THE summer blockbuster season continues to serve up plenty of surprises, some of them pleasant like this third Bourne movie. This is, quite simply, the best action thriller for years and emerges as the best of the three for sheer heart-pumping excitement.

This is all the more unexpected from a narrative that consists of little more than a series of chases, punctuated by some espionage double speak back at spy HQ. Yet it reminds you that no amount of CGI-aided effects can replace the adrenalin rush provided by watching, with sweaty palms and mouth open in astonishment, a welldirected pursuit sequence.

Nobody says much which is probably advisable because in the double, even treble-crossing world of intelligence, nobody speaks the truth.

Director Paul Greengrass is a master at extracting every last ounce of tension as Matt Damon's amnesiac assassin is chased across half the world - Russia, France, Spain, Africa and England - by his former CIA masters as his memory slowly recovers. He finally finds out his real identity before he was Jason Bourne.

Greengrass' use of hand-held cameras, rapid editing and urgent music turns the marathon chases, games of hide-and-seek and no-holds-barred fights into unbearably tense sequences.

A pursuit through the narrow streets and markets of Tangier, a race to save an investigative journalist (Considine) at London's Waterloo Station and a climactic car chase through New York that resembles a demolition derby feature among the action.

Through it all, Damon's Bourne remains a good guy, someone you instinctively trust without him needing to say a lot. And he can take care of himself in a fight. Julia Stiles returns as agent Nicky Parsons, herself a target this time as Joan Allen's old-style agent and David Strathairn's devious CIA boss try to catch up with Bourne.

Stars: Matt Damon, Joan Allen, Julia Stiles, David Strathairn, Scott Glenn, Paddy Considine, Edgar Ramirez, Albert Finney
Running time: 115 mins
Rating: Four stars