ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ

The Bourne Ultimatum is so similar to its predecessor The Bourne Supremacy that they could be two halves of the same film - and in a clever bit of narrative acrobatics, this movie takes place between scenes of the previous one. So, once again we have a stone-faced Matt Damon as Jason Bourne, the amnesiac assassin with a serious grudge against his former CIA employers. And once again it's a heart-pounding, merciless thrill ride that will leave you gasping for breath.

Paul Greengrass is back behind the camera, and as before he delivers a truckload of crunchy, hyper-realistic action. Jason sprints from London to New York via Tangiers in pursuit of the brainwashing boffins who turned him into a killer, while David Strathairn and a coterie of grey-faced, sweaty spymasters sit hunched over bleeping computer screens, trying desperately to work out what he's going to do next. Greengrass is a political filmmaker at heart, and he punctuates his brilliantly staged action setpieces with none-too subtle indictments of governmental arrogance and the erosion of civil liberties. You're never far away from a CCTV camera in Bourne's world, and the power-mongers think nothing of shooting the odd campaigning liberal to preserve the status quo.

"GIVES THE SPY THRILLER ITS BALLS BACK"

Now, having established that this is a really, really good film that you should definitely go and see, can we air a few quibbles? Bourne, once a plausibly vulnerable figure, is edging gradually into the superhuman territory occupied by Bruce and Arnie, and there are moments in the film that strike you as unintentionally funny, from a silent punch-up that seems to last about half an hour, to the CIA's endless supply of heartbreakingly pretty assassins. Maybe they recruit them from the male modelling world, like they did in Zoolander. Greengrass ought to be applauded loud and long for giving the spy thriller its balls back, but the Bourne franchise needs to be left alone now, before it slips into self parody. For one thing, Damon looks like he could use the holiday.

The Bourne Ultimatum is out in the UK on 17th August 2007.