50 Greatest Bourne Movie Moments
Warning! Contains Legacy spoilers...
Cross To The Rescue
The Moment: Dr. Shearing is about to be taken care of by Byers' operatives, only for Cross to appear from nowhere and engage them in a jarring fistfight, before cranking things up a notch with a pair of pistols. Nobody walks…
Bourne Cool: It gives Jeremy Renner his first real opportunity to show what he can do, and he more than lives up to Matt Damon's efforts. The fire extinguisher kill is terribly cool, as is Renner's athleticism in swiftly scaling the exterior of a three story house, a stunt he performed himself.
Look What They Make You Give
The Moment: Bourne engages The Professor in a shootout in a field near Eamon's house, before eventually taking down his target with a couple of well-aimed shotgun shells. Slumped in defeat, his enemy reveals a little more detail about Treadstone, before eventually passing on.
Bourne Cool: Clive Owen's one scene of dialogue is particularly effective, as he reveals himself to be a very normal-seeming man, caught up in Treadstone's web of deception, just as Bourne is. "Look what they make you give," he says sadly, before breathing his last.
Roof Chase
The Moment: Bourne pursues Blackbriar agent Desh across the rooftops of Tangier, before eventually cornering him in a room and engaging him in a bout of fisticuffs. Innovation points are this time scored by Bourne's use of a nearby book…
Bourne Cool: It's a sequence of breathtaking intensity, with the window-leap moment (in which the camera seems to jump with Bourne) a particular highlight.
Taxi Driver
The Moment: Bourne goes weaving his way through some serious crosstown traffic in the second film's big car chase. Moscow has never seemed so perilous as the police and Kirill give chase in a truly stomach-churning sequence.
Bourne Cool: Paul Greengrass ramps up the shakey-cam kinetics to nigh-on unbearable levels for a chase that leaves the audience feeling as dizzy and disorientated as the protagonists. Extremely effective, if a little full-on!
David Webb Returns
The Moment: Having informed Dr. Hirsch that he is no longer Jason Bourne, our hero flees the building, only to be confronted by Paz. Paz asks why he didn't kill him when he had the chance, to which Bourne replies: "Do you even know why you're supposed to kill me? Look at us. Look at what they make you give."
Bourne Cool: By this stage, Bourne really has come full circle, and having him quote the dying words of The Professor is a lovely touch.
Doctor Death
The Moment: A brainwashed scientist performs a massacre at the science facility where the Outcome agents are supplied with their meds and given regular checkups. Only Dr. Shearing escapes with her life.
Bourne Cool: It's a hugely shocking sequence as the shooter removes the doorhandles from the lab, allowing him to take his time as he picks off the terrified doctors, one by one. Cue plenty of lurid splatter against the antiseptic white surfaces of the lab.
Lost Love
The Moment: Kirill pursues Bourne and Marie through a fraught car chase before catching the latter with a bullet that sends the car careening over a bridge. Underwater, Bourne desperately tries to free his lover, but he's too late, and forced to leave her body in the murky depths.
Bourne Cool: It was a bold move to kill Marie off in Supremacy 's opening act, but isolating Bourne makes sense narratively, and this underwater farewell packs a real emotional punch.
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Shot And Missing
The Moment: As Nicky Parsons watches the news broadcast concerning Bourne's shooting, the final sentence catches her attention: "however, after a three-day search, Webb's body has yet to be found". A small smile plays across her mouth, the scene cuts to a body underwater, and Bourne swims to freedom.
Bourne Cool: Everything about the finale is perfect, from Stiles' reaction to the perfectly timed kick-in of Moby's Extreme Ways . Gold.
Rush Hour
The Moment: Bourne and Marie attempt to evade the attentions of Paris' finest law enforcers in a hair-raising car chase through the city's narrowest streets. That poor little Mini takes one hell of a thrashing!
Bourne Cool: The series' first car chase of note is a bruising affair, as Bourne pushes his pint-sized getaway vehicle to its absolute limit. The moment when he sends it careening down a flight of steps is a definite high point!
Waterloo
The Moment: The Bourne Ultimatum begins in spectacular style as Bourne attempts to guide Paddy Considine's Guardian journalist safely through Waterloo station, without getting a bullet in his head. Sadly, the journo isn't too good at following orders…
Bourne Cool: It's the single most exhilarating set-piece in a franchise full of them, with the commuter-led bustle of Waterloo forming the perfect backdrop to the crucial game of cat and mouse. What a way to kick off the threequel!
George was once GamesRadar's resident movie news person, based out of London. He understands that all men must die, but he'd rather not think about it. But now he's working at Stylist Magazine.