The reason why this is a first time watch for me in late August 2020 and I waited more than a year to see this after viewing The Bourne Identity? Everything bad I heard about “Paul Greengrass style” and each movie I've seen using that style (the Taken sequels-no surprise that all the cuts and edits used to show Liam Neeson hop a fence resulted in a popular Twitter .gif-Quantum of Solace, A Good Day to Die Hard, Mile 22) was hard to watch when it came to action, nevermind how bad those movies were in general. Finally, last night I took the plunge and... didn't hate the action!? 'Tis true. I did see Captain Phillips on the big screen and apparently it used that style... it was not even noticed by me, to be honest.
It's not my favorite way to shoot such beats yet the car chases were not impossible to comprehend and the other action (and even the editing in general, which I know some have complained about also) was not a shaky blur or nauseating to view. Even a big fight in a house-the most egregious example-was not that incomprehensible to me. My opinion is a surprise to me considering how I feel about such matters as how Olivier Megaton shoots action. In hindsight it is foolish to not have viewed this sooner; this dovetails nicely w/ Identity so thank goodness I still remembered that rather well.
The plot was interesting as Jason Bourne learned more about his mysterious past as someone sets him up as a fall guy to hide dirty dealings. The story always intrigued and Joan Allen was a great addition; what a battle of wills between her and Brian Cox. There are also some nice dramatic moments. The high rating I give this reflects how Supremacy won't be docked points because of the negative impact I feel “Paul Greengrass style” has had on Hollywood and even DTV action... or how the Daniel Craig Bond movies became “heavily inspired” by this series. Of course I may be singing a different tune once I see Ultimatum but me not hating the movie was a giant relief.
Jesus Christ, that's Jason Bourne!
As I viewed Supremacy on Saturday night and it surpassed my expectations, there was no reason for me not to check out Ultimatum this past evening. Even with an implausible moment or two, my enjoyment of the first two sequels was about the same.
An important aspect was that the completion of Jason Bourne's journey to discover his past felt satisfying. It was nice to get answers to questions that were present since Identity-and the end result was not disappointing. Ultimatum had a new aspect in pervasive surveillance and the long-reaching tentacles of an agency being a dangerous obstacle for Bourne. A concern for me was if the action was “worse” for me aesthetically... much to my relief, I still did not hate it even if it is not my favorite. My favorite setpiece of the trilogy was in Tangiers, Morocco; most for the foreign locations in the trilogy was in Europe and they were all nice to visit.
The returning cast of characters were nice to see again, along with the new faces; it's nice to see the likes of Scott Glenn and Albert Finney, although David Strathairn as a big villain got the most time and was great as a real jerk. Another aspect I thought was great was the electronic score through all three movies. While I am a fool for not seeing these movies years ago, at least that has been rectified and the negative assumptions I had over the franchise's unfortunate impact on Hollywood can be forgotten. Hopefully one day that style in general will disappear as I'll never like the imitators but these movies are worthwhile.
It may be years down the road but I imagine that eventually both The Bourne Legacy and Jason Bourne will be viewed; there is knowledge known by me that both have received mixed reviews and the latter had a bad version of Paul Greengrass style... from Greengrass himself.
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