*** Official THE BOURNE ULTIMATUM Discussion Thread (1 Viewer)

[DaveF]

Can you clarify this? Do you mean the second book is carried through the third movie? Or the third movie overlaps the second movie's events significantly?

 

[Robert Crawford]

Did you not see the second as well as this one?

 

[DaveF]

I saw the second one in the theater; it ended in Moscow I thought. The first few minutes of 3 picked up where 2 left off. But I don't recall how "[t]he last scence in Supremacy was actually more than halfway through this movie." (emphasis mine).

 

[Lou Sytsma]

The most disappointing aspect of this film was the total lack of exploration as to why Bourne chose to become what he was. He finds out Who he was and says he remembers everything. Unfortunately what he remembers about his former life, beyond the indoctrination sequences, is never conveyed to the audience. Very unsatisfactory tie up.

 

[Kachi Khatri]

[Originally Posted by DaveF
Can you clarify this? Do you mean the second book is carried through the third movie? Or the third movie overlaps the second movie's events significantly?]


Actually at the end of the 2nd one, they were not in Russia. They were definitely in NY. And his conversation with Landy is the same.

I read somehere in an article(can't recall) few weeks back, where the writer and director discussed the fact they didn't know what story to tell for this new film. Even not fully explained why Bourne went to N.Y. and why Landy was still looking for him. So they to re-shot that scene and put it at the beginning of the third act in this film.

 

[Robert Crawford]

Read Post #45

 

[Kachi Khatri]

As far as I'm concerned, the resolution was satisfactory for me. I don't think it was necessary to understand Bourne's past. You can make assumptions such as he may have lost his family and he decides to get recruited by CIA to serve his country. I don't feel any backstory would add more significance to the actual premise of this series.

 

[aldamon]

I agree. Also, I'm glad they upgraded his car from a death box hatchback (Bourne Identity) or taxi (Bourne Supremacy) to a police car for this movie's chase so it was slightly more believable, but his lack of injuries during the car chases and FALL/JUMPs still takes me out of the movies every time.

Other than these nitpicks, I had a great time watching it. We actually watched all three yesterday which was a lot of fun. I still like Bourne Identity the most though.

BI > BU > BS IMO.

 

[Lou Sytsma]

We'll have to agree to disagree. With no context, Bourne's identity might as well have been revealed as John Doe. Has the same amount of impact.

 

[ChrisWiggles]

But his name is David Webb. David Webb!!!!

 

[Jerome Grate]

Loved the Kimmel thing.

 

[Lou Sytsma]

Ah yes, David Webb. I knew him well.

 

[ThomasC]

What happened on Kimmel?

 

[Brett_M]

I was blown away at the reveal -- he volunteered. Doesn't that mean anything to you? He was destroyed in that moment. I think his performance conveyed that he held some sort of hope that he was turned into a killing machine against his will. He volunteered for it and that makes everything that happened his fault -- the assassinations, Maria's death, everything.

His identity doesn't mean anything compared to how he ended up in that situation.

 

[Zack Gibbs]

While I don't feel like I got blown, I agree for the most part. Personally I feel like whomever he may be now, he isn't really Jason or David. I think all this time he felt he was a man who didn't know his past, and was shocked to learn that his past essentially belonged to another person entirely. In that I don't see how specific details of David's life really matter or bring anything to the story. I think you can safely assume there weren't any tragic circumstances that lead to his decision or they would have revealed that. He just made the choice because that's who he was.

I thought they should have delved deeper into the different personas, but didn't know about the scripting problems. Once the movie caught up with the end of Bourne Supremacy I thought for sure they had planned it this way from the beginning.

You know this Bourne guy is just like Wolverine but no claws. Hell, they should get Greengrass to make that Wolverine movie they've been talking about for so long.

 

[Chuck Mayer]

Not just David Webb. Captain Webb. He was probably a fairly skilled special ops officer whom the CIA recruited when he felt underused in the military. He probably showed significant capability (top of his classes in physical endurance and mental acuity) and possessed a photographic memory along with a moral certainty in the rightness of the government's actions. Not a moral flexibility...a moral certainty. A level of trust.

Even then, based on the timelines, they'd have had to take a very gifted soldier to make that assassin in a very short period. Even with the right starting point, that would take years. Frankly, not very cost effective

I'm surprised people were surprised he volunteered. I fully expected that, even with the earlier flashbacks.

But for him, that was a huge watershed. That he trusted in the wrong people (even if for the right reasons). Hence his comments to his current asset who had drawn on him.

I thought it worked. It's simple.

 

[Lou Sytsma]

Nope, like Chuck said - that was a given. I would have been surprised if he had been coerced.

I want to know who he was that would make him volunteer. The program probably got tons of volunteers. What made David Webb, whose rediscovery of his previous life was the goal of three movies, so special that the powers in place choose him over others? A name is not pay off. We should know the person. Otherwise Bourne might as well be told he's John Hancock for all the difference a name makes.

As it stands, at the end of three movies, some dramatic/emotional payoff for Bourne's quest should occur. Sadly there was none.

Its like finding out the answer to the everything is 42.

The only flaw in an otherwise excellent film

 

[Brent M]

The only time the "shaky cam" bothered me was the Desh chase and fight sequence. Other than that, I didn't think it was nearly as bad as it was in Supremacy(which was almost like The Blair Witch Project for the whole film).

 

[teapot2001]

The shaky cam caused me motion sickness too, but I was fine for the second movie. During the action, I felt the same frustation as I do with Michael Bay. Greengrass has to pull back the camera and stop cutting so much.

~T

 

[Kachi Khatri]

On a bit of side note on Matt Damon, here's this news trickling out...

Matt Damon gets best box-office return on salary.

http://www.reuters.com/article/enter...42283420070806