The Bourne Ultimatum is, well, what you'd expect. Total awesome yet intelligent kick-assness. This MAY be the end to the Robert Ludlum Bourne trilogy, and what a potential finale it is! It sort of picks up from The Bourne Supremacy as Jason Bourne/David Webb (really can't imagine Matt Damon not playing the role at this point) trying to find his way back stateside from Europe. Of course, he gets sidetrack. Several times. Badly.
And even when Bourne - desperate to discover his true identity and who is responsible for him becoming a human lethal weapon - returns to the states, he gets sidetracked. Again. Many times. Badly. Damn those pesky operatives and local police. Doug Liman, the director of The Bourne Identity, showed a penchant for thrilling action without getting gory or exagerrating. When director Sam Greengrass took over for part 2, he racheted up the tension to a new level and artform.
Some people may not like his herky-jerky, seemingly endless fast motion camera work, which seems to be present from beginning to end. It gives the viewer no time to rest. But hey, it's an action-spy thriller! Would you expect anything less than surreal hand-to-hand combat and exhiliarating car chases? My goodness, Bourne must have made a mess of at least 10 city streets in Europe, Africa, America and Asia over the three movies.
Julia Stiles has a bit more to do here and Joan Allen remains her coolness. But David Strathairn does such a good job at being a megaprick, running a black ops CIA program where his operatives can kill anyone, anyplace and not have to deal with red tape. Yes, Ludlum purists have been disappointed with this Bourne movie series from the start. But sometimes even the best of books can't translate to screen well enough staying in its purest form. Occasional liberties must be taken. In this case, Liman, Greengrass and writer Tony Gilroy turned Jason Bourne into a thinking man's James Bond/Jack Bauer into someone we can relate to. He's not just a spy. He's a guy doing what it takes to find out about his true self.
Alrighty, amigos, I'm soliciting input. I must make a decision on my current car's fate. I'm weighing the pros and cons of keeping it a bit longer or trading it in for new wheels. Here are the existing facts:
My 2001 Sentra runs reasonably well. I've had it since October '01. Still relatively reliable despite the occasional bumpy ride. Economy and somewhat low maintenance over the years.
But with work and other things I put in a lot of wear and tear. It's nearing 107,000 miles (I'm averaging roughly 15,000 annually). For sure, many scheduled maintenance things I'd have to do to the car. Probably needs a new set of tires, overdue for shocks and struts, brakes need new pads (at the least--I have lifetime brakes someplace, but you never know if some other problem is found).
Also, CD player and cigarette ligher are non-functional. (Not having the CD player sucks because I rapidly grow tired of commercial local radio.) Occasional trouble opening driver side door, probably the result of my December accident. AND the left front corner is again ripped open by some motorist (THE SAME corner that got ripped open widely in the December accident). But this time, I don't wanna waste any more moolah in such repairs. Even with all this, there's some decent trade-in value left. My next registration and inspection are due at September's end.
So, if you were in my shoes, what would you do?
Oh by the way -- here's "No. 25,921 sign that the end is near": Why is there a movie based on the Bratz dolls? Why? What otherwise merciful god would let this happen to us?! ;-P
