiling my ability to tune into anything even slightly nuanced in the characters' performances. Hard to read someone's face when it's shaking around like a Parkinson's victim on speed riding a bucking bronco.

Good story, great acting for sure, but largely nullified, for me at least, by this immense technical conceit.
 
Ted Spencer said:
shaking around like a Parkinson's victim on speed riding a bucking bronco.
Click to expand...

There is a special place in hell for you for that comment.

:grin: :grin: :grin:

And one for me for laughing.



Saw this the other night (finally). I agree that there was far too much shaky camerawork. But other than that, an excellent film.

The acting and casting for these roles is top notch. No one seems poorly cast, and everyone IS their character.

I was a little thrown by the hints at a "past love" in the diner, and I'm glad that that didn't go any further than to provide justification for Nicky's final smile, which is a very good final shot.

I like how this film bought the trilogy (and god I hope it remains exactly that) full circle, wrapping up a lot of things and, in a rather cliché style, leaving things as they where at the start of the first film. The 3 films together very neatly tell the story of Jason Bourne from start to finish. The last shot was a very good conclusion that left you satisfied with closure.

I felt many of the details of the film where very predictable moments before they happened. You didn't know what was going to happen at the end of the film, or even in a minute's time; but the next line was often pretty guessable. "It started here" was obviously going to be followed with "and this is where it's going to end." It was a little distracting, but not too bad, especially as there where many of these moments where the opportunity for an unseen twist was taken.

Overall I really enjoyed the movie. And the series. It's going to be hard to see Matt Damon in as another character for a while, but I hope we don't have a choice, now that Bourne is dead.

- Mikko
 
Yes the shaky cam was nauseating, but how about that fight sequence? Was that not perfectly executed?

Since you brought up the Bond thing Ming... that's what made me post this... the most recent Bond flick had that same intensity in the fight scenes... where the characters make desperate moves quickly... as opposed to the old cliche' stuff like walking around facing the villain while circling their fists as if they can't decide which hand to punch with first :grin:
 
The fight sequence was beautiful. The raw intensity was awesome. I loved how all the other sound faded away and all you heard were hard body hits.
 
***SPOILER WARNING***

Finally caught this. My favorite thing about this series is the direction. The shaky camera may be annoying, but it works really well. The camera is always moving, it's frenetic and tense and works well for the story. And that fight scene in the bathroom was amazing. I didn't buy that past love bit at all, there was no sexual tension with Nicky and I'm glad they didn't dwell on it at all.

Matt Damon is totally believable. One thing I really like about Damon, and it's a similiarity to Deniro, Damon doesn't talk about his personal life in interviews. And Deniro doesn't either. The result is that I can go into a movie and because they give so little about their personal life they can totally disappear into their characters. There is a problem when we know too much about an actor, they lose their mystery.
 
Just got back from seeing it. Overall it was a great continuation of the previous films. BUT, as already mentioned many times, the shaky-cam effect was used WAY TOO MUCH!!! At certain times it adds to the excitement, but when it's used ALL THE TIME it just gets to be annoying. Come on Hollywood, stop filming everything hand held. Just invest in a tripod or give Mikko and his steadicam some work.

Other than that it was great and well worth the headache. Way to go Bourne! You're 3 for 3. Very few trilogies can say that.

pk
 
Wow, I must be the only one that disliked this movie. I finally saw it last night and was severely underwhelmed.

More so than the direction, I thought it's weakest point may have been the screenplay. I haven't read the book but I assume there was a lot left out as the plot really didn't 'go' anywhere in my eyes. There was very little character developement (and I hate that term) for a movie that is all about the character.

Have to admit I was a bit tired when I saw it at the movies but I was bored (yes, bored) from start to finish. I'll watch it again sometime just in case I was in a bad mood ;)

Ian
 
I finally got around to seeing this. I'm not sure what the budget was but I'm betting there should have been enough to sneak a tripod into it...or even a Steadicam. Has everyone today complete forgotten about dolly shots? Jeez. I had a hard time staying in the movie due to the crappy cinematography.

As far as action flicks go, it was okay, but still falls prey to what other multiple installment movies do...having to outdo your previous venture, at times to the point of being ludicrous.
 
The problem with 'seizure cam' is that it doesn't help tell a visual story. Sitting in as a third person anywhere, who is viewing life in this style besides a paranoid schizophrenic on crystal meth ?

I'm afraid there is an entire legion of young filmmakers that think this is how you make a film. It is already eveident in many of our shorts on the site that most can't tell a visual story if their life depended on it.
 
I love hand-held photography, but even I thought it was over-done in "Ultimatum". Although there's an aesthetic difference between hand-held and seizure cam. I think seizure cam is just kind of a lame action hook, like fast editing. But when it's done the way it is in Children of Men, in a more smooth, stream-lined kind of way, it really does add something to the mood, whereas in Bourne, they just kind of whip it all over the place and shake it up to look "cool". I'm rambling.
 
When you see those types of shots as they are used in the beginning of a film like Narc, then they are really quite effective...disorienting and visceral, almost.

Shaky camera can serve the mood of the scene or the mindset of the chrarcter, when it is used right. Anything used too much, or just plain wrong (like the dutch angles in Rules Of Engagement), takes away from the experience more than it adds to it...but some filmmakers just do things for their own sake nowdays.

It's like they copy their favourite directors without knowing why the original shot was done in a certain way to begin with.

I didn't mind ...Ultimatum, but I can see what people could complain about.
 
The scenes in the restaurant are just out of hand. There is absolutely NO reason not to put the camera on a tripod and compose a nice shot in there. I don't mind a character "muddying" the frame, but taking up half to two-thirds of the frame and squeezing the speaking actor out of the frame is just irritating, particularly in these scenes. And all the ****ing bouncing around really looked more like a mistake than a style.

Of course in the feature we did, I now use that as the excuse for the jumpy hand-held shot we use leading into the fight with our "monster." :Drogar-BigGrin(DBG)
 
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