[RLacey]

The Bourne Ultimatum
I take a rather unfashionable view of the Bourne series, in that I think they're terribly overrated. The first one was a reasonable action film. The second one was a headache-inducing mess of wobbly camerawork.

And the third? Well, it's much better than the second (which I managed to enjoy despite the camerwork). It has a good plot - albeit one with a lousy pay-off - that tied up the loose ends nicely. It had some reasonable action sequences. But here's the thing. The terrible camera movements return (though I'll admit that they're back in toned-down form). Those action sequences would have been far more impressive if I'd been able to see more of what Bourne was doing. The wobbly camera does nothing except disconnect me from what's going on on-screen. It's not enjoyable, and it's not particularly impressive. Which is a shame, because some of the stunts were clearly quite audacious, but they just didn't have any impact on me.

I've probably made this film sound much worse than it is - and much worse than I actually thought it was, too. But every time I hear/read about this series being some kind of amazing Bond-beater, I find myself wondering why. Sure, it's fun, but it's also rendered a confusing mess by the directing, and it drags as a result. So next time (and there's bound to be a next time), can we have a film that does that storyline sufficient justice?

Rant over.