The Story Begins
The Moment: On a wild and stormy night at sea, a fishing boat discovers a lone body floating in the middle of nowhere. Riddled with bullets, but miraculously alive, Jason Bourne is pulled to safety, and the story begins...
Bourne Cool: The first scene sets up the entire premise perfectly, with the discovery of a strange chip embedded in Bourne's hip dragging the audience into the mystery head-first. Total immersion, right from the off.
Need For Speed
The Moment: The Bourne Legacy taps into its franchise heritage with a climactic motorbike chase that sees Alex Cross forced to weave between traffic, pedestrians and pursuing police cars, with a rival hitman on his tail for good measure. Phew!
Bourne Cool: It might not have the same charm as seeing Matt Damon thrash a Mini through Paris, but its still an electrifying car chase all the same. And the moment when Cross grinds the bike down a stairway is just inspired.
Betrayal
The Moment: Ward Abbott reveals himself to be the true villain of the piece, as he has Conklin taken out by one of Treadstone's hired guns. Not the end he'd envisaged for himself, we'd wager.
Bourne Cool: Brian Cox shifts from slightly cowed co-conspirator to fully paid-up villain in the space of a few seconds. Masterfully done.
Man vs. Wolf
The Moment: Cross has only just fled the carnage left by an unexpected drone attack, only to find himself pursued by wolves. Unfazed by the situation, he catches one in a trap, wrestles it to the ground, jams him tracking device down its throat and lets the returning drone do the rest. Problem solved, and his pursuers think he's dead into the bargain. Hooray!
Bourne Cool: To clarify, Cross traps, overpowers and forcefeeds a wolf, before out-sprinting it and getting clear of the explosion that reduces it to a stain on the snow. That's pretty cool!
Get Some Rest
The Moment: Paul Greengrass ties the second and third films together by repeating the final scene of Supremacy in Ultimatum , only this time, showing the involvement of Vosen in the conversation. He was listening in, all the time!
Bourne Cool: it was a cool scene first time around ("Get some rest, Pam"), and provides a nice link between films two and three. Nicely played, Mr. Greengrass.
The Running Man
The Moment: Bourne flees the authorities through the streets of Berlin that includes a detour by boat, a muscle-sapping climb across the underside of a bridge, a dash across some train tracks, and finally a seat on the subway. You've earned it, mate!
Bourne Cool: For all its superlative car chases, one of the series' greatest pursuits takes place on two legs. Thrilling stuff.
Bourne Begins
The Moment: Bourne finally fills in the gaps in his past when he confronts Dr. Albert Hirsch about how he came to be "Jason Bourne". The answers don't make for particularly pleasant listening, but they're answers all the same…
Bourne Cool: The flashback sequences make for fairly uncomfortable viewing, with Albert Finney on particularly menacing form here. "Welcome to the programme" indeed...
Home Invasion
The Moment: Bourne returns to his flat in Paris, but can't help feeling that something is amiss. Sure enough, the tension is duly broken by an assassin rappelling through the window, submachine gun blaring. And so it begins…
Bourne Cool: The tension that builds up to Bourne's first proper fight is almost unbearable, and the face-off itself is equally thrilling. It's also notable for demonstrating Bourne's unmatchable ability to use his surroundings to his advantage, on this occasion, by grabbing a nearby biro…
Data Theft
The Moment: Bourne contacts Vosen to inform him he's infiltrated Blackbriar HQ. "Where are you?" enquires Bourne. "I'm sitting in my office," bluffs Vosen. "I doubt that," comes the reply. "Why would you doubt that?" responds a bewildered Vosen. "If you were in your office right now we'd be having this conversation face to face."
Bourne Cool: Bourne's payoff line is a great one, but it also shows just how far he's come across the three films. He was never this calm and collected in Identity !
No Remorse
The Moment: Having uncovered Abbott's misdeeds, Landy aims to confront him back at the hotel, only to find him waiting for her, gun in hand. However, there is to be no shootout, as Abbott sneers "I'm not sorry," before turning his weapon on himself.
Bourne Cool: Abbott remains a villain to the end and dies suitably unrepentant. And even though we know it's coming, the gunshot always precipitates a jump!
