The Bourne Supremacy: Scene by Scene
The antagonism between Abbott and Landy is resolved when she confronts him in his hotel room. The music rises suddenly, Abbott raises the gun to his head, there is a sudden shot and Greengrass cuts away to a wider shot of the hotel. Landy screams.
Greengrass cuts to a ticket inspector who takes Bourne’s passport. Here the score continues to Bourne’s character development. “It’s insistent and forceful and yet lyrical,” says Greengrass in the commentary. “Full of the restless, questing, troubled soul that is Jason Bourne. It’s got a pulse there, but it’s got a lyrical figure, too, that is Bourne’s sense of hope, I suppose, his yearning for the light, his yearning to arrive.” Greengrass lingers on a close up of Bourne as he looks at the darkness through the train window. He glances down and there is a point of view shot of the photograph of him with Marie. Cutting back to the close up, Bourne looks mournfully out the window. This use of editing, acting and music helps to convey that Bourne is no longer content simply seeking revenge.
“We’re now starting to feel that this is no longer a journey of revenge but it’s a quest for something more mysterious, perhaps larger, more noble,” says Greengrass. “You’ve got to build all the pieces so that when you hit the third act you feel a surge of new energy and a real sense of anticipation that there’s yet one more chapter left in the story to go and perhaps the best of all.”
The third act of the film features a tense chase as Kirill pursues Bourne through the streets of Moscow. The cars collide with a sickening crunch and there is a moment of silence as Greengrass tracks Bourne emerging from the wreckage, gun raised in an unsteady handheld shot. He lingers on a close up of Bourne as he limps towards Kirill, encouraging the audience to identify with him. Greengrass cuts to a wider shot of Bourne pointing his pistol at the car, holding it for a moment before cutting to a tighter shot of the character and, finally, a close up of Kirill slumped over the steering wheel, dying. A reverse shot and poignant piano music helps to convey the sense of satisfaction and revulsion that Bourne feels. Greengrass holds a shot of Bourne, backlit as he walks into the light.
In a brief series of shots, Greengrass shows Gretkov being led away by police, bringing closure to this storyline.
“And so we get to the end of Bourne’s journey,” Greengrass says in his commentary. “Jason Bourne travelling from the colour and the sunlight and the texture of India, through to the snowy, monochromatic wastes of a winter Moscow to meet a young woman and give her the only gift he had to give her, the only gift that he had to give anybody: the truth.”
In this scene, Bourne gives Neski’s daughter closure, telling her that her father didn’t kill her mother. This is achieved predominantly through dialogue, tight close ups emphasising the emotion on their faces.
Bourne: I’m not gonna hurt you. I won’t hurt you. You’re older. Older than I thought you’d be. That picture. Does that mean a lot to you?
Irena: It’s nothing. It’s just a picture.
Bourne: No. It’s ’cause you don’t know how they died.
Irena: I do.
Bourne: No, you don’t. I would want to know. I would want to know that my that my mother didn’t kill my father, That she didn’t kill herself.
Irena: What?
Bourne: It’s not what happened to your parents. I killed them. I killed them. It was my job. It was my first time. Your father was supposed to be alone. But then your mother came out of nowhere and I had to change my plan. It changes things, That knowledge. Doesn’t it? When what you love gets taken from you, You wanna know the truth. I’m sorry.
As he walks away from the apartment building, the camera tilts up and the music rises, conveying a hint of tragedy and resolution. “It’s a measure of peace for Jason Bourne,” says Greengrass. “He’s done the only thing he can, he’s answered that question that we started with. What can you do when there is blood on your hands? The answer is not much. But you can atone.”
According to Greengrass, the final scene in the film – when Bourne talks to Landy on the telephone – helps to end the film with a sense of defiance and humour. “I guess I owe you an apology,” Landy says, before revealing his real name.
“Get some rest, Pam,” Bourne says, in a scene mirroring what happened earlier. “You look tired.” The song ‘Extreme Ways’ by Moby, used at the end of The Bourne Identity, starts to play as she spins around, a point of view shot scanning the surrounding buildings. Bourne disappears into a crowded street and the credits roll.