[Bigfish]

My wife and I went to see The Bourne Ultimatum today.  We both thought it was a great movie and gave it 4 stars.  There is so much action you won't want to leave to visit the restroom or concession stand. 

Ken

[zybar]

My wife and I went to see The Bourne Ultimatum today.  We both thought it was a great movie and gave it 4 stars.  There is so much action you won't want to leave to visit the restroom or concession stand. 

Ken

Ken,

I saw this yesterday afternoon and really liked it a lot.   

It was tighter and leaner than the previous Bourne movie, which resulted in a movie that had lots of action, but kept moving.  It didn't feel like scenes were there for the sake of having one more car chase or gun fight.

Highly recommended if you like this type of film or enjoyed the previous Bourne films.

George

[Scott F.]

Very cool. My wife and I will probably go see it this evening. 

[Red Dragon Audio]

my wife and I saw it last night on one of the newer DLP theaters - great picture and loads of action sequences. 

  's up!

The ending leaves it open for Jason to be "Bourne Again" for part 4   

[jlupine]

A little dissent here:  my wife and I were pleasantly surprised by the first one, but disappointed in the next two.  In The Bourne Ultimatum, we quickly tired of the heavy-handed hand-held camera work and dizzying zooms.  Even with the relentless pace, it wasn't hard to stay a step or two ahead of David Strathairn.  With all the illogical plot elements, I'll just ask why automotive airbags didn't deploy.  We thought that the exact nature of the conspiracy, training, and illegality could have been better developed.  A personal pet peeve that may bother no one else:  Albert Finney should have been allowed to retain his British accent, or someone who could do a better American accent should have played the part.  2 out of 4 stars for us.

Jan   

[Scott F.]

.....we quickly tired of the heavy-handed hand-held camera work and dizzying zooms.

Jan, I have to agree.

We did enjoy the movie but unfortunately we got there a little late and got stuck in some less than optimal seats that were a bit too close to the screen. All of the jerky motion (that close) and endless zooms were rather irritating. Overall, not a bad movie. I'll probably add it to my DVD collection when it hits the stores.

[RAW]

We just got home from the show.
Well I had my family all ready as instructed.
Washroom breaks before the show, snacks full and ready.
Not a single time you could walk out for a break, action from the time the show starts till it ends.

Over all the camera angles we all thought were very well done, better than the normal views that you see in 99% of the action movies.

My 7 yr old loved it.Her comments that made people laugh out loud while we walked out
" that was awesome Dad can we get it as soon as it is out on DVD I want to see the camera angles again"
Why from her this well she is into her camera and making movies with her Bratz on her Canon SD700.

  well worth the money

[Nick B]

Overall, a good movie, but not as good as the hype. Agree with Jan and Scott. The handheld camera shakiness and zooms were too much. Can give you a headache or blurry eyes. The story line was good enough not to require one action sequence after another.

[Bemopti123]

Warning:  some minor spoiler and direct comment on the storyline of the movie follows!



I also noticed the jittery camera work, but most of the times wasn't it relegated to the scene where Bourne is remember what happened to him?  I think it was part of the story telling, by showing the audience how Bourne felt about what he truly could not be sure happened to him.

Yes, some of the scenes and pretexts were a tiny bit hyped up, but by judging the quality of the action movies that Hollywood produces now, the entire Bourne movie series is a cut above.  More than the action, how Nick stated, the story line is what truly shines. 

With Ultimatum, I felt that with excess of action scenes, even an extended dialogue, as what one of the characters had with Bourne made it feel like an eternity. 

To be honest, I cannot WAIT until the next Bourne comes out.  Matt Damon is one heck of an actor in all the Bourne movies.

[Bigfish]

Guys:

My wife just read that this film grossed $70.2 million this weekend, making it by far the best opening Bourne Movie of all time.  I started this post and I stand by my statement that this is a very entertaining movie.  I did not see a single person leave their seats in the theatre which is a good indication that things are happening very fast.

It is a must see if you like action movies.  Sure there are some quirks but name me an action packed movie which does not have some questionable scenes.  All in all you will not leave the theater disappointed!

Ken

[goldlizsts]

A little dissent here:  my wife and I were pleasantly surprised by the first one, but disappointed in the next two.  In The Bourne Ultimatum, we quickly tired of the heavy-handed hand-held camera work and dizzying zooms...........
Jan   

I totally agree with the shaky camera comments.  The shaky camera work was the way they chose to do it.  Probably saved them lots of dough not to do 2nd, or 3rd take.....  Bourne is now actually hotter than 007, a more superior hero.  Don't forget, this is Hollywood, don't challenge the logic to the plots.  Just be entertained.  I think 2 out of 4 stars is a little stingy.  I'd give it 3.5, with 4 being tops.  One should see some of the movies the critics give 3 stars for.  The constant action scenes keep one at the edge of the seat, that's what "Hollywood" Ultimatum is about!

[gitarretyp]

I enjoyed the film quite a bit but agree the frenetic camera work is a little much. The director uses it (along with single takes) to capture the mood and place the viewer more directly in the action/scene.  It works to a degree, but can draw the viewer out of the movie if not used with discretion.

[dorokusai]

I think this is one of the better franchise type movies to come out in awhile.

