The Bourne Ultimatum

The verdict: A cracking actioner, requiring just the right amount of suspension of disbelief. The Bourne Ultimatum is that rarest of movie entities: a third instalment that improves on the previous two.

The rating: 8/10

The third instalment of the Bourne trilogy trundles along at such a confident, relentless pace, it would almost be easy to dismiss it as a solid action movie... you know, good popcorn entertainment. Well, I'm happy not to describe Ultimatum only in those terms, simply because it provides an absolutely top night at the flicks.

Be prepared though folks, because this movie is a tale of perpetual motion, right from the off. From the amnesiac hero at it's centre, on the run from the CIA and the NSA, to the hand-held camera style favoured by the movie's director, the now surely A-list Paul Greengrass, everbody in this movie is in a hurry to get about their business. Right from the opening scenes, which pick up as the second movie ended, there is an atmosphere of little time to waste: the dialogue comes thick and fast, and the action, set almost in real time pace, is smart, realistic and adrenaline-fuelled.

This movie follows a similar template to the previous instalment: Bourne is trying to re-discover his identity while being pursued by the CIA, who use cutting edge technology to try and catch up with him before he uncovers a number of dark secrets that their top brass would prefer to keep buried. While Bourne jets from one exotic location to the next, the CIA agents pace up and down in ultra-modern offices, using any means necessary to try and dispose of him, and getting quite irritated with each other as they continually fail to do so. Meanwhile, Bourne must follow a lukewarm trail of limited information from one life-threatening situation to the next, and keep literally just one step ahead of his pursuers all the while.

Matt Damon is convincing, and David Srathairn is excellent as the morally questionable chief investigator. Joan Allen reprises her role as chief pacer in the office, and does have a little more to do in this instalment, but the real star of the movie is the action. The set-pieces never feel overly contrived, as they are all deceptively simple. A few car chases, a chase on foot across rooftops in Tangier, a sniper in Waterloo station, every set-piece is filled with tension, close shaves, and unexpected twists, leaving the audience with just enough time to gasp before the next moment of high drama erupts onto the screen.

The soundtrack pulses with just the right amount of intensity when building tension, but daringly, many of the action sequences occur without any musical backing. When Bourne is fighting hand-to hand, we hear every swipe, every grunt of pain, and every bone crunching hit. When Bourne is in mobile pursuit, we hear tyres screeching, sirens wailing, glass smashing, and shouts of passers by. Overall, the sound in this Bourne movie really is second to none, and heightens the impact of the action scenes.

The dialogue is terse and urgent, and as with the action, there is little waste, with everything happening at real pace. However, there is some depth below the surface in the exchanges we see on screen, with the high-powered executive banter in particular displaying a real wit that you're unlikely to see in many actioners. A moment that sticks in my mind is when David Strathairn's character lambasts Joan Allen for criticising real-time judgements from an armchair, and I interpreted this almost as a challenge from the screen writers to the audience, as if they were saying, go on then, what would you do differently in this situation? Because Bourne generally stays one step ahead, and also because of the pace of the action, we never get the opportunity to poke holes in his decisions, and this is a major strength of the movie.

There are no cheesy one-liners, arched eyebrows, invisible cars or signature theme tune here (unless you count that Moby song.. which I don't). Bourne gets hurt and is regularly in mortal danger, but when he has to fight, he can fight. When he needs to drive, he's as comfortable on a scrambler as in a cop car. He capably speaks foreign languages, he knows how to lose a tail and he uses pay as you go mobile phones to avoid surveillance. Nothing in Bourne is beyond the boundaries of possibility, and that's what pulls you into wanting him to win out in the end.

If this movie is overlooked for Oscar next year, it will be a real crime. Direction, sound and script are top notch here and are the definite stars of the piece. Damon, too though, is understated and quietly effective in the lead role, and Strathairn and Allen have a very watchable sparring relationship, with a real undercurrent of tension (thankfully not of the Unresolved Sexual type).

