If you loved the first two movies in the Bourne trilogy (Bourne Identity and Bourne Supremacy), you will find plenty to like in The Bourne Ultimatum. If those two failed to excite you, there may not be a lot here to entice you.

Ultimatum picks up as Jason Bourne, once an elite government assassin, continues his struggle to reclaim his past. Amnesia robs him of his memories after a mission goes wrong, so Bourne crosses the globe to track down the pieces of the puzzle to who he once was. Government agents, sent by the same wing of the CIA that once trained him, hound him every step of the way.

As in the other two movies, most of the fun is following these cat and mouse games as Bourne tries to stay one step ahead of the CIA operatives and local police. He is vastly outnumbered and outgunned, but he has an intuitive grasp of espionage tactics that allows him to outsmart his pursuers. It's half action movie, half chess game, and the whole is thoroughly entertaining to watch.

The camera work has landed on a happy medium after the first two movies. It's still kinetic and in-your-face, but not so shaky that the fights become hard to watch. The action itself is brutally realistic. It's a refreshing change from the slick explosion-laden fare found in most action movies.

The plot feels a little bit like ground we've traveled before, but it's still tight enough to keep things moving at a good pace. The script makes some bold choices with characterizations, further differentiating itself from the steady stream of junk Hollywood pumps into the action genre. It's a delight to find a screenwriter who understands how to layer backstory with a few choice words or a meaningful look, and knows when to stay out of the way and let the plot carry itself.

Did The Bourne Ultimatum change my life? No. But it's a fitting conclusion to an excellent set of movies, and I left the theater feeling like it was two hours well spent. To me, that's reason enough to catch the movie.