Saw it this afternoon and it was pretty darn good. Better than the second and as good as the first IMHO. I don't know what Hollywood's been on lately but they should keep it up becasue this summer has had some the best movies I've seen in a while.
For the most part, I thought this movie was fairly realisitic, in regards to effects and whatnot that is. I don't really have any nits in mind at the moment but I do have a question for anybody who has read the novelizations. The part Julia Stiles plays, Nikki I believe, she talks to Bourne in this movie like they had a prior romantic relationship; can anybody confirm or deny this? The part I'm referring to goes something like "It was always hard for me... with you. You really don't remember do you?"
OK, so, like, what's the DEAL with this, like, this-movie-was-like-a-book thing? Seriously, I feel, like, SO pressured to learn how to READ! Like I have, like, TIME for READING in jail and rehab!- Paris Hilton to Lindsay Lohan
Good flick. Didn't read the books. The first 2 in the series didn't really grab me. But this was a good action flick. Julia Stiles was really freakin' hot in this movie, at least until she hacked her hair and dyed it.
The fight scene between Bourne and Desh in the apartment was a wonderful display of how real operatives are trained to use everything and anything as a weapon. Bourne's use of a towel to fend off Desh's razor, and ultimately killing Desh with the towel, was a terrific example of combat improvization.
The scene involving the control center in New York choreographing the field operations through the use of video cameras and phones is total fiction. The field operatives would be given mission parameters and told to do the job. They would have total control over what to do to achieve the goal and be able to improvise whenever needed, and never be led around like puppets as these guys were.
I actually laughed out loud when I saw the bad/good guys enter the safe house with a video screen connected to a pistol. I think I ruined the moment for the guy sitting in front of me. The military is considering using video cameras and displays on rifles, but no real operative would ever hang a video screen off the side of a pistol- it would ruin his night vision, distract his sight-picture, and change the balance on the gun.
Bourne hotwires a newer Audi by yanking wires out from under the dash and starting the motor. Sorry, but this method of hotwiring is badly outdated. You can't start any cars built after 2003 that way anymore, unless they've had the anti-theft devices removed.
As Bourne backs the police car away from the officers in the gunfight, the flash of a bullet impact is seen on the hood/left fender just in front of the windshield. In the following scenes, the hood and left fender and clean and free of damage.
When Bourne is cornered on a side street by a black SUV, he throws the police car in reverse and backs hard into the right side of the black SUV, then drives away. It is highly unlikely that the 2005 Impala he was driving would have been driveable after that impact. The car actually appeared to stall after the impact.
When Noah Vosen answers Bourne's call on his cell phone, doesn't he notice on the cell phone display that the call is coming from his own office line?
In the flashbacks, I thought the CIA guy who recruited Bourne looked a lot like the actor who played General Stryker, who recruited Wolverine in X-Men 2. The end of the movie showed me that these were 2 different actors, but they sure have the same plot device.
Stuff we all know from countless movies, but still think will never happen to us:
- artificial intelligence will always turn against mankind.
- the underdog ball team will always win the big game because they have more heart. Especially if the pitcher/quarterback is in love with some woman in the stands.
- Klingons can't be trusted.
- messing with a soldier's memory to recruit him into a black operation will always result in the soldier returning to ruin the project.
I found out why the effects and whatnot seemed so realistic, there were no greenscreens or stuntmen. What you see is what you get and it made for some great action scenes.
Obi-Juan: Julia Stiles was really freakin' hot in this movie
Holy sh1t yeah! She's always been hot but I think it was the way her hair was cut and the streaks in it.
MJF: The scene involving the control center in New York choreographing the field operations through the use of video cameras and phones is total fiction.
While it is of course exaggerated, it's not total fiction. NSA, CIA, MI-6... can all tap into phone and video lines very quickly, assuming said lines aren't closed circuits. As far as controlling the operatives like puppets, it would depend on the op. A surveillance op maybe, somebody like Bourne or Desh, definately not.
MJF: I actually laughed out loud when I saw the bad/good guys enter the safe house with a video screen connected to a pistol.
I don't believe it was attached. The guy simply held it next to the pistol, like many people are trained to hold a flashlight today.
I saw this on Monday. It was really good. The two extended sequences--the one where Bourne is trying to guide the nervous reporter away from his pursuers via cell phone, and his attempt to get to Nikki Parsons before the other assassin does--were extremely suspenseful. A fire alarm went off in the mall where I was watching it shortly after that latter scene, forcing us to evacuate, and I noticed my heart was pounding as I walked outside.
Did anyone else notice that Brian Cox's character insists to Bourne at the end of the movie that Bourne volunteered for the programming that turned him into the assassin he is is the second time Cox has played a character that has said this to a former operative of his at the end of a movie? The first was to Wolverine at the end of X-Men 2.
And yeah, Julia Stiles is beautiful! 
Wasn't that Albert Finney and not Brian Cox (although they do look alike)?
Where?
The doctor at the end of the movie who 'brainwashed' Bourne in the flashbacks was Dr. Albert Hirsch played by Albert Finney; Brian Cox played Ward Abbot in the second movie as per IMDB, I don't think he was in this film at all. I presume it's the Hirsch character you're referring to who said Bourne volunteered for the program ala Wolverine.
Oh wow, I can't believe I mistook him for Cox. I never realized how much they look and sound alike.
This is a pretty picky nit, but oh well.
In the Bourne Supremacy, it's stated that it's been two years since the Bourne Identity, which matches when it was released. Ultimatum however happened at the same year as Supremacy because they had the same scene with Bourne talking to Pam.
At one point in Ultimatum, you can see documents showing Bourne's previous kills that Pam is looking at. There's a sheet showing the dictator that was killed in Identity, and the date of his death is 2002, which is when the first film was released.
2002 + 2 = 2004, which would then be the year of Bourne Supremacy and Ultimatum.
But when Nicky is on the laptop running anti-virus software, the year displayed is 2006. I understand that software can come out a year ahead, but they released it two years in advance?