What more can I say folks, go see it, you'll have a blast. You'll need a little suspension of disbelief, but not much, and for a movie that asks for so little, it delivers in spadeloads. I'm not sure if I want them to make a 'Bourne IV' (the door is left wiide open), but as long as Paul Greengrass continues to make movies of anything approaching this quality, then I'm going to be very happy to keep watching.

The Bourne Supremacy

The verdict: Gritty, action-packed and, unbelievably, it's believable! Bond should look to Bourne for ideas, because this is what a spy thriller should be. Roll on Bourne 3!

The rating: 7/10

I don't know, there just seemed to be no end of fuss and hype about 'Casino Royale'. Fair enough, Daniel Craig delivered a great performance as Bond, and the script and action were the best we've seen from the franchise in years, but when you watch 'The Bourne Supremacy', you begin to realise the failings of the british franchise. The problem with Bond, as Daniel Craig found out so viscerally, is all the bloody baggage that comes with it. Everybody has expectations of who Bond should be, what he should say, what fecking car he should drive.. For film-makers to take on the Bond franchise, they have the weight of expectation around this larger than life character that has an off-screen identity all his own.

Bourne has no such baggage. The first movie was a pacy actioner in which Jason Bourne (Matt Damon) awakes from a spell of amnesia to find that he's a highly trained super-spy, and his life is in danger. Instantly, the rules of the game become fluid. We aren't sure what to expect from Bourne because he doesn't know what's going to happen next himself.

The first movie, with its understated and dangerous hero, managed to relaunch the flagging career of Matt Damon, and luckily there were two more Robert Ludlum books to mine for sequel material. Now, of course we have the franchise, with the third movie 'The Bourne Ultimatum' due out this summer, and featuring Paddy Considine in a lead role, good work, fella!

In an inspired piece of delegation for this, the second episode, the reins were handed to United 93's helmsman Paul Greengrass, and this has injected a dose of grittier, more realistic action to proceedings. Bourne has no catchphrase, and there are no invisible cars on show in this spy thriller.

Right from the opening moments, 'The Bourne Supremacy' sets the ball rolling for a fraught, tense and realistic thriller that is definitely worth the admission price. Greengrass brings an immediacy to proceedings, and the action moves at a real-time pace, with Bourne literally living moment to moment, but always a pace or two ahead of his pursuers.

The supporting cast adds the required level of gravitas to proceedings, with Brian Cox delivering a pretty good turn as the veteran of operation Treadstone, Bourne's training mission. Julia Stiles also shows up, and has a nice few scenes with Damon, where she genuinely looks like she's fearing for her life. Bless.

Crucial to your enjoyment of a movie like this though, is whether you can believe what's unfolding in front of you. To his credit, Greengrass manages the pace of the action very well, and although at times events happen very quickly, the movie never gets ahead of itself. When gadgets are employed, they are sufficiently low-tech in appearance, portable, and conspicuously free of brand names to make them look like they might actually do what Bourne is trying to make them do. One criticism might be that even in the quieter moments of the movie, his characteristic jerky hand-held camera style seems a little at odds with what's happening on screen, but this is a small quibble compared to the positives.

Damon is convincing as the amnesiac hero, and has sufficiently increased in bulk to make you believe he's hold his own in a ruck with a russian mole, or whatever. As I said previously though, Greengrass has foregone the dry cool wit of the action hero, so Damon has no killer line to speak of, of the "Bourne, Jason Bourne" variety. (How about: "I'm Bourne. You're dead." Eh? ... No?... - Ed).. However, given the situations he's dealing with, you'd forgive him for not having the time to throw a witty remark over his shoulder..

I have to say, I was impressed with this one, and am now really looking forward to the third instalment, which will also be direted by Greengrass. In any case, this one is well worth a look on Dvd if you missed it in the flicks...

