The Bourne Ultimatum (2007)

July 25, 2007 (ArcLight Hollywood)August 3, 2007 (United States)

July 25, 2007 (ArcLight Hollywood)
August 3, 2007 (United States)

The Bourne Ultimatum is a 2007 action-thriller film that was directed by Paul Greengrass. Although it shares its name with Ludlum's titular 1990 novel, its plot is entirely different. The third installment in the Jason Bourne film series after The Bourne Identity and The Bourne Supremacy, the screenplay was written by Tony Gilroy, Scott Z. Burns and George Nolfi and based on a screen story of the novel by Gilroy. Matt Damon reprises his role as Ludlum's signature character, former CIA assassin and psychogenic amnesiac Jason Bourne.

Additional cast members who star alongside Damon include Julia Stiles, David Strathairn, Scott Glenn, Paddy Considine, Édgar Ramirez, Albert Finney, and Joan Allen. In the film, Bourne continues his search for information about his past before he was part of Operation Treadstone and becomes a target of a similar assassin program. Produced by The Kennedy/Marshall Company in association with Ludlum Entertainment, The Bourne Ultimatum premiered at ArcLight Hollywood on July 25, 2007 before it was theatrically released by Universal Pictures on August 3 in the United States.

Upon release, it received universal acclaim from critics, who considered it to be the best in the Bourne series. It grossed $444.1 million worldwide against its budget of $110 million becoming, at the time, Damon's highest-grossing film with him as the lead. It was chosen by National Board of Review as one of the top ten films of 2007 and went on to win all three of its nominations at the 80th Academy Awards: Best Film Editing, Best Sound Mixing and Best Sound Editing.

A fourth film without the involvement of Damon, titled The Bourne Legacy, was released in August 2012, and the fifth film (a direct sequel to Ultimatum that reprises Damon as the lead role), titled Jason Bourne, was released in July 2016.

Synopsis

Following his pursuit by Kirill, Jason Bourne evades Moscow police while wounded and deals with more flashbacks of when he first joined Operation Treadstone. Six weeks later, CIA Deputy Director Pamela Landy reveals the audiotaped confession of Ward Abbott, the late former head of Treadstone, to Director Ezra Kramer. Meanwhile, in Turin, journalist Simon Ross of The Guardian learns about Bourne and Operation Blackbriar, the program succeeding Treadstone.

Using the ECHELON system, the CIA detects Ross when he mentions Blackbriar during a phone call to his editor. After informing Marie's brother, Martin Kreutz, of her assassination in India, Bourne, who had read Ross' articles, arranges a meeting with him at London Waterloo station. Realizing the CIA is following Ross, he helps him evade capture, but Ross, in a panic, is shot dead by Blackbriar assassin Paz on orders of Deputy Director Noah Vosen.

Vosen's team, reluctantly assisted by Landy, analyzes Ross' notes and identifies his source as Neal Daniels, a CIA station chief based in Madrid. Bourne makes his way to Daniels' office and finds Nicky Parsons, a former Treadstone operative who he shares a history with. She tells him that Daniels has fled to Tangier and aids his escape from an arriving CIA unit.

Meanwhile, Blackbriar "asset" Desh Bouksani is tasked by Vosen with killing Daniels, as well as Parsons and Bourne upon noticing that Nicky accessed information about Daniels, a decision with which Landy fiercely disagrees. Bourne follows Bouksani and saves Nicky by strangling him, but fails to prevent Daniels' assassination; he then sends her into hiding. Examining the contents of Daniels' briefcase, Bourne finds the address of the deep-cover CIA bureau in NYC, where Vosen directs Blackbriar, and heads there.

Landy receives a phone call from Bourne, which is intercepted by Vosen. She tells him that his real name is David Webb and gives him the birth date "4-15-71". Vosen also intercepts a text to Landy from Bourne of a location to meet up, and leaves his office with a tactical team. Bourne, however, instead enters Vosen's office, and takes classified Blackbriar documents. Realizing what is going on, Vosen sends Paz after him and informs Dr. Albert Hirsch, the man who ran Treadstone's behavior modification program, of this situation. The resulting chase ends with both crashing their cars. Bourne holds the injured Paz at gunpoint, but spares his life.

Bourne arrives at a hospital at 415 East 71st Street, having figured out Landy's coded message. He gives Landy the Blackbriar files before going inside. Bourne confronts Hirsch, who reminded him that he willingly volunteered for Treadstone. While fleeing to the roof, Bourne is confronted by Paz, who asks why he did not shoot him. Bourne asks him if he knows why he is supposed to kill him, repeating the final words of the Professor, a Treadstone asset: "Look at us. Look at what they make you give." Paz lowers his gun, but Vosen appears and shoots at Bourne, who jumps into the East River.

Three days later, Nicky watches a news broadcast about the exposure of Operation Blackbriar, the arrests of Hirsch and Vosen, a criminal investigation against Kramer, and the status of David Webb, a.k.a. Jason Bourne. Upon hearing that his body has not been found, Nicky smiles. He turns out to have survived the fall and swims into the darkness.

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