The Bourne Ultimatum

  • Review Date: December 9, 2007
  • PG-13
  • Genre: Thriller
  • 2007
 Review

Common Sense Media says

Best in the series so far. For mature teens and up.
greenON: Content is age-appropriate for kids this age.
yellowPAUSE: Know your child; some content
may not be right for some kids.
redOFF: Not age-appropriate for kids this age.
not for kidsNOT FOR KIDS: Not appropriate for kids any age.

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Quality
 
Sometimes media can be age appropriate but a real waste of time. Our star rating assesses the media's overall quality.

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Parents say

Kids say

What parents need to know

Parents need to know that this film features wall-to-wall action, much of it violent, causing repeated, bloody injuries to Bourne. The film includes car chases and crashes, explosions, fights, falls from great heights, smashes through windows, and murders (hand-to-hand, by gunfire), as well as images of dead bodies. The plot involves high tech surveillance and a dastardly, secret CIA program, and the hero comes to distrust his (U.S.) government (that said, Senate hearings at film's end lead to arrests of "rogue agents"). Language includes "s--t," "damn," and "hell."

  • Bourne is singularly moral-minded; CIA agents and other killers are deadly, calculating, and cold.
  • Bourne first appears limping and being chased aboard a moving train; he jumps off, finds a hospital, trails blood everywhere, washes his bloody hands, self-injects a needle full of painkiller, hits one officer and holds his gun on another. Flashbacks throughout show young Bourne's torture (hooded figures, waterboarding, frantic camerawork and dissolves), refer to his girlfriend's murder ("shot in the head"). Scene in morgue shows corpse. Violent acts -- shown in chaotic camerawork and editing -- include explosions (preceded by bomb-making), punching, kicking, flipping, leaping, falling, crashing through a window, car-crashing and -screeching, shooting (by snipers and face-to-face), bone-breaking, stabbing.
  • In subjective flashbacks, Bourne tenderly kisses Maria (his dead girlfriend), once underwater, as she floats away.
  • Several uses of "s--t" and "damn," repeated uses of "hell" in frustration (e.g., "What the hell's going on here?").
  • Vespa motorbike.
  • In flashbacks, Bourne and another man appear to be sedated.

What's the story?

In THE BOURNE ULTIMATUM -- the very smart third film in the Bourne series -- super-spy-assassin Jason Bourne (Matt Damon) finally gets some answers. In a plot that resembles Robocop meets Manchurian Candidate, Bourne seeks not only his identity, but also the individuals responsible for both his loss of memory and extraordinary killing skills. His search leads him from Torino to Paris, London to Tangier, and then on to Manhattan, each city yielding a piece of Bourne's puzzle. His hunters this time include the CIA's Deputy Director Vosen (David Strathairn) and others behind the scenes, who use all manner of astounding surveillance technology as well as "assets," or killers trained like Bourne. No longer a brutal instrument of the government, eliminating "targets" for unknown reasons, Bourne now becomes a moral center, a remarkably resilient one at that. Again and again, he rises from crashes and fights, like the Terminator, ever in motion, resolved to find his secret-agency "maker."


Is it any good?

 

The film's action is stunning (fast, visceral, stylized), and the consequences deadly. When he learns that a London Guardian reporter, Ross (Paddy Considine), has stumbled onto Blackbriar, Bourne makes contact, then directs his every step by cell phone, negotiating a crowded Waterloo Station and avoiding a CIA sniper. Given his deep sense of loss concerning Marie (killed in the last film), it's not surprising that Bourne shares a distrust of the CIA with two women, specialist Pam Landy (Joan Allen) and an agent, Nicky (Julia Stiles), who both helped to track Bourne in the previous films and now question Vosen's extreme measures. Nicky's understanding of Bourne may be the most poignant, as she watches him resolve a brilliantly edited chase scene in Tangier with an amazing fight against yet another "asset."

Bourne's quest leads him to ugly truths, about himself and the behavior-modifying experiment that created him. As his memory returns, he has flashbacks of his training, including torture. The film goes on to show that Bourne once believed he was doing the right thing, that he would "save American lives" by giving himself "to the program." When he finally finds himself, he sees he must determine his own motivations, not believe in someone else's.


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What families can talk about

Families can talk about Bourne's sense of betrayal: How does he come to see himself as a tool, created and used by the CIA, and how does his moral sense lead him to challenge his "employers"? Why might it be significant that Bourne is helped by the two women agents, who both question their boss' efforts to cover up the secret program? How does Bourne's amnesia make him different from most other, very self-secure action heroes? They could also discuss action movies in general, and talk about what makes a good one.