The Departed

When Steve McClaren took over as England football manager recently, he informed the press that he would adopt a different management style to his predecessor, the notorious Sven Goran Ericsson. He would go to the players clubs, he promised, and talk to their respective managers there, with the intention of discovering how the players were managed day to day. McClaren's objective was to replicate the working conditions the players enjoyed at club level, and hopefully, therefore, transfer their club success to the England team. This interesting approach should allow the star players to play to their strengths in the England team, in roles they were used to playing. Also McClaren's approach would mean the players could get the kind of direction that they enjoyed at their clubs, the kind of direction that produced success at club level.

Supplant Martin Scorcese for Steve McClaren for a moment. Now lets have Jack Nicholson in nets, DiCaprio and Damon up front. Wahlberg, Winstone and Anderson in midfield. M. Sheen and A. Baldwin anchor the centre of defence (experience adds half a yard of pace after all) and a couple of familiar character actors at left and right-back.

With The Departed, Martin Scorcese has heeded the rhetoric of McClaren. Team Departed is a force to be reckoned with for many reasons, but mainly because all the leading players are working to their strengths, doing what they do best, and effortlessly demonstrating to us why they are at the top of their game.

The Aviator whetted my appetite for The Departed, so much so I feared I would be disappointed (the Lucas Principle at work again). I was not. Scorcese had earnestly promised a move away from the Oscar-chasing of 'Gangs of New York' and 'The Aviator', back towards the material he knows best: City Streets, killer soundtracks, gangsters, and groups of guys betraying each other. Back to basics then, which should be music to the ears of fans of 'Goodfellas' and 'Casino'.

Even established Hollywood actors must get a thrill when Martin Scorcese rings to offer them a part in his latest offering, much the same as a club player getting the nod for his country. Not that Leonardo DiCaprio's casting was ever in any doubt after his career-best turn (in my book) in Scorcese's last run-out 'The Aviator'. But I can imagine Martin Sheen, Alec Baldwin and yes, even Jack himself getting a little excited when Marty called and said "I'm thinking of you for a part in my new cop thriller. Going back to basics on this one, something more like Goodfellas, y'know?" ... what do you say to that!? It would appear that you say 'Yes' for a start, as the super heavyweight cast of the Departed ably demonstrates.

Scorcese is not just a man with a big reputation though, he's also one of the few Hollywood directors capable of reaching a mass audience while also delivering real quality.. some manage to do one of those two things, but few are capable of both.

The Departed is a remake of a Hong Kong actioner called 'Infernal Affairs', and the source material gives the team plenty to work with. DiCaprio is excellent as the undercover cop struggling to make an impression with his suspicious colleagues, and new boss Jack Nicholson. What can you say about Jack that hasn't already been said? He annihilates the screen, and even the Boston accent can't hold him back. Matt Damon is the Jack's plant in the police force, rising steadily through the ranks of Boston's finest, while secretly on Jack's payroll all the time.

The three leads all give great performances, with Matt Damon surprisingly good in a role that's possibly darker than anything he's tackled previously. The supporting cast though.. where do you start?! Martin Sheen is quietly authoritative, while Alec Baldwin is walking testosterone, harking back to his Glengarry Glenross turn in many moments here. Mark Wahlberg, too, is on top form, and this may be the first role since 'Boogie Nights' that he has really engaged with, his character has some of the best lines, and he has a good repartee with Alec Baldwin in particular.

Scorcese definitely had fun making 'The Departed', and though you may be forgiven for forgetting it, all his best movies have comic moments, and The Departed is no different. The dialogue crackles and there are more than a couple of big laughs in here. Given that the principal characters are either Boston Cops or Boston gangsters, the one-liners are sharp, funny and not at all out of place.

However, at it's core, the movie is a dark, tightly crafted, twisting thriller that propels you towards its inevitable bloody climax in a manner as sure-footed and fleet of foot as you would expect from Scorcese.

If The Departed was a football team, it would win world cups. As a film, it may yet win Scorcese his oscar.

Verdict: just go see it, ya mook.
Rating: 9/10