Greg's Thriller Analysis (Bourne Ultimatum)

Greg's Analysis

The Bourne Ultimatum

 The film opens with Jason Bourne on the walking with some urgency, which makes us ask the question 'Why is he hurrying?'. The soundtrack in the background is quiet yet with a hight tempo, which give us a sense of urgency and action. We see from the way he is walking that he has a limp, probably from an injury. He is wearing all black, which adds a sense of mystery to him. He turns around when he hears sirens, which indicates to us that Bourne is on the run from the police, though we don't know yet if they are looking for him.

 We then find out that the police are on a manhunt for Bourne. We know this because we get a shot of a police car turning towards them, across traffic. We then ask ourselves a new question: 'why are the police chasing Bourne?'

After some more chasing through a train, we get an answer to the question, We get some subtitles of someone speaking through an intercom. She says 'Suspect from tunnel auto chase heading east from Kievsky Train Station'. We find out why Bourne is running from the police, and it's because he was involved in a car chase. From this, I also believe this almost immediately follows the events of the previous film, The Bourne Supremacy, which ended with a car chase that ended in a tunnel.

The soundtrack slows and quietens when Bourne escapes the police and enters a pharmacy, where we get a shot of him pulling out a gun and putting it in a sink, I assume, to clean it. We now get a new question: what has Bourne done with that gun?'

At this point, we hear a non-diegetic vacuum-like sound, which immediately led to a flashback. I know this is a flashback because there is an effect used on the film. The effect makes everything look brighter, increases the blurriness and also makes the visuals stop and start very quickly.This gives a sense that this is a flashback we don't fully understand. However, we do see enough to make conclusions. We believe that Bourne was forced into this 'programme'.

While this is happening, the police have found him again and they tell him 'put your hands up'. He doesn't turn around, but the police start to move closer. This increases suspense as we feel that when they get too close, Bourne will strike. The non-diegetic sound track is building up again to a crescendo.