The Bourne Ultimatum is the third film and the second one to be directed by Paul Greengrass. Picking up where Supremacy left off, Bourne continues to evade the police in Russia after having crashed his and Kirill’s cars. He is now plagued with more memories of his past with Treadstone, revealing more leads to follow up on, on top of other unfinished business. Ultimatum was the culmination of everything Jason had been through up until that point, and every effort was made to stop him from completing his final mission.
Pamela Landy has gone to CIA Director Ezra Kramer (Scott Glenn) with the taped confession Jason extracted from Ward Abbott near the end of Supremacy. While Martin Marshall (Thomas Arana) was presented as her boss in Supremacy, Ezra Kramer is the Director here, authorizing her to continue her investigation as the CIA picks up momentum in its hunt for Bourne. However, we soon learn just how involved Kramer is in everything, with Pamela Landy and her immediate team none the wiser. While Tom Cronin (Tom Gallop) returns as Landy’s righthand, Michelle Monaghan’s character does not, as she was busy working on the third Mission Impossible film. In the thick of it is a new central antagonist: Noah Vosen (David Strathairn).
With Jason’s last known position being Russia before he once again vanished, the search has continued on the back burner. Then, through the CIA’s now well-known ECHELON system, The Guardian reporter Simon Ross (Paddy Considine, now widely recognized for his leading role in the first season of House of the Dragon) unwittingly reveals critical information over an unsecured phone line. The CIA, at this point, is paranoid that Jason Bourne is coming from them, and they see nails everywhere they look while holding a hammer in their hands. However thin the connection might be, Noah Vosen is determined to link Simon Ross with Jason Bourne. His certainty that Jason is Simon’s source is such that he dispatches Blackbriar operatives to deal with the threat.
While Pamela is doubtful of Jason’s involvement with Simon Ross, recalling her own miscalculations in Supremacy when she was lured around by Ward Abbott’s efforts to cast a self-fulfilling prophecy, she now has a clearer view of what is happening. The flaw in Pamela’s efforts is her desire to believe in the good of the systems and institutions she has sworn to protect and serve – the CIA itself. She is leery of Noah because of his seemingly singlemindedness in hunting down Jason, and her worries are justified. Jason Bourne resurfaces, as expected, but because he has questions for Simon Ross, too, not the other way around. In fact, Jason stumbles onto Simon almost entirely by accident because Simon has already written a series of articles about Jason for The Guardian.
The world of Bourne finally starts to pull the curtain back as we are introduced to Dr. Albert Hirsch (Albert Finney) – the one who essentially created Jason Bourne and, in effect, every operative for Treadstone. He is the biggest threat to Jason, as he firmly believes they can bring Jason back in from the cold and turn him back into the tool they created. The psychological threat that Dr. Hirsch represents makes him the most dangerous despite presenting the least physical threat to Jason. If successful, he could do what none of the rest might have even believed was possible, bring Jason back under their control.
Like its predecessors, and especially its follow-ups, The Bourne Ultimatum paints the CIA as paranoid and irrational in its efforts to protect itself. The extent to which it will go to cover up its numerous operations includes ordering the assassination of a reporter in an allied nation in the middle of a massive transport terminal with a sniper rifle. On top of this, they are not above dispatching operatives to hunt down one of their own when they discover the horrifying truth. Jason was not the one who leaked the existence of Blackbriar, and he probably wasn’t going to do anything to them until they poked the bear one too many times.
This is where Nicky comes back into the picture. Rather than being dragged into the threat by the CIA personally, she and Jason cross paths by pure coincidence while he is backtracking Simon Ross’ investigation. After discovering Simon’s source, after the reporter’s untimely demise in the middle of the day, Bourne arrives in Madrid to find the CIA Station Chie Neal Daniels (Colin Stinton), for whom Nicky works.
By this point, Nicky has grown disillusioned with the CIA, its practices, and its egregious efforts to sustain itself under the pressure of being exposed to countless criminal acts. With operatives hunting Daniels meeting Bourne in a dark room, Nicky makes a choice and backs Jason.
From the girl behind a computer screen who only passes necessary information and tools to assets to actively involving herself in an investigation, Nicky has become more capable within the insanity that the Bourne series lives in. She is not a physical threat, but it’s not for a lack of effort. The people tasked with tracking and eliminating her are just that dangerous.
Despite being mentioned in Identity, we never saw the full force of Blackbriar in Supremacy. Yet, with Vosen at the head of the black operations under the CIA’s belt, he quickly dispatches two of its operatives – Paz (Édgar Ramirez) and Desh Bouksani (Joey Ansah). The former is the agent tasked with eliminating Simon Ross, and he proves himself to be one of the most capable operatives to have been introduced by any of the programs in the Bourne series.
Despite having a limited window of opportunity and two targets in hectic conditions, Paz quickly takes advantage of that brief window to assassinate Simon Ross in the middle of Waterloo Station. He probably would have gotten Jason Bourne if given the opportunity.
Similarly, Desh is presented as a calm, calculating force of death. He knows that Jason Bourne is in the vicinity, and he effortlessly reads Jason’s options and actions and cleverly uses Jason to execute his assassination of Neal Daniels in Tangiers.
When he continues his mission to hunt down Nicky, things go awry for him. Jason, after all, is still reeling from Marie’s death. To a degree, he actually takes time to visit Marie’s brother (played here by Daniel Brühl) just to inform him that Marie didn’t make it.
This is where things get interesting. The Bourne Supremacy ended on a hopeful note, with Jason again calling Pamela Landy and revealing that he was close enough to see her. In that scene, she revealed his real name and birthdate, giving him some information so he could finally figure out who he was before he became Jason Bourne. With two-thirds of the film long gone, we find out that The Bourne Ultimatum primarily took place between Jason’s escape from Russia and this phone call. For most of the film, with three years between releases, the scene has probably faded from memory. After all, sequels often disregard certain scenes as they tell their next story. In a way, Ultimatum does just that. Yet, it achieves this by reframing and recontextualizing the scene. Pamela Landy is actually passing coded information to Jason, sandwiched between factual information, giving him an important clue to bring this war to a close and expose the CIA for all its crimes.
When it was released, it could be viewed as the closing chapter of the franchise. Robert Ludlum had only personally written three books. With each adaptation, they moved further and further away from the story he had written. The political conspiracy thriller of the novels had evolved into a full-blown action film, unbothered with massive changes and alterations to clear plot points and character arcs. For this reason, each should be enjoyed in their own realm.
Lloydd Marshall Books 