Oscar Cleanup: The Bourne Ultimatum: Doing It Right (Spoilers!!!)-- Written by Jerry Dennis

"Hey look, I'm sorry I dragged you away from whatever-gay-serial-killers-who-ride-horses-and-like-to-play-golf-touchy-feely-picture you're supposed to be doing this week."
-- Ben Affleck from Jay And Silent Bob Strike Back

"Well, sir, going home! "
-- Driver from Lawrence Of Arabia

"What do you call assassins who accuse assassins?"
-- Colonel Walter E. Kurtz from Apocalypse Now


"My last two films have tanked. If you screw this up I'm really in trouble. I'm really counting on you now."

And so this is how Matt Damon put himself in the hands of director, Doug Liman, for 2002's The Bourne Identity-- a film that arrived in the 2002 summer of half baked ideas and good intentions. Doug Liman would score a home run against action king John Woo on the same day of release as Windtalkers which drags out into its beaten state. It was a massive upset on that bewildering June day. It never dawned on me that Matt Damon would ever want to play a character like Jason Bourne. The Robert Ludlum character had been played by Richard Chamberlain in an ABC Television mini series back in 1988. Matt Damon is not your Father's Jason Bourne. Here I thought Tom Ripley or Will Hunting would be the characters he would be remembered for and very good characters at that, but by the time The Bourne Supremacy came out in 2004, there was no mistaking it-- Matt Damon is Jason Bourne. He slides into the role with each outing as smoothly as Jeremy Irons fits perfectly into his suit in Betrayal. The Bourne Identity had arrived and it set into a motion a series events that can be felt today. Doug Liman brought his hip style which he had honed while making Swingers and Go with an incredible cast that featured Clive Owen, Brian Cox, Julia Stiles, Franka Potente and Chris Cooper. Most of all, it let the James Bond films know that there was a new kid in town. Die Another Day would open later that year and no doubt Jason Bourne had rocked the boat. Let us hope the newest installment, The Bourne Ultimatum will remind Barbara Broccoli not to ruin the goodwill created by Casino Royale. Barbara, under no circumstances, turn Daniel Craig into a lame Roger Moore wannabe. Right now, the ball is in her court to continue the raw tone of last year's Casino Royale.

Bringing Paul Greengrass on to direct The Bourne Supremacy remains one of the great ideas in an industry where no one knows what will work at all. Greengrass brought his bag of tricks from Bloody Sunday and it paid off many times over. The pulse pounding car chase through Moscow remains one of my favorite action sequences of recent years. That sequence and the whole film stay with you long after you leave the theater. Greengrass does not give us much time to catch our breath as The Bourne Ultimatum picks up right after the events of the last film. Greengrass decided to use his break between films to make United 93. The man has lost none of his edge and he has a thing for making sure you never look at your watch during one of his films. The story of The Bourne Ultimatum is rather simple, Bourne is on a quest to unlock the secrets of his past. How did he become Jason Bourne? How did he become this perfect killing machine? While he is on this quest, he once again must dodge and do battle with an array of assassins. Throughout the film, Bourne has a recurring flashback that evolves throughout the course of the film-- a stunning homage to Charles Bronson's Harmonica's evolving flashback in Sergio Leone's Once Upon A Time In The West. It also brings to mind the way Alex Murphy's memory is recalled in Paul Verhoeven's Robocop. For the audience, it is that slow revelation that has been building up for the three Bourne films. We want to know who made Jason Bourne like this and why. What were the reasons? Valerie Plame never had to worry about these things like Jason Bourne. In the Bourne films, the CIA is an all powerful and all knowing intelligence agency. In the real world, they may not be as sharp as Hollywood has made them out to be. While in the films, they on top of their game. Tim Weiner's Legacy Of Ashes: The History Of The CIA is the antithesis of these films-- I wish my Dad would finish that book so I can read it next. His quest takes us to England where Guardian reporter, Simon Ross (Paddy Considine), has been writing articles about Bourne and the people who programmed him. Bourne needs to get a hold of Ross. While Bourne manages to find Ross, it is short-lived. Ross is taken out and Bourne must go home in every sense of the word.

Jason Bourne comes home for The Bourne Ultimatum and it is a day of reckoning for everyone involved. New York City has enough problems! David Strathairn's Noah Vosen is one of those bastard government agency types who could qualify as a true believer. He really believes in his mission. Vosen makes Cliff Robertson's Higgins in Three Days Of The Condor look like the Good Humor Man. Vosen is part of an unholy trinity of men who would like to eliminate Jason Bourne. Scott Glenn's Ezra Kramer and Albert Finney's Dr. Albert Hirsh make up the other members. It keeps them up at night knowing that he is still alive. Not everyone is out to get Bourne. He finds allies in Julia Stiles’ Nicky Parsons and Joan Allen's Pamela Landy. Both actresses give remarkable performances-- we expect nothing less from Joan Allen. She is a class act who has brought so much to these films. Allen's Landy is the good mother; she wants to bring Jason in under her terms; she wants to help him. Vosen and his band of assassins would like to do away with Bourne for good. Bourne’s survival would be the end of the ultra secret special ops program; careers would be destroyed. Throughout the film, Bourne manages to outwit and eliminate everyone that Vosen sends his way. Does Vosen know with whom he is dealing with? Once Bourne returns to America, the real fun starts. I did not know that NYPD police cruisers could endure that kind of action. The car chase through the streets of New York City has to be seen to be believed. You will be on the edge of your seat, Paul Greengrass gives us no time to rest. Jason Bourne versus every assassin in the world. The odds do not look too good for the assassins. As Bourne returns to his birthplace, we are treated to the torture of America's recent past. Dr. Albert Hirsch is America's dark side. He represents evil via both versions of The Manchurian Candidate. We have been waiting for the Hirsch/ Bourne confrontation for five years. It does not disappoint.

Matt Damon has said this will be his last film as Jason Bourne. While there are no more books by Robert Ludlum, Eric Lustbader has written two Jason Bourne books. I would love to see Matt Damon reconsider. On a side note, Lustbader is the perfect heir to continue the Ludlum tradition. I loved his Ninja books. For me, The Bourne films represent a great trilogy of fast paced heart pounding action films. They stay with you long after you leave the theater. Paul Greengrass continues his hand held dizzying camera work which heightens the intensity of this outing. Oliver Wood's cinematography is divine. Wood has made each film look incredible. Christopher Rouse comes back with his rapid fire editing skills that made United 93 and The Bourne Supremacy work so well. Greengrass is no fool; he knows a film like this comes together in the editing suite.

I will miss Jason Bourne. The films have been an enormous success on every level. Having said that, I would welcome a film adaptation of Robert Ludlum's The Matarese Circle and The Matarese Countdown. We have a whole generation of film makers who respect the source material. I am glad to see Robert Ludlum getting the cinematic respect he deserves. It is very nice to see a third film in a series be as excellent as this one. No third film curse with The Bourne Ultimatum. Jason Bourne forever!