Mark

[slow_down]

I thought the shaky and quick-cutting camerawork was definitely challenging for the viewer, but ultimately a highly effective and thoroughly awesome way to capture the intensity and brutal pace of the hand to hand combat.  Someone on another message board commented that the way the fights were shot created a sort of visual barrage, pummeling the viewer with quick cuts, but still providing enough visual information and "flow" for the view to "enjoy the beating".  I completely agree.  The camerawork made me feel like I was in the room for those fights and almost a participant.  Completely badass!

That said, I can't imagine how someone could watch these scenes from the front row of the theater without throwing up or at least getting a little queasy

But man, these Bourne movies have set the bar for what current-day action thrillers should be like.  Perfection!

[RobC]

Me and my wife saw it on last Saturday and I have to agree with others that the jerky camera work really detracted from enjoying the action in this movie. WAY TOO MUCH MOTION!! I looked over at my poor wife and she had to turn her eyes away several times because it was making her head hurt.
The "Bourne Identity" was by far the best shot of of the trilogy because it allowed the viewer to actually see what was going on. Sadly, that was ruined by the poor cinematography employed in the second and third films (especially the third). Apparently the third movie was supposed to be done by someone who was the "best" at this particular technique but here was simply too much motion blur, changes in focus and depth, too much shadow and way too many quick cuts. This was reminiscent of some of the cheaply done documentaries you might see from a 9Th grade filmmakers class -very poorly done. I guess that director forgot to understand is that in real life, the focusing mechanism of the human eye really is "motion adaptive" and can compensate for action to bring a steady image to the brain to processing. By excessively employing this technique throughout the film, I believe it forced the viewers eyes and brain to work way too hard to make sense the details in the scenes that they were watching ultimately leading to viewer fatigue. I'll bet if you asked 100 moviegoers that sat through this film to describe in detail what they really saw, I'll bet that the majority of them would not be able to recall the details of what they had seen. I'll rate this one an A-minus for Plot and a D-minus for cinematography. Let's hope that Hollywood has the good sense to not employ this technique it future films.
The "Bourne" vehicle started out as a great adaptation of a Ludlum novel that degenerated into a shadow of it's former self. It could have been an "action movie classic". What a pity!

[slow_down]

To all those who found the camerawork in Bourne Ultimatum to hard to keep up with, I suggest another movie you might enjoy more:

http://imdb.com/title/tt0097239/

I kid!!!!  I respect and understand the criticism of the cinematography of the Bourne series - especially the second and third which were directed by Paul Greengrass - but respectfully submit that you guys are just plain wrong.  Unlike a Michael Bay or myriad other lowbrow action directors, I detect a real intelligence behind the camerawork in Greengrass's action sequences.  Sure, it's jarring, and you don't really have time to blink, but it makes for so much extra visceral impact and a feeling of being right over the shoulder of the guy in the room.

Not that I'll change anyone's mind, but I would just ask that you naysayers re-rent Bourne Supremacy and check out Ultimatum when it hits video (or see it again in the theater), because like all great art (and yes, an action thriller is a type of art), sometimes it takes additional viewings to become more comfortable with the conventions that the artist is working with.  There is real method to Greengrass's "shakycam madness" and many, many smart people agree that he is raising the bar for what action thrillers can be.  So give him another chance!!

[Cacophonix]

Agreed with the above post.

Supremacy and Ultimatum are amongst my top action movies. I hate the kind of movies Michael bay and Jerry bruckheimer make. The extent to which they dumb down movies is atrocious! Bourne series puts you right in the middle of action rather than distancing you from it. Just makes for more compelling viewing.

My thoughts.

[goldlizsts]

To all those who found the camerawork in Bourne Ultimatum to hard to keep up with, I suggest another movie you might enjoy more:

http://imdb.com/title/tt0097239/

I kid!!!!  I respect and understand the criticism of the cinematography of the Bourne series - especially the second and third which were directed by Paul Greengrass - but respectfully submit that you guys are just plain wrong.................................. 
 

It's like several years ago on "Newsweek on Air" on Sunday's public radio, one of the program's reporters usually read the news items like shooting AK47's.  I swear he's probably the fastest mouths in the news front.  I wrote a comment to them, and he slowed down, significantly, to a reasonable speed I would say.  The brain can take so much speed and adequately digest what's taken in at any given instant.  It has to synchronize with the ear somehow.  Supposedly there's an upper ceiling of how much a person can digest what's taken in.  Same would apply to the viewing situation perhaps.  If anyone can follow the fast action, that's fine.  The moviegoer is the ultimate person to judge how much he can take in and still feel he's enjoying it.  I woudl respect that observation.

[PhilNYC]

I agree with those who think the camera work was appropriate for this film.  The only issue I had was how they edited some of the fight scenes; I felt they made it too choppy (cutting from one angle to the next too fast), so it was hard to see what was happening in the fight.  I'm sure this was a combination of being purposeful as well as being limited by Matt Damon's stunt work...but it would have been more enjoyable to me if they let some of the cuts run a little bit.

Am not a fan of Michael Bay's work (although I did enjoy Transformers), but I actually enjoy the Bruckheimer stuff...!

[Plink]

I think Paul Greengrass is a terrific director.

For another stab at his fine work, try Blood Sunday:  http://imdb.com/title/tt0280491/.  He certainly is a master of this sort of moviemaking technique.

These Bourne movies are excellent and I think they only got better with Greengrass directing.

I think the scenes can be hard to follow but I don't think the point is for the audience to follow along with everything.  We miss things just as we would in real life.

On a similar level but much less intense, I always like Robert Altman's films.  He would often have multiple characters talking at the same time and it was always invigorating to try to hear everything or choose who you wanted to hear.