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Why do we love these movies so much? None of them have some memorable shot or monologue or even character that sticks with us for long after they're over, but godammit, they're quality entertainment. The Bourne Series seems to be the only set of spy movies ever made that makes us go, "Wow, it's like this is really happening! Gee! Woo-oooo!" In fact, the only moments of weakness in "The Bourne Ultimatum," the third installment, are the ones where it slows down to show a human emotion.

The strength is the other 95%, in which Jason Bourne is being chased by some government goons that all seem like real people, not Dr. Evil wannabes. You never really know who's gonna pop out of which damn window or fly from whatever roof, you just know this shit looks real enough to suspend disbelief to the point where you're convinced for almost two hours that the same guy who was in a movie called "All the Pretty Horses" could kick the shit out of you.
 
This time around, Bourne (Matt Damon) is out for revenge on behalf of Marie, Franka Potente's departed girlfriend character who got snubbed early on in "The Bourne Supremacy." However, he's not just out for vengeance, he still wants to know who the hell he once was before the CIA brainwashed him into the tool of death he's now running around as.

Julia Stiles hops on board again here as his aid, along with Joan Allen as possibly the most downplayed over-forty fox on today's screens. David Strathairn (spelled right? oh, who cares) and Albert Finney drop in to play the villains here (and effectively), and Scott Glenn also shows up to be a shady guy too. After that, who the hell needs to know the plot, it's handheld chaos and we'll eat it up, even if it's just sliiightly frustrating at times figuring out who's hitting who and with what.
 
If anything could've been improved, it may have been a little bit more closure, but I won't screw up the ending by going off about what I mean, for I have enough respect for this one to let you just pay to see it on your own.

Usually, escapist films are so goddam lame (ahem, "Transformers") that you're not gonna escape whatever's on your mind going into the theater even if you grew up watching the big robots that they've brought back with CG, but "BU" manages to be escapist by staying realistic (except for, yes, when someone says something emotional and gets another emotion out of another government-brainwashed monkey - come on, they're a monkey, let's not make this "Project X").
 
four bongs

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