Big Picture Big Sound

The Films

Who is Jason Bourne? The first answer to that question is that Jason Bourne is the brainchild of the former theatre actor turned author Robert Ludlum whose character Jason Bourne first appeared on screen in the 1980's in a television mini-series starring Richard Chamberlain in the lead role. Ludlum spent much of his years as an author struggling to gain critical acceptance for his popular spy novels and was often compared to other authors of the same ilk such as John Le Carré in an unfavorable light.

By 2002, however, Ludlum's fortunes had changed and young authors were now being compared to him. Producers saw this as an opportunity to capitalize on the success of the author's popular trilogy of spy thrillers, The Bourne Identity, The Bourne Supremacy, and The Bourne Ultimatum.  The author himself had often wanted to return to the stories and do them better justice in bringing them to the screen than he felt the earlier television adaptation had done.

Which brings us to the second answer to the question posed, "Who is Jason Bourne?" Jason Bourne is a CIA agent, part of a covert experimental program to build the perfect assassin. During his first real mission, Bourne, played in the films by Matt Damon, fails to eliminate his target and awakens with a case of amnesia to find the agency that trained him now trying to kill him.

In an effort to find his true identity and figure out how he can do so many things, like fight off multiple people at once without breaking a sweat and use weapons he can't remember ever having held in his hands before, he makes his way to Berlin to check a security deposit account under what he believes to be his name. There he inveigles a civilian woman, Marie (Franka Potente) into helping him discover his identity and escape from the government assassins trying to terminate him.  Thus begins the saga of Jason Bourne in The Bourne Identity and the story follows through nicely in a tightly woven arc straight through The Bourne Supremacy to The Bourne Ultimatum. 

The Bourne films, unlike their 007 brethren, rely far more on story and situation to drive the plot than special effects and gadgetry and these stories never slow down enough to become stagnant. Bourne is always moving forward, realistically and believably.

Has the Bourne series redefined the spy thriller? Quite possibly, it has. Even last year's big Bond film, Quantum of Solace was heavily noted for owing much of its style to the Bourne films.  The screen adaptations of Ludlum's CIA agent gone rogue also forgo the requisite explosion every several seconds that we find in most action films and rely less heavily on CGI and more on practical special effects grounding them in the real world. People can watch them and think, "Yeah, that really could happen."

None of that is to say that Bourne does not, naturally, owe a debt to the mighty 007. There are many similarities between the two -- the car chases, the globetrotting, the actual on-location filming employed by the producers. All of these things that make the Bourne films captivating to watch have all been pioneered by the Bond camp. Bourne with Matt Damon in the lead, however, brings a modern, everyman feel to the world of the spy thriller that makes it more palatable to a broader audience and employs a sense of realism.

For alternate views on Bourne, see our resident film guru Joe Lozito's theatrical reviews of The Bourne Ultimatum and The Bourne Supremacy.

The Picture

All three films in the collection come with 1080p/24 VC-1 high definition encodings that look superb and show no evidence of compression artifacts. Although it is oldest, Bourne Identity looks the best with the cleanest looking image, sharpest detail and best shadow detail. Supremacy suffers slightly from black crush but overall is again a solid transfer and displays all the same strengths as Identity, such as natural flesh tones, good contrast and no artifacts. Ultimatum is also a solid effort, looking nearly as good as Identity, but with deeper blacks and some occasional softness. Overall these are excellent looking transfers for these sorts of films. They perfectly render the moody look of Berlin and Moscow in the winter, the shadowy streets and dark corners that a spy thriller needs. This is reference material all the way.

The Sound

Each film in the Bourne Trilogy collection is given the DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 lossless treatment in addition to French and Spanish DTS 5.1 dubs.  From the opening Universal logo of The Bourne Identity, the DTS-HD MA mix declares itself as an aggressive sound mix that will demand to be reckoned with from your ears and your sound system. Ambience drips from the rear speakers, the film's score is discretely mixed into all six channels, and the LFE pounds.  Dialogue is intelligible and unsullied, never getting lost in the mix. Engines roar, guns pop with authority and punches land with appropriate thuds from any and every direction. The front three channels are very effectively utilized to follow action on screen as well. Just as the films go, the sound mixes are completely entertaining and fitting for films such as these.

