The Bourne Ultimatum: Critic Reviews

The Bourne Ultimatum is a spectacular windup toy of a thriller -- a contraption made by an artist.

For Jason Bourne, who rises and rises again in this fantastically kinetic, propulsive film, resurrection is the name of the game, just as it is for franchises.

Our hero is the ferocious but amnesiac CIA tough guy Jason Bourne played by Matt Damon, the contours of whose rock-hard pecs are traced by his drum-tight T-shirt. It's the role that turned this moon-faced boy into a man.

His [Greengrass'] masterful direction of The Bourne Ultimatum makes this third installment unequivocally the summer's best 'threequel.' It also is easily the best action thriller of the year.

It's frenetic to the point of crazy while achieving a mark that barely exceeds mediocre.

The Bourne series makes for an unusual action franchise. All the movies are exhilarating, including the third installment, The Bourne Ultimatum, which opens tonight and leaves a bruise.

[Ultimatum] flips the standard conspiracy thriller on its head. Greengrass gets there so deftly it's enough to make yours spin.

Bursts with so much amped-up energy, you may need to rest once it's finally done.

I must have breathed during The Bourne Ultimatum because I didn't pass out in my seat -- but I'm sure those were bruises on my throat. Gripping? Yes.

The Bourne Ultimatum leaps, scampers, scraps and drives its way into the pantheon of all-time great action movies.

The first by Doug Liman was best, but the second and third by Greengrass come close because of a strict consistency in tone and talent.

Fans of 24 will be amazed to find a hero who makes Jack Bauer seem like a study in sissydom.

The material is formulaic, but, of all the current action franchises, this one is the most enjoyable.

Ultimatum is a tribute to Bourne's determination, his driving skills, his intelligence in out-thinking his masters and especially his good luck.

A hell of a show.

Paul Greengrass has to keep it moving all the time, putting Matt Damon through endless car and foot chases and taking to a dizzying extreme his signature style of handheld camera, lurching zooms, whiplash pans, and second-to-second editing.

This is a film about momentum, gravity, trajectory. It's a physics lesson wrapped up in an espionage thriller, and when director Greengrass yells 'Action!' he means it.

Here's hoping Damon is Bourne again.

Insistent, ingenious and slammed full of five heart attacks worth of action, The Bourne Ultimatum may be the best conspiracy action-thriller ever made, a beautifully crafted mix of mayhem, well-earned paranoia and unlikely introspection.

Damon, however, is perfect. He doesn't say a lot, but he's able to suggest the turmoil and mistrust of a man with no memory.

A knockout roller-coaster ride custom-made for adrenaline junkies, it's easily the savviest and most satisfying spy movie in years, besting both of its preceding Bournes -- Identity and Supremacy.

The third and purportedly final installment in the mountingly exciting series is a pounding, pulsating thriller that provides an almost constant adrenaline surge for nearly two hours.

Not only far and away this summer's best three-peat, it's a pulse-pounding peak to Matt Damon's spy trilogy.

This adrenaline-charged, bullet-riddled sprint from Moscow to New York is the best of the Bourne films, a politically-charged actioner with chases, brawls, shootouts and dry wit that never relies on one-liners.

While Ultimatum may be the lesser of the three Jason Bourne movies, it is only so because the bar set by its predecessors was so uncommonly high.