Textual Analysis- Bourne Ultimatum- alfred ademi

The Bourne Ultimatum
Release: 2007
Director: Paul Greengrass
Genre: Action, Mystery, Thriller

Bourne Ultimatum is the third instalment of the very successful Bourne franchise. ‘Jason Bourne’ who is played by Academy Award winner ‘Matt Damon’ is on a mission throughout the franchise to uncover his real identity, and this mission continues in this movie.

The story exists in several time frames, there are 2 stories in the movie, the story of Bourne being chased and the story of what happened to Bourne in his past which is shown to the audience as his flashbacks.

 Bourn Ultimatum begins as soon as ‘Bourne supremacy’ (2^nd instalment) ends. ‘Bourne supremacy’ finished while the character ‘Bourne’ was being chased therefore ‘Bourne ultimatum’ has no equilibrium because it immediately starts with a disruption, From the first frame the tempo is high, Bourne jumps out from a moving train because he is running away from police who are looking for him. This film does not completely follow Todrov’s equilibrium theory (of a film having the narrative follow a path of equilibrium, disruption then new equilibrium) because this film starts with a disruption instead. However we do see Todrov’s equilibrium theory in the first Bourne movie ‘Bourne Identity’.

After Bourne escapes the police in the first scene after jumping out of the train, he enters a building where he starts mixing chemicals and injects himself with it to take the pain out of his shoulder this is seen as an equilibrium as everything has gone back to normal however 2 police also enter the building and corner Bourne at this point Bourne has flashbacks of strong contemporary images that shock and disturb him, in typical Bourne style he kills one officer and spares the others life causing an immediate disruption as seen throughout the movie, Bourne casually walks of saying ‘my argument is not with you’ to the officer this leaves the audience thinking who is Bourne actually looking for?  After this Bourne enters a state of equilibrium and meets ‘Martin’ (Marie’s brother) again from the first Bourne film ‘Bourne Identity’. Martin asks Bourne where his sister is; Bourne replies ‘she’s dead’

When Bourne is on the train heading to London he is reading a special report. This is where we find out that he is looking for ‘Simon Ross’ at this point he has a 2^nd flashback showing Bourne trying to save ‘Marie’ who he fell in love with in ‘Bourne Identity’, there is also mysterious men in this flashback that keeps asking Bourne ‘will you commit to the programme?’ and shows them abusing Bourne, this sets the scene for the mystery that  Bourne wants to uncover about his past.

There is a sense of cat and mouse in this movie, there is a ‘villain’ chasing the ‘hero’ who is looking for his identity but at the same time protecting the ‘princess’

 Bourne ultimatum may be very complex and may not make sense to people who have not seen the previous ‘Bourne’ films. However there are no gaps in the narrative and no cliff-hangers therefore this film holds a closed narrative structure which the fans will find it very easy to understand as there is a clear beginning and ending to this film, whereas if this was a open narrative we will be left with a cliff hanger, open narratives are usually found in soaps such as ‘Eastenders’ where there is never an ending. There are elements of flashbacks in this film however the film is told in chronological order because the film all runs in order of which it happens, this is typical of an action film as most action films portrays the action as it happens.

There is also a sense Levi Strauss's binary opposition in this film. this is the contrast between two terms such as good/bad. In Bourne Ultimatum there is a contrast of truth and lies as 'Jason Bourne' does not know who he is and is looking for his true identity, and people are trying to prevent him from doing so therfore he is being kept away from the truth. furthermore, there are people that know the truth about 'Jason Bournes' true identity but they are lying.

Bourne ultimatum is set in many different cities in different countries such as London, Paris, Berlin, Madrid, Tangier and New York this movement of countries connotes Jason Bourne’s feelings and how he is always on the move and running away from people.

In the final scene of the film Bourne finally tracks the person who changed him and all the elements of Bourne’s past and present come together in on dramatic confrontation. Bourne is told everything that happened and how he was turned into a killer, this is shown to the audience by flashbacks. Bourne mentions that he ‘remembers everything’ he’s discovered the truth that he has been searching for throughout the ‘Bourne trilogy’. Bourne is later shot and falls into water, this is where Bourne was first found in the movie ‘Bourne identity’. His future is uncertain to the audience but in the mist of all the action Bourne begins swimming away, this shows us he is alive then the film ends. This ending shows a new equilibrium for ‘Jason Bourne’ as the police think he is dead. The audience are also satisfied by seeing Bourne uncover the truth about his identity.

The characters are typical of the action/thriller/mystery genre. The CIA team working in ‘the hub’ is very technical with a striking hi tech look with many secret agents following Jason Bourne by CCTV.  This is typical of the CIA, they also have ‘foot soldiers’ with Walkie talkies and guns ad’s further emphasises to the action genre. ‘ Noah Vosen’ the leader of the CIA is wearing smart suit with glasses and a ID card around his neck, he speaks very aggressively towards the staff this shows he is insecure however the facial expression shows that he is confident he will capture Bourne, then when Bourne starts killing his hunters Noah Vosen get very furious and his facial expression suggests he is now concerned that he cannot capture Bourne.

Bourne’s facial expression throughout the film is very calm as he has been ‘searching for his identity for 3 years’ therefore he has allot of experience. Bourne is always dressed in casual clothes to camouflage with the public so he is harder to find. He is also wearing a headset talking to people from his phone; this is to mislead the CIA as they will be looking for people who have a phone to their ear and Bourne.

The Bourne ultimatum won all 3 awards for best sound, best sound editing and best editing at the 80^th academy awards. The sound is typical to action genre as it is very fast passed and it abruptly starts every time a chase sequence begins. This style of sound editing is also seen in movies such as ‘Bad Boys’ and ‘Rush Hour’. In Bourne Ultimatum you can feel the sound from everything from doors, houses, cars and the detail from the colours and texture of walls and space. This is very effective to bring the film to life for the audience.

I think the cinematography is used very well in this film especially the hand held camera shots. Most of the movie seems to be recorded with a hand held camera, this world very well with this movie especially the fighting scenes as this was to emphasize the idea that‘Jason Bourne’ wasn't thinking. The hand held camera also worked very well on the rooftop chase in the city ‘Tangier’ were Bourne jumps through a window, and the camera follows the character all the way creating a great cinematic moment. The camera shots used in this movie also work very well with the editing and the fast short cuts used in the action sequences. The editing used show the best mastery of story, character, pacing and Intercutting between Nicky’s frantic escape from the assassins in ‘Tangier’ and Bourne running through the rooftops deserve an academy award. Choreography is very complex and very fast paced this delivers character the this action genre

Overall, there are various genre codes and conventions in the film which show the typical use of that genre. The use of mise-en-scene is very accurately used in the film.