The Bourne Ultimatum

[Tankus]

Seen it yesterday ...better than the second , not quite as good as the first ..

Overdid the fight scene camershake ....far better done in the earlier ones...

be worth a fourth

 

[Reno]

Watched both on ITV2 again and going to see the new one on Friday. Franka Potente's Marie is a girl after my own heart and such a non-clichee love interest for a film like this. When the going gets tough she doesn't turn into some karate chopping action chick, no she goes to buy a bottle of whiskey and then she sits there and downs it.

 

[Dhimmi]

I liked it, and like the other two.

Chuffed to see Paddy Considine in it, although shame it was a relatively small role.

Didn't enjoy the over shaky camera work though.

 

[gsv]

Liked it a lot. My only criticism coming out was that somewhere between Identity and Ultimatum he became a bit too much of an expert-in-everything (cars, motorbikes, whtever language he needs, double penetration, biting his toenails,...).

Then I got a look at Identity on ITV4-or-whatever and realised that he's become a totally different character


GS(v)

 

[beeboo]

Then I got a look at Identity on ITV4-or-whatever and realised that he's become a totally different character

I thought the character developed quite nicely over the trilogy?

 

[Kid_Eternity]

I thought the character developed quite nicely over the trilogy?

He does, I really don't know what gsv is on about, the transition was done fairly well imo.

 

[Orang Utan]

Liked it a lot. My only criticism coming out was that somewhere between Identity and Ultimatum he became a bit too much of an expert-in-everything (cars, motorbikes, whtever language he needs, double penetration, biting his toenails,...).

Then I got a look at Identity on ITV4-or-whatever and realised that he's become a totally different character


GS(v)

Eh? He was an expert from the start - he just didn't know it cos of his amnesia - you're missing the entire point of the character and the films

 

[Santino]

Did anyone think Bourne was becoming a little bit Roger Moore? Stealing a scooter from an amusingly-dressed foreigner and riding up and down stairs in the back streets of a North African city - that was straight out of a 1970s Bond film.

 

[London_Calling]

Was it homage, perhaps?

 

[beeboo]

Did anyone think Bourne was becoming a little bit Roger Moore? Stealing a scooter from an amusingly-dressed foreigner and riding up and down stairs in the back streets of a North African city - that was straight out of a 1970s Bond film.

meh - it's difficult to do anything properly "new" in this genre - any car chase and fight scenario has been acted out somewhere before. I just think the Bourne movies do it with a hell of a lot more style than most.

 

[Reno]

...what I like about the Bourne films is that unlike with most other action films the characters are still recognisably human. Bourne, despite his near-superpowers looks vultnerable enough that you can worry about him. No hulking big men who look like wardrobes, no women who look like Playboy centrefolds, no smartass quotable catch phrases.

 

[London_Calling]

Not as good as Z Cars though, is it.

 

[Reno]

Fuck off !

 

[London_Calling]

 

[gsv]

Eh? He was an expert from the start - he just didn't know it cos of his amnesia - you're missing the entire point of the character and the films

Was he? He was super-fit and super-tough, very smart and intuitive and a weapons expert. I don't recall him doing stuntman-grade motorcycle tricks in the first film, nor speaking whatever language was necessary at the time (though I may be mistaken about this). In a film whose draw is that it's more realistic than James Bond, I don't find it reasonable to imagine that his training would include this much stuff.

As to character development, not having seen the tree in close proximity I may not have seen it progress properly.


GS(v)

 

[Orang Utan]

Spies are good at languages, surely?

 

[Reno]

Was he? He was super-fit and super-tough, very smart and intuitive and a weapons expert. I don't recall him doing stuntman-grade motorcycle tricks in the first film, nor speaking whatever language was necessary at the time (though I may be mistaken about this). In a film whose draw is that it's more realistic than James Bond, I don't find it reasonable to imagine that his training would include this much stuff.

As to character development, not having seen the tree in close proximity I may not have seen it progress properly.


GS(v)

I just watched both films again and in the first one he shows superior driving skills in any vehicle at hand and to his surprise he speaks German and French when needed.

 

[Kid_Eternity]

Was he? He was super-fit and super-tough, very smart and intuitive and a weapons expert. I don't recall him doing stuntman-grade motorcycle tricks in the first film, nor speaking whatever language was necessary at the time (though I may be mistaken about this). In a film whose draw is that it's more realistic than James Bond, I don't find it reasonable to imagine that his training would include this much stuff.

As to character development, not having seen the tree in close proximity I may not have seen it progress properly.


GS(v)

Watch em back to back, it does work.

 

[beeboo]

Was he? He was super-fit and super-tough, very smart and intuitive and a weapons expert. I don't recall him doing stuntman-grade motorcycle tricks in the first film, nor speaking whatever language was necessary at the time (though I may be mistaken about this). In a film whose draw is that it's more realistic than James Bond, I don't find it reasonable to imagine that his training would include this much stuff.

Well of course it's not actually *realistic* - it's just more grounded in reality and a bit more grit than your average James Bond film.

It still requires suspension of disbelief, but within the 'reality' they've set up, I think the character develops very consistently. In the first film he's rediscovering all his skills, and by the third he's more confident in them, but that makes sense.

 

[Tankus]

several years have passed between the first and third too

 

[upsidedownwalrus]

Just watched it. Very good

 

[Structaural]

Course I do - it's called 'The Wire', and of course I read books. Even the greatest cinematic stories, with the greatest characterisation and plotting are artistically better when seen on the big screen because that's the medium they are created in and for. Take 2001 - great film generally but watched in a cinema on 70mm it becomes far more. Ever seen Hitchcock on a big screen, or Citizen Kane? Seeing the latter on a private 50ft screen utterly altered my perception of the film.

So what you said is correct...to an extent. What you say about Independence Day and it's ilk...so what? They're the cinematic equivalent of getting on the Nemesis ride at Alton Towers and taking your brain out of gear. Do I prefer action adventure movies with a little bit of brain? Of course - which is why the Die Hard, Bourne and Terminator films stand out so much - but I don't have some inbuilt aversion to popcorn cinema, anymore that I have an aversion to other forms of low culture.

I would pay good money to be able to see Blade Runner at the cinema. Imagine that!

 

[upsidedownwalrus]

I don't feel sorry for the studios, but I feel sorry for the independent film-makers who are suffering from people getting in the habit of downloading films and I feel sorry for the viewers who are getting used to only seeing films on shitty laptops

Yeah but for people like me overseas, often downloads are the only choice.

That said, I don't watch the really crappy ones, I wait for the good quality ones and then sit back and watch it just like it was on my telly.

 

[Moggy]

I would pay good money to be able to see Blade Runner at the cinema. Imagine that!

Depending on how much 'good money' is and depending on how wide the cinema release of the final cut is going to go then you won't have to wait that long

Am hoping to see Ultimatum some time throughout today or tomorrow, after FINALLY getting round to watching the first two back to back during the week

 

[Reno]

Saw this on Friday and really enjoyed it, though having watched all three in a row last week with the ITV2 screenings, I now think the first film is the strongest in the series. Still this is a rare case where three films tell a continuing story with a beginning middle and end (for now), rather than being superfluous repeats of the formula as is the case with most movie franchises. What also struck me was that Ultimatum doesn't just follow on seamlessly from the second film, but overlaps with Supremacy for half of its running time, putting a different spin on the last scene in Supremacy.