Bourne Redundancy
Spurred on by some recent tweets as well as some surprising Oscar wins for the latest installment, my wife and I decided to come up to speed on the Bourne trilogy with Matt Damon. I borrowed the first two films on DVD from Talos which Mindy and I have spent the last two nights watching. The Bourne Identity was surprisingly good. Lots of twists and turns, smart action sequences and some superior acting from both Damon and Franka Potente (Marie). I wasn’t expecting much and was pleasantly surprised.
The second installment, not so much. The story was almost identical, the characters were two-dimensional and the plot was predictable. So now I’m in a quandary about if we should bother with the third movie, The Bourne Ultimatum. I know it’s supposed to conclude the trilogy, so I expect some lose ends to be wrapped up and everything, but given our luke warm reaction to Supremacy, I’m just not sure it’s worth our time. So my question is, how do you rank these movies? Which one is your favorite and should we bother watching the third one. And remember, NO SPOILERS PLEASE! Thanks all!
UPDATE: Well, we took the plunge and watched part 3 tonight. I have to say I pretty much agree with the commenters here that 3 was better than 2 but not as good as 1. The chase in New York was pretty awesome, and the tying up of loose ends is always good. If there hadn’t been some glaring plot holes (like convenient windows placed suspiciously inside über-secret government brainwashing centers that can be broken simply by jumping through them, or fax machines that can’t be traced or shut down) I think I would have enjoyed it a great deal more. Overall a solid movie and a fun trilogy from start to finish.
Third one is better than the second, in my opinion. I’d go ahead and watch it.
The Borne Ultimatum is a 2 hour chase scene. Not worth your time, IMO.
Agree with Anthony and Louie – third is almost as good as the first, and miles better than the second.
Erik, Louie is saying don’t bother. That’s two for and one against. I need more input! I feel like Johnny 5…
Ultimatum in my opinion is the best of the three. Sure, it’s mostly about the pace and it’s a thrill ride, but director Greengrass certainly made up for the lacklustre second installment. Unequivocally better than part two, at the very least.
I was disappointed by the ending of the third film – totally unsurprising. The first film disappointed me too – an amnesia story with no real twist. What was the point?
I liked #3 better than #2 but not as well as #1.
#3 is definitely worth catching. The ending is a bit ho-hum, but the rest of the movie rules.
“Ultimatum” is actually dovetails with “Supremacy”, so you should definitely check it out. It’s like two halves of one long film. The standalone “Identity” is still the best of the lot, simply because it can only be new once, and because the excellent Potente has palpable chemistry with Damon. The series suffers from her lack once she’s out of the story. Limon takes more time with his characters as well, and it pays off. Still, watch “Ultimatum” because it deserved the Oscars it won. Greengrass’ editing can be unfocused in Supremacy (the fight with Martin Csokas comes to mind), but with Ultimatum, he’s at the top of his kinetic game. The Waterloo sequence is a tour de force, on several levels.
Ultimatum is the best of three IMHO. Stop by and borrow the third tonight if you want, its free rentals, you can’t beat it.
Give it a whirl. I *was* pleasantly surprised at how good it was; I expected it to be a dud after watching Supremacy, but it’s really only a half-step down from Identity.
Great timing. I just watched Ultimatum this weekend. (On regular DVD instead of Blu-ray. Boo!) I went into Ultimatum with very low expectations. They were exceeded.
There was a more developed story than in the second installment but, to be fair, that’s not saying a whole lot given how anemic the second movie was in that regard. Bourne himself is still a mystery to me, but I thought they did a good job developing the rest of the cast. (Good for an action flick, anyway.)
There were a few odd story moments that felt tacked on, like a scene with the girlfriend’s brother, but I thought the entire movie was very well put together. Cinematography, in particular, was fantastic. As in the first movie the camera work really accentuates the action and sucks you in.
As for it being a 2 hour car chase… yeah, so? 🙂 There are some great chases. The extended scene in NY rates way up there with Bullit, in my opinion.
Definitely one to watch!
It’s a no-brainer… they’re all amazing, IMO!
If I had to rank them though, it would be as follows:
(1) Identity
(2) Ultimatum
(3) Supremacy
So definitely check out the third installment–it’s a thrill ride for sure.
The funny thing is that they’re actually better than the books. Alright alright, the first book was good, but like Orson Scott Card’s books, they went down hill fast.