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Q. A blogger named Brian at takes issue with your remarks about Paul Greengrass' long takes in "The Bourne Ultimatum," writing: "I don't recall a single take in this movie that was more than about three seconds long. Either Greengrass really does a spectacular job of not 'calling attention' to those long takes, or Ebert saw a different movie. But it's very strange, no matter what." (From goneelsewhere.wordpress.com:) Who's right?
Greg Nelson, Chicago
A. This inspired some introspection. I didn't write about long takes in my notes during the movie, but while writing the review, they formed in my memory. If Brian is right, perhaps what happened was that sustained stretches of breakneck action, as assembled by editor Christopher Rouse, played like unbroken takes in their effect, especially since so much of the movie follows the action with a Steadicam or hand-held camera. Rouse tells me there are lots of shots more than three seconds long, and the film's first assistant editor, Robert Malina, writes me: "We have long shots! In Reel 2, we have a 20-second Steadicam shot going through the halls of SRD, following the characters Vosen and Wills (David Strathairn and Corey Johnson)."