Bourne returns for third hit

The summer box office was littered with third installments of immensely popular series: Spider-Man slung more webs, Shrek popped more cultures, Lee and Carter rushed more hours and pirates buckled more swashes. And though all of this swash-slinging culture-rushing was a huge commercial success, the actual films were usually the weakest of their franchises.

But then there are those sequels that do stand up, sometimes even taller than their originals. These films improve on the formula that hooked audiences in the beginning. The Bourne Ultimatum is such a film.

Jason Bourne (Matt Damon), like the rest of the aforementioned characters, is not new to the big screen. In 2002, we watched Bourne evade assassins while he desperately tried to remember his identity in Doug Liman's appropriately titled The Bourne Identity.

In 2004, we saw a style change thanks to Paul Greengrass's grittier direction of The Bourne Supremacy, a film where our amnesia-afflicted protagonist is framed for a CIA operation gone awry.

And now Jason returns in The Bourne Ultimatum as one of the few action heroes that are still worth watching.First things first, Ultimatum is undoubtedly the best in the series.

While the other two films both contained strong elements, such as Identity's intriguing story and Supremacy's direction, Ultimatum manages to combine these two things to create a summer blockbuster that is action packed while still being interesting and smart.

Ultimatum surprisingly enough does not start where Supremacy left off, but instead goes back to help fill in some of the details we were left wondering about. The story is of typical Bourne fashion and contains what we have come to expect and hope for as viewers. The CIA decides to keep pursuing Bourne after determining that he is still a threat. Meanwhile, we hear news of some secret operation known as Blackbriar. And naturally, Bourne is still having trouble with that memory of his, but he's determined to find the truth.

Speaking of amnesia, I had forgotten how convincing Damon is as Bourne. Damon's character is not constantly being driven by dialogue, so his performance is based heavily on his movement and expressions, and he succeeds at being extremely believable.

Another standout performance is David Strathairn's role as fanatical CIA Deputy Director Noah Vosen. Strathairn presents to us a character that is truly frightening to watch as he obsessively pursues Bourne.

The only distracting member of the cast is Joan Allen, who returns to her role as Pamela Landy. Allen's lines often feel forced (as I felt they did in Supremacy), and she seems to remove the intensity and urgency of the scene when she is onscreen.

Where intensity is consistently gained is in John Powell's score. The deep string orchestration combined with warlike drums works well with all of the running, driving, shooting and more running.

But oddly enough, the real hero of the film is not Bourne; it's Director Paul Greengrass. Together with Cinematographer Oliver Wood, Greengrass has put together some of the most exciting action scenes since, well, probably Supremacy. Everything about the way the scenes play out feels so natural.

The shaky camera style has started becoming more popular in action movies of late, but no one seems to be doing it as well as Greengrass. While others might make it distracting and confusing, Greengrass gives the style urgency. In The Bourne Supremacy, Greengrass used this style to give the film an immense sense of realism while avoiding looking gimmicky. He did the same thing in United 93 and received the same results. He does it again here with The Bourne Ultimatum, and the style feels just as fresh.

So although most of the sequels this summer may not have lived up to the expectations set by their previous episodes, you can sit in a theater and watch comfortably knowing that one did not succumb to such disappointing ways. Along with Hot Fuzz, The Bourne Ultimatum is the best action movie of the summer, if not the year, if not more.