The Bourne Ultimatum

(A.K.A Hollywood’s love affair with the shaky cam)

I would have really really loved this movie had it not for the shaky cam technique. For the life of me, I can never understand how some directors can derive pleasure out of something which can easily be duplicated by strapping a camera on the back of a particularly frisky dog.

Everytime a fight scene ensues, everything would immediately turn into a clusterfuck of elbows, knees, fists, and some pants.

Seriously, half of the time, I would turn my head to the side and wait for Matt Damon to stand up and say “I win!”

An opposing argument would say how directors want to put you “in the thick of things,” and let you feel as if you’re either the one kicking ass, or the one having your lunch handed to you. I don’t know about you, but I’d rather be the guy standing three feet away and betting on who gets to spend the next three weeks in bed.

Also, I think it speaks of a great disrespect for the material as well as the work put in by the fight choreographer. For example, why in the holy hell would Greengrass use shaky cam in a scene where there are just a couple of guys in a boardroom just talking to each other? Can anybody tell me what that was for? The only possible explanation for that is the director didn’t think the dialogue was exciting enough to let it stand on its own.

And if people think that it would be less potent to just have a steady cam capture the fight scenes, then why were the fight scenes in 300 so awesome? They were done neatly, with hardly no unnecessary quick cuts to make the fight scenes incomprehensible, and at all times, the audience knows where everything was.

Then let’s look at the very definition of the Action movie genre: “Action films are a film genre where action sequences, such as fighting, stunts, car chases or explosions, take precedence over elements like characterization or complex plotting.”

Going by that definition, then it follows that the action sequences in said films are basically the reason why people go to see them in the first place. If so, then why make the money shots barely comprehensible?

If you’re watching a porn movie, would you like the camera to bounce up and down to simulate the pumping action of the act or would you rather see what’s going on?

Exactly.

I don’t mind a little shake now and then, but whenever it’s overdone like in this movie and in Batman Begins, I seriously question the sincerity of the director.

But having said that, I still managed to enjoy this movie. And if I do decide to watch it again, I’m gonna make sure to watch it on a small screen to avoid getting motion sickness.