Empire’s 30th Anniversary – The One That Got Away: The Bourne Ultimatum

The Bourne Ultimatum

by James Dyer |
Published on

For our 30th Anniversary Special Edition issue, we picked the 30 films from the last 30 years that have defined Empire’s lifetime, but some favourites didn’t quite make the cut. James Dyer argues the case for The Bourne Ultimatum.

Far be it from me to throw shade at the Coens but No Country For Old Men has no business squatting on the 2007 edition of our 30th anniversary cover. Which is not to denigrate the film – I love a coin-flipping sociopath as much as the next person – but 2007 was also the year of The Bourne Ultimatum and any list of seminal movies in Empire’s lifetime that doesn’t include Jason Bourne is no list at all.

The Bourne Ultimatum

While Doug Liman knocked The Bourne Identity out of the park in 2002 — his dramatic  bursts of kinetic violence making an instant action star out of Good Will Hunting’s baby-faced lead Matt Damon — it wasn’t until Paul Greengrass took over with 2004’s The Bourne Supremacy that the franchise came into its own. Bringing with him an eye for verisimilitude and a documentary aesthetic, he abandoned Liman’s wide, establishing shots for handheld, in-your-face close-ups, granting Ludlum’s amnesiac spy a hyper-caffeinated, frenetic energy that crackled across the screen.

Am I suggesting Supremacy for 2004, though? No. Not least of all because that would unseat Shaun Of The Dead (unconscionable) but more than that because, while Supremacy made for a delightfully chewy starter, Ultimatum arrived as a Sunday roast with all the trimmings. Having cut his teeth with the second film, Greengrass went to town with part three, cramming in two metal-warping car chases, a frantic rooftop parkour pursuit and a visceral, nauseating (some audience members actually vomited from motion sickness) fist fight in which Matt Damon beats the shit out of an assassin with a hardback book.

Rather than a high concept action odyssey, Ultimatum is one of introspection and self-discovery, the journey of a man exploring his own fractured psyche and forgotten past. Combined with Greengrass’ rapid cut, full-on shooting style, the result is a film that you don’t so much watch as feel; the emotional connection to every scene is incredibly powerful, made more so by the fact that the camera rarely allows enough distance to disconnect. The average shot length in The Bourne Ultimatum is two seconds. Two. In the fight with Desh, edits come so fast it’s almost impossible to follow the sequence of events with your conscious mind, leaving only an emotional impression of feral yet technical violence and your lizard brain working frantically in the background to fill in all the details.

Bourne's influence can be felt in everything from Taken to Nolan's Batman films.

In both style and substance, Bourne fundamentally altered the topography of action cinema — choppy chaos replacing objective clarity as the combat currency of choice. Bourne’s influence can be felt in everything from Taken to The Expendables, Nolan’s Batman films and even World War Z. Most tellingly, though, there would also be no James Bond as we currently know him. Daniel Craig’s 007 was a direct response to Jason Bourne and Martin Campbell’s soft reboot of the series with Casino Royale is taken straight from the Greengrass playbook. Sure, Bourne is also responsible for the fifteen-shot sequence of Liam Neeson climbing over a fence in Taken 3, but you can’t have everything.

The Coens succeeded in making an amoral masterpiece with impeccable craftsmanship and lathered in suffocating nihilism, but The Bourne Ultimatum is, for me, the release of 2007 — memorable, influential and a film that’s as primal in its brutality as it is thoughtful in its personal exploration. Also, heads or tails, Bourne would send Anton Chigurgh home in a box — and he’d only need a paperback to do it.

Read Empire's list of the 30 films that define the last 30 years.