The Extras
 
Fittingly for a collection of this stature, The Bourne Trilogy comes loaded down with an abundance of supplemental materials adding much value to the set.  One downside to the video extras offered up by Universal on these discs is that they are all in standard definition, which is quite disappointing. Bourne fans can still rejoice, however, at the plethora of behind-the-scenes looks and interactive features included with this collection. Each disc has also been authored with BD-Live features, but none of them were active at the time of this review.

The extras available in this set are:

• The Bourne Identity:
  • The Ludlum Identity (4:3/"windowboxed"/standard definition) -- This is a brief documentary about Robert Ludlum, the late actor turned writer and author of the Bourne trilogy of books among others.
  • The Ludlum Supremacy (4:3/"windowboxed"/standard definition) -- This featurette is all about how Ludlum developed the Jason Bourne character and his inspiration for writing the novels.
  • The Ludlum Ultimatum (4:3/"windowboxed"/stadard definition) -- Through interview segments with producers, actors, and friends of Ludlum, the adaptation of the Bourne series of books to the big screen is dissected.  
  • Alternate Opening and Alternate Ending with Optional Introduction with Producer Frank Marshall, Co-Writer Tony Gilroy, and Actor Brian Cox (4:3/standard definition) -- Fearing  a backlash against these sorts of films in a  post-9/11 world, producers decided to film an alternate opening and ending to give the film a slightly different angle had feedback from test screenings been negative.
  • Deleted Scenes (4:3/standard definition):
    • "Wombosi on the Private Jet"
    • "Bourne and Marie by the Side of the Road"
    • "Psychologist Discusses Bourne"
    • "Bourne and Marie Practice on Subway"
  • Extended Subway Scene (4:3/"windowboxed"/standard definition)
  • The Birth of the Bourne Identity (4:3/standard definition) -- A making-of featurette, promotional in tone featuring cast and crew interview segments.
  • The Bourne Mastermind: Robert Ludlum (4:3/"windowboxed"/standard definition) -- Another brief documentary on the life of author Robert Ludlum.
  • Access Granted: An Interview with Co-Writer Tony Gilroy (4:3/standard definition) -- A brief interview segment with Tony Gilroy discussing the characteristics that make Jason Bourne a compelling character.
  • From Identity to Supremacy: Jason & Marie (4:3/standard definition) -- Matt Damon and Franka Potente discuss working on the 1st and 2nd  Bourne films.
  • The Bourne Diagnosis (4:3/stadard definition) -- UCLA Psychiatrist, Dr. Reef Karim, talks about amnesia and the character Jason Bourne's condition.
  • Cloak and Dagger: Covert Ops (4:3/standard definition) -- A real CIA agent discusses Jason Bourne and what sort of training he would have had had he been a real CIA agent.
  • Inside a Fight Sequence (4:3/standard definition) -- Coordinating the fight sequences in The Bourne Identity.
  • Moby "Extreme Ways" music video (4:3/standard definition) -- Moby's song serves as the theme for all three Bourne films.
  • Feature Commentary with Director Doug Liman
  • U-Control -- this interactive, Profile 1.1 feature offers picture-in-picture commentaries, storyboard sketches, mission dossiers, Treadstone files, and more.
  • BD-Live
• The Bourne Supremacy:
  • Explosive Deleted Scenes (4:3/"windowboxed"/standard definition) -- This a few minutes of deleted scenes from the film. For whatever reason, unlike for the first film in the series, the scenes here are run consecutively.
  • Matching Identities: Casting (4:3/standard definition) -- Director Paul Greengrass talks about casting Bourne.
  • Keeping it Real (4:3/standard definition) -- The actors and producers talk about creating the style of the Bourne franchise for Supremacy.
  • Blowing things Up (4:3/standard definition) -- Creating the big explosion in the Bourne Supremacy.
  • On the Move with Jason Bourne (4:3/standard definition) -- Going on location with Jason Bourne in places like Berlin and Moscow.
