Ryan MacMillan

It’s true. I can’t help myself. Over the last year or so, I seem to have developed an unexplainable love of Matt Damon films. Is it the lack of emotion? Is it the single facial expression? Is it the fact that he gets paid $29M per movie? I mean, The Good Shepherd was really long, and very little happened. And yet…

Anyway. On Sunday I went to see the Bourne Ultimatum and heartily enjoyed it. It moved so fast that there was barely time for a plot. Another undoubted highlight in the career of director Paul Greengrass. I’d recommend anyone to go see it. But that’s not the point of the post - which I’m getting to.

After the film, I felt compelled to search online to find out more about a plot strand from the movie concerning Jason Bourne’s relationship with Nicky, the character played by Julia Stiles. Something was hinted at in their past, and I assumed I’d just missed the hidden meaning or underlying message - as I so often do in movies.

A few years ago I remember searching online for an explanation of David Lynch’s Mulhollend Drive. Once I’d read the many musings on film sites, forums and blogs, I was left so baffled by the myriad hidden messages and meanings that I was left wondering whether I’d slept through the entire movie. But boy, did I feel clever pontificating about the film’s underlying metaphors once I was all clued up…

So - no such hidden messages in the Bourne Ultimatum, but apparently a hanging plot line that either didn’t have time to be explored in the current movie or might be picked up in a later movie. But this might present a more immediate opportunity to develop a further storyline or plot online, taking advantage of all the people who, like me, seem to have been searching for more information.

In the wake of the Lost Experience, one of my big tips for this year was more multi-channel storylines which would interweave traditional broadcast movie or TV content with digital content that the audience could help mould and define. There are so many online opportunities that good storytellers could take advantage of.