This review was written by Cynthia Fuchs
Parent of 11 year old
August 30, 2009
 
Too violent too smart for an under 14... recommended for people over 15-16 years..
BEST MOVIE EVER..... but too violent for kids and small teens... and waaaaaaayy too smart... heart pouniding thriller u can't get ur head out of the screen... but not for someone under 14 they won't understand it understand the meaning of it... sexually: bourne starts to remember and he remembers when he kissed his girlfriend a passionate kiss for 2-3 seconds... nothing explicit at all and could be explained as a normal kiss... ENJOY THE MOVIE ... i watched it over 20 times...

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Parent of 15 year old
February 8, 2009
 
WOW! I thought the others were good, but this one...WOW!
THE BOURNE IDENITY surpassed my expectations. SUPREMACY matched them. ULTIMATUM completely blew me away; it surpassed the set of expectations I had behind my first set. The acting was so good, the plot so enthralling, the action so intense, the script so well-written, I couldn't believe I bought this for $9.50 at Target. If you loved the other Bourne films, this one will blow you away. You won't be able to keep your eyes off it. Violence is the same as the others. There is an extreme amount of fights and weapons, but those who are shot are shot non-graphically. There is some blood after fist-fights, but no more than the previous two. Bourne makes a good role model for kids; he is trained as an assassin, so in almost every scene he finds himself pointing a gun at someone's head. But he chooses to say no and show them mercy...in fact, I can't think of a time when he kills in cold blood. He's always placed in immediate danger, and acts out of self-defense. There is no sex, and language is limited to one "SOB", infrequent "s**t"s, and several "d**n"s.

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Adult
October 24, 2009
 
great action classic 12 and over
every single bourne is good but this one just won too much it has heck of a good action and violence its a real CLASSIC watch it and you'll never forget it 12 and over because minors wont understand the story and for violence watch the bourne in a row .

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Teen, 14 years old
January 30, 2010
 
The best Bourne yet!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
This movie is definitely the best one yet!!!!!!! It doesn't have as much violence than what they have listed. I honestly didn't see any bone breaking, or stabbing. There are multiple car chases and they all end in a crash or an explosion. The second chase resembles the one in the Bourne Identity. Bourne always seems to get out "Unharmed" no matter how bad the crash is. In the first scene, he just knocks one guard unconscious, and he doesn't shoot the other. Bourne leads multiple people through crowded places, and he would make an awesome GPS. There are flashbacks throughout, or what Bourne would call them-"headaches" and one is so bad he is on all fours. He doesn't want to kill people, and he apologizes to one of the girl agents for it. he also has many chances to kill many people, but he doesn't. Bourne is just so darn sneaky and rescourceful and smart. He has tons of tricks up his sleeve, and he is aware of his surroundings. This movie is good for older kids, because younger kids might not get the point of it. My 10 year old brother fell asleep in all of the Bourne movies. The flashbacks of his testing beforebecoming an assasin includes shooting a blindfolded man, and he is thrown into a tub of water handcuffed, and with a bag over his head. Then they have a cage top put onto the tub and after a few seconds they pull him out. The kiss with his girlfriend is nothing that you haven't seen before. The Bourne Identity is a really great movie. It has hardly any language, even at parts where there definetly would be in a lot of other movies. A+++++++!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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Teen, 15 years old
November 13, 2009
 
Wonderful movie, but way to violent for kids.
Wonderful movie, but extremely violent.

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Teen, 16 years old
February 4, 2010
 
Best Bourne movie
The story starts off with action and then builds up. It has the right balance of fighting, talk/investigation, and humor. The car chase stands out in a world where automobile scenes are cliche. The only thing that I found annoying were the flashbacks. They happened every few minutes and looked like someone waving around a camera. Overall, I would watch it again.

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Parent of 4, 7, 9, and 12 year old
August 20, 2009
 
REALLY GOOD MOVIE. Just a bit to much...
This movie is one of the best movies I have ever seen. There is just a bit too much suspense and violence for kids under 10. Mild swearing. And a flashback of Bourne ( Matt Damon ) kissing Marie ( dead wife )

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Adult
November 17, 2010
 
Fine for adults / older teens; would not recommend for kids/tweens
Interesting plot and story line. However, lots of violence and language. Some sexual scenes.

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Adult
April 9, 2008
 
Media is allowing too much to filter through to our children. May seem cool, but definately too much violence/suspense for a pre/mid-teen to see. Great ADULT film though!!

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Adult
April 9, 2008
 

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This review was written by Cynthia Fuchs
Studio:Universal Pictures
Director:Paul Greengrass
Cast:David Strathairn, Joan Allen, Julia Stiles
Genre:Thriller
Run time:115 minutes
Theatrical release date:August 2, 2007
DVD release date:December 11, 2007
MPAA rating:PG-13
MPAA explanation:violence and intense sequences of action

This review was written by Cynthia Fuchs
 

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ON: Content is age-appropriate for kids this age.
PAUSE: Know your child; some content may not be right for some kids.
OFF: Not age-appropriate for kids this age.
Learning ratings
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FAIR: Somewhat engaging, OK learning approach.
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