The Bourne Ultimatum (2007)
- The original script for The Bourne Ultimatum was written over a decade before production finally began in 2007.
- Before Matt Damon was cast, several major A-list stars turned down the lead role because they felt the script was too risky.
- During the filming of The Bourne Ultimatum, Matt Damon improvised one of the most famous lines in the movie.
The Bourne Ultimatum is a 2007 American action thriller directed by Paul Greengrass, the third installment in the Bourne franchise and widely considered its finest entry. Matt Damon returns as Jason Bourne, who is closing in on the truth about his origins and the CIA program that created him. When a British journalist begins investigating Treadstone's successor program, Blackbriar, Bourne must navigate a globe-spanning pursuit from Moscow to Madrid to London to New York while evading CIA Deputy Director Noah Vosen, played by David Strathairn, who will do anything to keep the program's existence secret.
Paul Greengrass's direction reached its peak intensity, creating action sequences of breathtaking kineticism β the Tangier rooftop chase, in which Bourne pursues an asset through windows, over rooftops, and through apartments in a sequence of continuous, pulse-pounding movement, was the franchise's defining action set piece. The film's narrative structure was elegantly constructed, with the ending connecting directly to the beginning of The Bourne Supremacy, creating a satisfying closed loop. The Bourne Ultimatum won three Academy Awards for Film Editing, Sound Editing, and Sound Mixing.
The film earned $442 million worldwide and is frequently cited as one of the finest action films of the 2000s.
