BOURNE SUPREMACY, THE - Blu-ray review

Once upon a time there was this fledgling little format called HD-DVD. It did some pretty cool things Blu-ray could not do and Universal Home Video was one of the studios to take full advantage of what HD-DVD could do. One such trick that Blu-ray was not capable of pulling of was the "Combo Format" releases where Universal had a standard definition DVD platter glued to the rear of the HD-DVD platter. Because the two formats shared the same manufacturing capabilities, they could do this. Blu-ray was based on a manufacturing process similar to that of the old CD specification; I believe Red Book. It could not pull of the same trick and to provide consumers this capability a second DVD was simply included in the packaging. Technology has improved and now Universal is releasing single disc versions with Blu-ray and DVD merged and the "Bourne" trilogy is their first releases featuring the new "Blu-ray + DVD: Both Versions on One Disc" technology.

"The Bourne Supremacy" is the second of Robert Ludlum's literary trilogy. After the great success of the first film, "The Bourne Identity," the second book was quickly greenlighted for the transformation to the silver screen. However, because Ludlum's novels were based upon the Cold War era of the 1970s, the only real relation the second film has with the second novel is the title. Screenwriter Tony Gilroy has re-imagined the Bourne stories, but due to the age of the original source materials and the changing climate of today's world, the changes were necessary to try to keep the material relevant with events today. The third book of the trilogy, "The Bourne Ultimatum" is expected to see a 2007 release.

The Bourne franchise follows Jason Bourne (Matt Damon) as he battles amnesia and the complete inability to remember his name or any other details of his life. The films' creators have strived to create a rival franchise to that of the James Bond series, but to do so in a manner where the super spy is more ‘contemporary' and relies not on fancy gadgets or a suave exterior, but on training, wit and a dangerous knack to kill. Where Bond has a license to kill, Bourne has an incredible ability to do so. Jason Bourne is a man who could very well exist in our world and where Bond continually saves the day from asinine attempts at destroying our world, Bourne is driven by a desire for answers and for revenge.

The film begins with Jason Bourne and his lover Marie (Franke Potente) where they have started a quiet life in a coastal town in India. However, their quiet and peaceful little existence is shattered when an assassin, Kirill (Karl Urban, "Doom") discovers their location and takes away the only love that Bourne has known since losing his memory. An overzealous CIA agent, Joan Allen (Pamela Landy) wants to uncover the truth about the secret operation Bourne was part of and puts out an exhaustive effort to do so. Bourne is thrust back into a world of espionage and murder when he seeks revenge on those who have crossed him. Bourne is a killer and a very good one. It does not take long for him to take up old habits. The lovely Julia Stiles returns to reprise her role as Nicky and assist Landy in finding Bourne.

Jason Bourne is a truly great character. Matt Damon IS Jason Bourne. He is a man tormented by not knowing his past, but confident in his learned abilities to kill. He is a very dangerous individual, but even though he is driven by a factor of revenge and anger, he resorts to violence only when absolutely necessary and constantly tries to distance himself from the person he believes he was in the past. He is confronted by precarious situations and uses what is available to him to get out of them. Whether it be fighting an adversary with a rolled up magazine or speaking in a language he did not realize he could speak, he uses ingenuity and intelligence to prevail.

As was the case with its predecessor, "The Bourne Supremacy" is an excellent and very entertaining film. From its beautiful locations and constant attention to detail, to its engaging storyline and highly believable characters, the movie excels at feeding my desire to be entertained and my need to watch an intelligent film. From its opening moment when Bourne is struggling to cope with his forgotten identity to the closing moments when Bourne finds some comfort in retribution, "The Bourne Supremacy" is a top-notch thriller. Director Paul Greengrass has painted a picture that can proudly sit beside the early masterpieces of the Albert Broccoli collection.

There have not been that many long running ‘spy' franchises. There has been Connery and others as James Bond. Michael Caine's Harry Palmer, Gene Hackman's Jimmy Doyle, Tom Cruises Ethan Hunt and even Mike Myer's spoofed-up Austin Powers have been franchises that stand among the best. Matt Damon's Jason Bourne may be the franchise of the new millennium. At this point, I find it far more entertaining and watchable than the past fifteen years of Bond. Aside from Connery's take as 007, Damon's Bourne may be the best ‘spy movie' secret agent yet conceived. It will be interesting to see how a franchise that has grossed $300,000,000 dollars domestically will evolve in its third film and whether or not the series will continue after that. It will be even more interesting to see if Damon's role has any effect on the retransformation of James Bond and the new man behind the martini, Daniel Craig's portrayal of the character in "Casino Royale."

Video:

Paul Greengrass and his rough and dirty documentary style filmmaking changed the face of the "Bourne" trilogy films when he took over the helm for the second picture. The 2.35:1 framed sequel features faster cuts in editing and a shakier camera that gives you a more hectic experience. The picture is still detailed, but "The Bourne Supremacy" looks far grittier and less pretty than its predecessor. While the film doesn't look as polished, this was done entirely by design. Detail is exceptional on either side and is noticeably better than the first film regardless of chosen format. The darker scenes in this film do seem to suffer a minor amount of black crush, but I feel this is due to the stylized look utilized by Greengrass. There isn't any other notable issues with the transfer and Greengrass is an acquired taste. If you enjoy his style, then the Blu-ray side will give you some of the best looks at his shakey cam filmmaking. The DVD is still good as well.

