I was supposed to go see this with 2 of my homeboys but one was on vacay and the other suddenly got a headache (sure he did). Yeah, the movie’s been out for a few weeks already but I’m just now getting around to seeing it. Saturday night, I watched the first two on dvd to get reacquainted with the story and characters. Once I had my fill of necessary knowledge, I was quite content going to see it by myself but I checked in with one of my homegirls and she was down. She brought her own batch of drama to the mix but I ain’t gonna bother gettin’ into all that. You know, “Gotta get dressed, take a shower, hair gel…” and bullshit like that. It’s a fucking movie, not a fucking 5-star restaurant! Geez.

We went (in her car since mine suddenly has a check engine light on that I’ll take care of this Friday) to the AMC theater in Altamonte this past Sunday. Lots of kids hang out there cuz there really ain’t shit happenin’ in Altamonte. Kinda pathetic actually. Hang out at a movie theater? You ain’t even gonna pay to see a fucking movie. You’re just loitering. Mind you, it was mostly all whiteys and spics that lean towards the white side. If it was niggers…oooooh shit! Great place to pick up hot, teenage girls though if you’re into that sort of thing. Plenty, and I mean plenty, of selection. Anyway…I paid for both of us (since she paid last time we went out). Got my student discount and her regular price ticket. Free popcorn and $1 Milk Duds since I’ve got 240 Moviewatcher points now! Yay! I agree, that was lame but I did it anyway. Fuck you.

We gave the wheelchair-addict attendant with a cop standing behind her our ticket. No, she didn’t point us in the direction of the theater it was playing in. Really didn’t expect anything less either. If there was ever an employer that doesn’t discriminate, any movie theater is that employer. I took my routine piss since I don’t like getting up during movies. Titanic started the trend. We went into theater 4 where it was playing and I’ll be damned if it wasn’t a packed house. I saw Transformers a few weeks after it opened and this motherfucker had three times as many people in it! Shit! I assumed the theater would be a little emptier. Make that a lot emptier. We had to sit in the damn floor seats and look up at the damn screen it was so packed. Not my favorite seating area, but it was what it was.

Lame previews you either know about already or don’t wanna hear about played, and 12 minutes after the advertised showtime (6:40p), the movie started. A 3 to 8 minute improvement over the usual. It doesn’t necessarily pick right up where the last one left off. That happens later on. We start out with a sequence that was in the second movie though. When he was in Russia. They provide a bit more exposition in this scene. Then they set up the plot for this movie. Obviously it involves Treadstone and it leads up to an excellent sequence of events where Bourne and a reporter that has some dirt on Treadstone try to evade the people pursuing them.

And that would be the U.S. government of course. Or should I say their operatives, similar to how things went down in the first movie. The sequence wasn’t short by any means. It was long, smart, great camera work, and highly intriguing. You really can’t and don’t want to blink when this takes place since everything mostly moves from outdoors and concludes inside of a crowded shopping mall. Even with all the people and extras involved with the scene movement and creation, I gotta hand it to 'em; They pulled it off.

If you’ve seen the first 2 parts, you know what Bourne’s motivation is. To find out what Treadstone is and who he was, and that’s really what this movie is about and ends up doing. He was a threat to the government then and he still is and that’s why they’re still on his ass. Bourne has managed to survive everything that’s been thrown at him and this won’t be any different. They’ve painted the picture of him being a super-agent so to speak, and you can expect him to live up to that hype. As the movie progresses, we see familiar faces in Joan Allen and Julia Stiles. Lots of flashback too.

After setting up the plot and main characters, Bourne is, as always, one step ahead and picks up clues about Treadstone which will lead him to the place that created him. He gets a huge clue in the next big scene but as mentioned before and like the other two movies, the government wants what he wants (in their case, to cover it up) and will stop at nothing to make sure he doesn’t get it. You just know he does. This particular next clue or lead, whatever you wanna call it, introduces Julia Stiles into the mix. And we all learn another use for something as simple as a fan. Now I don’t wanna go giving too much of the movie away but the scenes involving them lead up to a great suspense-filled phone call which set up a fight scene with Bourne and another operative.

This also happens to be the areas of the movie where I have an issue or two. When Stiles and Bourne are casually talking in a restaurant, she mentions how being a part of Treadstone was hard on her, especially since Bourne was involved. This meant to me that they had history before Treadstone created Bourne. That she knew who he was prior to that and they were close somehow. I’ll leave it up to you to decide what your interpretation of it is and what you think would/should happen from that statement.

The other issue is the camera work. In the fight scene, the operative that Bourne is fighting hits Stiles’ character. But did they have to show that same hit 3 times from 3 different angles before she fell to the floor? Since the sound effect played 3 times, you’d think she got hit 3 times if you’re the type that doesn’t know anything about the technique used. It was too Hong Kong action for me. Just that moment anyway. Throughout the movie, the director uses a ‘shaky’ cam during the fight scenes to add a layer of drama to it. Makes you feel like you’re actually there in the scene watching everything go down. I didn’t like it at first cuz I thought it was just a cheap trick to over-edit the scenes. You know, a punch from this angle. Another punch from another. Got tiring for a bit, but just a little bit, and then it grew on me.