READ MORE: The One That Got Away – Schindler’s List

READ MORE: The One That Got Away – Star Wars: The Force Awakens

READ MORE: The One That Got Away – True Romance

READ MORE: The One That Got Away – Children Of Men

Gallery

Empire's 30th Anniversary Edition Covers

Empire's 30th Anniversary Edition Covers – Batman1 of 30

#1 – Batman (Tim Burton, 1989)

Empire's 30th Anniversary Edition Covers – Goodfellas2 of 30

#2 – Goodfellas (Martin Scorsese, 1990)

Empire's 30th Anniversary Edition Covers – Terminator 2: Judgment Day3 of 30

#3 – Terminator 2: Judgment Day (James Cameron, 1991)

Empire's 30th Anniversary Edition Covers – Reservoir Dogs4 of 30

#4 – Reservoir Dogs

Empire's 30th Anniversary Edition Covers – Jurassic Park5 of 30

#5 – Jurassic Park (Steven Spielberg, 1993)

Empire's 30th Anniversary Edition Covers – The Shawshank Redemption6 of 30

#6 – The Shawshank Redemption (Frank Darabont, 1994)

Empire's 30th Anniversary Edition Covers – Toy Story7 of 30

#7 – Toy Story (John Lasseter, 1995)

Empire's 30th Anniversary Edition Covers u20138 of 30

#8 – Scream (Wes Craven, 1996)

Empire's 30th Anniversary Edition Covers – Titanic9 of 30

#9 – Titanic (James Cameron, 1997)

Empire's 30th Anniversary Edition Covers – Blade10 of 30

#10 – Blade (Stephen Norrington, 1998)

Empire's 30th Anniversary Edition Covers – The Matrix11 of 30

#11 – The Matrix (The Wachowskis, 1999)

Empire's 30th Anniversary Edition Covers – American Psycho12 of 30

#12 – American Psycho

Empire's 30th Anniversary Edition Covers – Lord Of The Rings: The Fellowship Of The Ring13 of 30

#13 – The Lord Of The Rings: The Fellowship Of The Ring (Peter Jackson, 2001)

Empire's 30th Anniversary Edition Covers – Spirited Away14 of 30

#14 – Spirited Away

Empire's 30th Anniversary Edition Covers – Lost In Translation15 of 30

#15 – Lost In Translation (Sofia Coppola, 2003)

Empire's 30th Anniversary Edition Covers – Shaun Of The Dead16 of 30

#16 – Shaun Of The Dead (Edgar Wright, 2004)

Empire's 30th Anniversary Edition Covers – Brokeback Mountain17 of 30

#17 – Brokeback Mountain (Ang Lee, 2005)

Empire's 30th Anniversary Edition Covers – Pan's Labyrinth18 of 30

#18 – Pan's Labyrinth (Guillermo del Toro, 2006)

Empire's 30th Anniversary Edition Covers – No Country For Old Men19 of 30

#19 – No Country For Old Men (The Coen Brothers, 2007)

Empire's 30th Anniversary Edition Covers – The Dark Knight20 of 30

#20 – The Dark Knight (Christopher Nolan, 2008)

Empire's 30th Anniversary Edition Covers – Avatar21 of 30

#21 – Avatar (James Cameron, 2009)

Empire's 30th Anniversary Edition Covers – Inception22 of 30

#22 – Inception (Christopher Nolan, 2010)

Empire's 30th Anniversary Edition Covers – Bridesmaids23 of 30

#23 – Bridesmaids (Paul Feig, 2011)

Empire's 30th Anniversary Edition Covers – Avengers Assemble24 of 30

#24 – Avengers Assemble (Joss Whedon, 2012)

Empire's 30th Anniversary Edition Covers – Gravity25 of 30

#25 – Gravity (Alfonso Cuaron, 2013)

Empire's 30th Anniversary Edition Covers – Birdman26 of 30

#26 – Birdman (Alejandro González Iñárritu, 2014)

Empire's 30th Anniversary Edition Covers – Mad Max: Fury Road27 of 30

#27 – Mad Max: Fury Road (George Miller, 2015)

Empire's 30th Anniversary Edition Covers – Moonlight28 of 30

#28 – Moonlight (Barry Jenkins, 2016)

Empire's 30th Anniversary Edition Covers – Get Out29 of 30

#29 – Get Out (Jordan Peele, 2017)

Empire's 30th Anniversary Edition Covers – Black Panther30 of 30

#30 – Black Panther (Ryan Coogler, 2018)

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