I decided to go see The Bourne Ultimatum last night. All in all, I'm glad I did, but there were a few too many distractions for my taste.

Oh, and don't be worried if you plan to go see this film. I'm not going to reveal any plot spoilers. Unfortunately, there may be a new spoilers of other types, namely, the things that irritated me while watching the movie. Well, not counting the numbskull sitting behind me who bought three packs of Cheetos to munch on. I mean, sheesh, could you make any more noise while you try (barely successfully, based on how long it took) to open the bags to stuff the contents down your throat? And didn't your mama teach you to chew with your mouth closed?

Sorry, I just had to get that off my chest. Back to the movie.

Thrillers based on Ludlum novels are expected to require some degree of suspension of disbelief. While TBU (that's The Bourne Ultimatum, in case that abbreviation escaped you) doesn't require you to hang your disbelief by the neck until dead, it's gets pretty close. But I'll also admit that these instances were brief and passing, and the story itself was good enough to rope me back into it in very short order.

I'll also whine that it's pretty irritating that some of the best scenes are used in the TV commercials for the picture, so they completely lost their impact when I saw them in the movie. Oh, and thanks for the cheese (or Cheetos, maybe?) to go along with my whine.

Probably the most distracting thing about the flick was the over-reliance on the NYPD Blue approach to holding the cameras: portrait shots were usually from handheld cameras at a long-ish distance and a tight zoom, so the character's head keeps bouncing around the screen. Added to that, these shots were often over the shoulder of the second character in the scene, as though the cameraman was peeking over their shoulder, and the back of their head takes up a third or more of the screen. This effect was used liberally at the beginning of the movie, but thankfully diminished as the film progressed.

A fight scene in the middle part of the movie was very well done. I tend to want (irrationally, maybe) to see every move and blow during a movie fight, but this one went too fast and had too much action for that. So while it wasn't done the way I "prefer," I was still impressed by it.

Maybe I'm too picky and literal [No, Boyd, not you!! — Ed.], but please don't attempt to make me believe that the main character is dead 45 minutes into an hour and fifty minute film. Okay, I said I wouldn't reveal any plot spoilers, but, c'mon, would you really buy that?

While this sounds like a gripe session, I enjoyed watching this movie. I'm not sure it gained much from the theater experience, though, so if you're cheap or for other reasons watch a lot of movies after they come out on DVDs, I think this one is a good candidate for the wait. If you're a frequent movie-goer, though, go ahead and spend the nine bucks or whatever to see this in your local cinema. It's intended to entertain, and The Bourne Ultimatum does a good job of entertaining.