The way Paul Greengrass did this was a little different from the norm as far as what I’ve seen. Rather than shooting all these different angles using quick shots. He uses the shaky cam for longer shots although they are shot at different angles at times. So let’s say Bourne and his opponent are in fisticuffs. It’s not gonna be like one punch>new camera angle. Next punch>another camera angle. Greengrass lets it play out from one angle for a longer period while the camera is shaking rapidly. And with that, he doesn’t play the audience for idiots either trying to use cheap edit tricks. If you liked the choreography of Under Siege where Steven Seagal and Tommy Lee Jones were fighting with the knives in the climax, there’s a similar scene here. Loved it. Even had a little gunkatta action goin’ on.

Another thing I liked was the fact that there was practically no dialogue during the entire intense scene which took place on the streets, rooftops, and inside residences. Good stuff.

But as you very well know, Bourne won again. Why do heroes always win? Why can’t the bad guy win for a change? That’s just me ranting. Forgot to mention there was a scene with Bourne and Stiles very reminiscent of a scene in the first part with Bourne and Franka Potente’s character right before they got to know each other very well. I think it was done on purpose but did or will anything develop from it? I’ll let you be the judge of that. Seems to me the writers left some things open. Kinda like Magneto right at the end of X3. Why do that unless you got some future plans, huh? Or maybe things’ll be explained with deleted scenes on the dvd. Hopefully that’s the case. Hollywood sure knows how to get our money on the back end, don’t they?

Bourne is closer and closer to his goal. By the movie posters above, you know he’s back in the States. This is where we pick up exactly where the second movie left off: with Bourne and Joan Allen’s character talking on the phone. The government isn’t happy about this at all and does whatever they need to do to try and stop him. You get the indication that Joan Allen is a benevolent player in all this. Keep that in mind. The government faction that’s trying to take down Bourne is doing it for a reason this time around. More so than previous. If he succeeds, lots of high-powered people are gonna fall. Kinda like in the second part.

Bourne is now in the city. Another operative, along with government agents, are on his ass right on the streets of New York as he’s managed to accomplish part of the goal that brought him there in the first place. That involves Joan Allen whose character gains important info that directly affects Bourne and the ending. Now he has all the info he needs to fulfill his destiny. We get a chase scene here, on foot and by car. Just like the first two movies but in a much more action-filled and suspenseful manner. Probably because this is the last part and you really, really wanna know what’s gonna happen. Pretty obviously, you know he’s gonna confront his creators. The scene provides a great deal of exposition for Bourne and moviegoers who’ve followed the trilogy. At this point, the movie is almost over. But it’s not gonna end on a low note. There’s more drama and suspense and we’re left with an open ending albeit for a very brief period.

Remember the second part in the car chase scene in the tunnel. Both vehicles crashed but naturally Bourne was okay. He showed mercy then. A similar scene happens in this one too but the decision this time affects the ending. Like so many parts in this movie, you wonder what’s gonna happen. You just really wanna know. I’ve said that so many times but I mean it when I say it. You get the answers and you leave the movie theater very satisfied. Money well spent and the ending was one of the best I’ve ever seen. You know how some movies don’t end properly? You get all that great stuff at the beginning and middle but the end just sucks? Well that didn’t happen here. The denouement was very well written. Left a smile on my face just like the character on the screen right at the end. Like Christian Bale’s in Equilibrium. You get that same feeling. Unlike that movie which got a round of applause when it was over, this didn’t. And I really felt like doing it. Now I feel that I should have because I got my money’s worth. I was entertained the way a movie is supposed to do. Well, here’s my silent round of applause in spirit. Better than nothing.

Overall, I give this movie 9.5 out of 10 stars and you know it had to be a hell of a movie to get that kind of rating from me cuz I’m not easily impressed. The writers, producers, and director did an excellent job wrapping up this trilogy. The writers were on board for all 3 films. The director did this and the last movie. But this one was just so damn good. It just blew both of the previous films out of the water. It really did. They stepped it way up for this one. In writing, directing, characterizations, and camera work. Has that same international flavor, smartly written, appropriate musical score, and cinematography was the same high quality. Thanks for the ride. The acting was believable and casting was great too. You had Chris Cooper as the protagonist in the first, Brian Cox in the second, and David Strathairn for this one. Excellent work all around.

A couple of asides: even though it was a packed house, nobody and no cell phones made a peep. It was dead silent for the whole movie. Don't know if that means AMC customers are well-trained or if Altamonte residents are. Either way, I ain't complaining at all. And don't bother sticking around after the credits to see if anything happens. You'll just be wasting your time like I did. Unless you or someone you know helped make the movie and you wanna see yours or their name onscreen for date bragging rights. Other than that, don't bother. Credits weren't even done and people still sittin' down and shit and the ushers were already up in there cleaning house. Talk about expedience. Bet they was like, "Let's go ahead and get this done now so we can take a longer break."

But let’s not forget about Matt Damon. His character is the antagonist and the title character. He’s the reason we watch the movies. He’s the one we’re rooting for even though he’s a killer. Maybe you’ve heard these reports about him being Hollywood’s most bankable star. I can see some truth in that. I guess you could put him in the same class as Ian McKellen and Orlando Bloom as Kings of the Trilogies. They don’t cost nearly as much as bigger name stars but their movies far outgross their peers. So what’s next for Damon now that his biggest character and money-maker (along with the Ocean’s trilogy) is being laid to rest? Guess we’ll just have to wait and see. But you don’t have to wait to see this movie. If you’re reading this, you’ve seen and liked the first two, you’ve got time and money and a decent theater around the corner playing this at a convenient time, go see it. A worthwhile movie doesn’t come along often. Finally, this is one of them.