Bourne Ultimatum, The

Village Voice Nathan Lee

Bravura doesn't begin to describe Greengrass's skill in mounting these complex sequences...This is, simply put, some of the most accomplished filmmaking being done anywhere for any purpose.

USA Today Claudia Puig

The best action thriller of the year.

Empire James Dyer

The best blockbuster of the summer and the most accomplished thriller since, well, Supremacy. This is the payoff Bourne fans have been waiting for and the standard to which future blockbusters should be held.

Slate Dana Stevens

Feels fresher, leaner, and faster than any action movie in years.

The New York Times Manohla Dargis

Mr. Greengrass knows how to do his job, and there’s no one in Hollywood right now who does action better, who keeps the pace going so relentlessly, without mercy or letup, scene after hard-rocking scene.

Philadelphia Inquirer Steven Rea

Unstoppable fun.

Salon.com Stephanie Zacharek

A great action movie, exhilarating and neatly crafted, the kind of picture that will still look good 20 or 30 years from now.

Time Richard Corliss

The movie is one continuous, exhausting, exhilarating chase.

Portland Oregonian M. E. Russell

It's a relentless finale to the "Bourne" movie trilogy that raises the stakes, pumps up the action and develops old characters while introducing new villains

Baltimore Sun Michael Sragow

Few films combine a dense and tingling atmosphere with the headlong pacing and adventure of The Bourne Ultimatum.

The Onion (A.V. Club) Scott Tobias

Damon's minimalist style is key to why the Bourne movies have become an oasis from other blockbuster action fare.

Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman

A spectacular windup toy of a thriller -- a contraption made by an artist.

The Hollywood Reporter Kirk Honeycutt

Audiences will eat it up: This is a postmillennial spy-action movie pitched to a large international audience. You hardly need subtitles.

Variety Todd McCarthy

A pounding, pulsating thriller that provides an almost constant adrenaline surge for nearly two hours.

Los Angeles Times Carina Chocano

It says something about Paul Greengrass' directing style that he's able to make a movie as fresh and frank as The Bourne Ultimatum from a genre as moldy and bombastic as the spy thriller.

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Liam Lacey

Both the most bewildering of the three movies and also the most brutally compelling.

TV Guide Maitland McDonagh

It's the rare action picture whose adrenaline-driven thrills neither overshadow the characters nor degenerate into cartoonish preposterousness.

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

You sit there, and the action assaults you, and using words to re-create it would be futile. What actually happens to Jason Bourne is essentially immaterial. What matters is that SOMETHING must happen, so he can run away from it or toward it.

Boston Globe Wesley Morris

The movies are smart -- smarter than you, but not in an off-putting way. Their basic appeal, especially this new one, is that Matt Damon’s killing machine, Jason Bourne, is the cleverest man on earth. And we thrill to his sense of superiority.

Miami Herald Rene Rodriguez

It's an action picture that's been distilled and compressed to its tightest, barest, almost abstract essence, and it's absolutely thrilling.

New York Daily News Elizabeth Weitzman

Bursting with so much amped-up energy, you may need to rest once it's finally done.

Rolling Stone Peter Travers

The movie is thunderously exciting, but what makes it resonate is the wrenching story we read on Damon's face. We've waited all summer for a wild ride to grab us with more than jolts. Now it's here. Hang on.

Chicago Tribune Michael Phillips

This is the most satisfying thriller of the year, capping the Bourne trilogy.

New York Post Lou Lumenick

Director Paul Greengrass - who directed the superb "United 93" between the second and third "Bourne" installments - knows how to stage and edit bravura action sequences, generating almost unbearable suspense while deploying a superb cast.

LA Weekly Ella Taylor

Faster and, if possible, furiouser than its predecessors.

The New Yorker David Denby

You come out of the movie both excited and soothed, as if your body had been worked on by felt-covered drumsticks.

Newsweek David Ansen

For action junkies, The Bourne Ultimatum will be like a hit of pure meth. It's bravura filmmaking in the jittery, handheld, frenetically edited Paul Greengrass style.

Austin Chronicle Josh Rosenblatt

Greengrass and co. may have made one of the best action movies in recent memory.

ReelViews James Berardinelli

The Bourne Ultimatum provides a lot more suspense and tension than "Transformers" could hope for.

Charlotte Observer Lawrence Toppman

For once, I didn't feel cheated by an unresolved ending, but let's hope this is the end. Robert Ludlum wrote three Bourne novels, and this is one series that ought not to be dishonored by inferior sequels.

Christian Science Monitor Peter Rainer

Director Paul Greengrass downplays the movie's travelogue aspects by repeating the bobbly, hand-held camera style he used on "The Bourne Supremacy." It's not a style I'm fond of.

San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle

A thoughtful, satisfying action thriller.

Premiere Glenn Kenny

Most thrillers of this ilk have no qualms about going past the 120-minute mark, but I think Greengrass and company understood that overdoing it would turn mass excitement into massive headache.

Film Threat Pete Vonder Haar

A perfectly serviceable action movie…better than most, in fact. The entire premise is growing creaky, however, leading us to think we might want to leave this particular spy out in the cold a while, before he becomes completely tiresome.

New York Magazine David Edelstein

It’s not just vérité--it’s battlefield vérité; it triggers your fight-or-flight instincts.

Chicago Reader J.R. Jones

This adaptation of Robert Ludlum's third and last Bourne thriller doesn't have much story left, so director Paul Greengrass has to keep it moving all the time.

Washington Post Stephen Hunter

It's frenetic to the point of crazy while achieving a mark that barely exceeds mediocre.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer William Arnold

The movie is so surreal it's just not very involving. As an action extravaganza, it's busy but dull.