  • Bourne to Be Wild: Fight Training (4:3/standard definition) -- Matt Damon and Jeff Imada, stunt coordinator are shown  working out the film's big fight scene.
  • Crash Cam: Racing Through the Streets of Moscow (4:3/standard definition) -- Paul Greengrass, Patrick Crowley, Stunt coordinator Dan Bradley, discuss putting together the big car chase scene in Moscow. The scene was difficult to film because of the bitterly cold temperatures, ice and snow. The film crew  used very technical, remote driving gear mounted on the car roof to capture many of the shots inside the car.
  • The Go-Mobile Revs up The Action (4:3/"windowboxed"/standard definition) --  This all about a customized vehicular rig to capture action in the cars.
  • Anatomy of a Scene: The Explosive Bridge Chase Scene (4:3/standard definition) -- The stunt coordinator, director and Damon reveal how they captured the scene with Jason Bourne jumping off a bridge onto a moving barge.
  • Scoring with John Powell (4:3/standard definition) -- The composer details his approach to scoring the second film in the series.
  • The Bourne Mastermind (Part 2) (4:3/"windowboxed"/standard definition) -- A brief documentary on the author Robert Ludlum.
  • The Bourne Diagnosis (Part 2) (4:3/"windowboxed"/standard definition) -- More delving into the psyche of Jason Bourne.
  • Feature Commentary with Director Paul Greengrass
  • U-Control:
    • Picture-in-Picture -- Cast and crew commentaries, storyboard sketches, behind-the-scenes of the production and more highlight this BonusView feature.
    • Bourne Orientation -- Get detailed information on the character of Jason Bourne as film plays.
    • The Bourne Dossier -- What is Bourne's objective?
  • BD-Live
• The Bourne Ultimatum:
  • Deleted Scenes (4:3/"windowboxed"/standard definition) -- Again, the scenes here are played consecutively.
  • Be Bourne Spy Training -- A Spy Aptitude Test; watch clips from the film and then choose one of four responses within 20-seconds to determine your ability to visually capture information and commit to memory small details of each situation. I scored 3 out of 5 which made me a target analyst.
    • Man on the Move: Jason Bourne (1.78:1/standard definition) -- Behind-the-scenes with the cast and crew filming on location around the world:
    • Berlin
    • Paris
    • London
    • Madrid
    • Tangier
  • Rooftop Pursuit (1.78:1/standard definition) -- Filming the rooftop pursuit on location on Tangier.
  • Planning the Punches (1.78:1/standard definition) -- Coordinating the film's brutal hand-to-hand combat scene.
  • Driving School (1.78:1/standard definition) -- This behind-the-scenes look shows Damon in NJ getting stunt driving lessons for the film.
  • New York Chase (1.78:1/standard definition) -- Coordinating the New York City car chase.
  • Feature Commentary with Director Paul Greengrass
    • U-Control:
    • Volkswagen Get More Info
    • Blackbriar Files
    • Bourne Orientation
    • Picture in Picture
  • BD-Live

Final Thoughts

The Bourne Trilogy may be one of the better series of spy thrillers to come along in many years and this Blu-ray Disc collection from Universal has done it great justice. Fans will rejoice at the superb sound, excellent picture and overwhelming abundance of extras provided. This is highly recommended for any fans of these films or this genre.

Where to Buy

• The Bourne Trilogy on Blu-ray Disc (Amazon.com)

Product Details

• Actors: Matt Damon, Joan Allen, Julia Stiles, Franka Potente, Chris Cooper
• Video Codec: VC-1
• Language: English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1, French & Spanish DTS 5.1
• Subtitles: English, French, Spanish
• Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
• Number of discs: 3
• Rating:  PG-13
• Studio: Universal Studios
• Blu-ray Disc Release Date: January 27, 2009
• Run Time: 344 minutes
• List Price: $94.98
• Extras:
  • Details on Extras noted above
  • U-Control
  • BD-Live:
    • My Chat -- Chat live with your buddies while you watch the movie together
    • My Movie Commentary -- Create your own webcam video commentary to share with your friends
    • Bourne Card Strategy Challenge