Audio:

The DVD side contains a Dolby Digital 5.1 multichannel surround mix, while the Blu-ray side benefits from more than a decade of new technology and the higher bandwidth DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 mix. Both feature an aggressive mix with audio coming seemingly from every direction and every frequency from the booming .1 LFE subwoofer supplied bass notes the tweeter carried high notes sound great. Dialogue is clear. Of course, the DTS-HD Master Audio mix is cleaner and bolder, with far deeper sound. This is to be expected, but the old standby Dolby Digital track sounded quite good at higher volumes. The musical score by John Powell is handled with care by either the Dolby or DTS track. This second film was a more enjoyable audio experience than the first movie and a pleasure to watch again.

Extras:

The Blu-ray side of the release includes BD-Live features for Profile 2.0 based players that is carried across all three films and is identical on each of the discs. These next-gen features begin with the My Movie Commentary that allows users to use their EyeToy or other camera and record their own video commentary. I love this feature and it is played back via a PiP window and can be shared across the Internet. This allows everybody to be their own expert and can be fun. I enjoy it. The Chat feature allows you to sync up with friends who are also watching a film with "My Chat" and banter back and forth via a keyboard. I guess it lets you watch a movie with friends across the world, but I'm not sold. My Scenes let you share scenes with friends and is just an Internet based bookmarking service. Finally, the Bourne Card Strategy Challenge is a simple interactive card game that is relatively simple and can be enjoyed once or twice.

Only Blu-ray side utilizes the Universal U-Control Profile 1.1 content. The Bourne Dossier returns and this text and graphical based set of overlays provide a lot of information on characters, locations and other information pertaining to the film. It appears in fifteen of the discs twenty four chapters. The Bourne Orientation again appears and includes information pertaining to "The Bourne Supremacy" and how it relates to the entire trilogy and not just the events of this film. The Picture-in-Picture collection of behind-the-scenes footage and interviews is both exhaustive and impressive. Information is contained in every chapter including the final credit crawl and provides great information to what is being seen on screen. This is far superior to the PiP offering of the first disc in the trilogy and acts as a video commentary as it is essentially non-stop.

The two sides are closer in comparison that what the combo format release of "The Bourne Identity" was and the only DVD specific item are some of the ‘old style' < b>Cast and Filmmakers menu screens that give text based information. Both sides again include the Feature Commentary with Director Paul Greengrass. The commentary is quite informative and Greengrass provides nearly as good a commentary track as Liman did in the first film. Greengrass constantly discusses details of the film and making the film. He shares a good deal of information with the viewer and I would assume the entire commentary is quite thorough and worth a listen. There is a very good segment where Greengrass talks about how radically different his story is from the novel.

The remaining items are found on both the BD and DVD sides. First up are the Explosive Deleted Scenes. (10:46) These five scenes are put together in rough form as one ten minute featurette. They do add some explanation of what is going on in the film as far as how acquires some of the things he has in the film. One particular scene explains a bit too much of the storyline. They are definitely scenes that are best left on the cutting room floor, but their inclusion here is nice. Matching Identies: Casting (5:23) talks about the casting of the actors and actresses of the film for five minutes. Keeping it Real (4:58) is another quick five minute featurette that describes the feel and style of the picture and its evolution from the first film.

The next set of features pertain more to the high tech wizardry of the film and its special effects. Blowing Things Up (4:00) is all about blowing up a house in the film. I do enjoy a good explosion and they really did blow up the house. On the Move with Jason Bourne (4:46) discusses the shooting locations used in the film. Bourne to be Wild: Fight Training (4:21) is about the fighting scene that took place just before the previously mentioned house explosion. Crash Cam: Racing through the Streets of Moscow (5:58) goes into detail about the marvelous car-chase scene and how they used real cars and stunts for the sequence. The strangely named short, The Go-Mobile Revs up the Action (6:49) looks at the camera technology that was used to film the car chase sequence. Kevin, the driver of the Go-Mobile is a crazy person. His little cockpit up front of this contraption has not much protection and he drives fast. Looks like great fun though.

Moving down onto the second page of bonus features from the Extras menu reveals the previously discussed commentary track and a few other items of interest. Anatomy of a Scene: The Explosive Bridge Chase Scene (4:41) is self-explanatory through its title. Scoring with John Powell (4:46) is about the musical score for the picture and is a brief talk with John Powell. The Bourne Mastermind (Part 2) (4:42) is a short look at Robert Ludlum's inspiration to write the three novels that tell Bourne's story. The Bourne Diagnosis (Part 2) (5:39) looks at the effects of amnesia and helps to explain Bourne's condition more and shows how it was used to make the second film a new journey for the main character.

Closing:

Whether you want to use the Blu-ray disc to enjoy "The Bourne Supremacy" at its fullest potential on a home theater system or watch it on a laptop while on the road using the flipside DVD platter, the new combo format release of the second film of the "Bourne" trilogy is now offered in its most flexible and most technological version ever released. Universal has gotten a lot of mileage out of this franchise and while I prefer the first film of the series, this second entry has more action and more guts. It's a great deal of fun and I applaud Universal for figuring out a way to glue the DVD to the back side and remove the second disc from the packaging. Sound and video is great, regardless of chosen format and the special features (aside from the Blu-ray specific U-Control and BD-Live items) are close. This release isn't for those wanting the film on DVD, but those wanting to still play the film on DVD when they don't have access to their Blu-ray players.