...a fine addition to anybody’s high definition collection.
Sound:
A few odd catalog titles have recently seen a Dolby TrueHD soundtrack accompany the film onto HD-DVD. However, the studios tentpole films continue to miss out on the exciting new technology of uncompressed and superior sound. "The Bourne Identity" is one of these titles that was just screaming for TrueHD, but is left with only a Dolby Digital Plus 5.1 mix. Thankfully, the Dolby Digital Plus soundtrack is effective and creates a nice enveloping soundfield for the film. Rear surrounds are used effectively in the film. Details can be picked out from a Parisian taxi to breaking glass. The .1 LFE subwoofer pounds hard a few times during the film and the deep bass sounds excellent. The front channels carry much of the film´s audio and expertly delivers dialogue. Movement between channels is solid as well. The score by John Powell is hard hitting and emphasized by both bass and direction. I enjoyed the soundtrack of "The Bourne Identity," but am still wondering why TrueHD did not make its way onto the shiny little platter.
Extras:
Universal may have slighted "The Bourne Identity" in the sound department, but they certainly did not skimp on bonus materials. Perhaps the limited soundtrack was to allow for more space for the bonus offerings. The film benefits from its jump to the next generation format with the inclusion of Universal´s U-Control. On this disc, the Picture in Picture pop ups provide insightful information on various aspects of the film. Director Doug Liman, Franka Potente, Matt Damon and others chime in throughout the film and give reason to hold onto the remote. Some of the material can also be found in the stand alone extras, but much of the material didn´t seem as familiar. The second part of the interactive U-Control is something called The Treadstone Files. When this is activated, a nice graphical overlay provides detailed information on what is on-screen. During a fight scene, this showed the damage inflicted onto Bourne´s opponent. The "Treadstone Files" looked very spiffy and was fun to play with, but it was lacking in providing anything overly exciting after the first four or five instances it appeared.
Old School technology is in abundance on the disc as well. A nice Feature Commentary with Doug Liman can be played in place of the U-Control and features a nice chat with the film´s director. Liman´s commentary is insightful and the director is both chatty and personable through his commentary track. I did not purchase the DVD that contained this commentary and rather enjoyed sitting through his take on his movie. I won´t call this the best commentary track I´ve ever heard, but I learned a good amount of tidbits on a film I´ve watched a half a dozen times and feel it is worth taking time out to enjoy.
The stand alone supplements are a mixed bag. Some are very good, while others are easily passed over. Regardless, there are a lot of them. The offerings beging with a three part look at Robert Ludlum. The Ludlum Identity (12:47) features snippets from an interview with the original novel´s writer and friends of the novelist recounting their memories of the man behind the Jason Bourne stories. The Ludlum Supremacy (12:41) is the second part of the recount of Robert Ludlum. It features much of the same as the first part. The third part continues mimicking the name of the films and The Ludlum Ultimatum (24:48) is the longest and most informative of the three Ludlum-centric supplements. This wraps up the Ludlum documentary and talks about Ludlum´s interest in making a new film based on the book and other tidbits about the author.
Next up are different scenes and excised bits not used in the film. Both an Alternate Opening and Alternate Ending (10:46) are included. They can be played together or separately and contains an optional introduction with Producer Frank Marshall, screenwriter Tony Gilroy and actor Brian Cox. This was a very nice way of providing the alternate bookends for the film and they were interesting enough. Four Deleted Scenes (6:58) are contained on the disc. They provide character details, but are not missed from the main film. Sadly, their visual quality is poor with letterboxing and pillarboxing. An Extended Farmhouse Scene (:58) is short and sweet and of even worse condition than the deleted scenes. It is interesting to see something that is VHS in quality in glorious high definition. Still, it is a nice addition for the disc.
The extras continue with The Birth of The Bourne Identity (14:31). This relatively short featurette is your typical electronic press kit feature with plenty of talking heads moments and face time with the stars. It is glitzy and polished and does more advertising of the film than including making of bits. The last item on the first page of supplements on the disc menu is The Bourne Mastermind: Robert Ludlum (5:44). This vignette doesn´t cover anything that wasn´t in the three part feature previously, but it is a nice quick look at the author. For those that do now want to sit through the other forty five minutes of Ludlum bits, this is a nice summary. The Access Granted: An Interview with Screenwriter Tony Gilroy (4:03) is another quick vignette and spends just a few moments with the film´s screenwriter.
The short vignettes continue with From Identity to Supremacy: Jason & Marie (3:37). This is quick and features Damon and Potente discussing their characters and hinting at their involvement in the sequel. Having seen the second film, this was passable. The Bourne Diagnosis (3:25) looks at the possibility of the level of amnesia suffered by the main character with a psychologist named Reef Karem. Lots of big words in just three and a half minutes. Cloak and Dagger: Covert Ops (5:31) runs a little bit longer than the first and continues with the supplements that were produced together. This looks at the history of the CIA and the Covert Ops that actually occurs there. A little information is given with former clandestine operative Chase Brandon. The Speed of Sound (4:04) and Inside a Fight Sequence (4:42) are two quick making-of vignettes. After hitting menu from "The Speed of Sound," I was taken to an interactive mixing board. I assume this was an easter egg. It was kind of fun to play with. Finally, the Moby "Extreme Ways" Music Video and a Theatrical Trailer complete the bonus materials.
Closing Comments:
"The Bourne Identity" finally joins "The Bourne Supremacy" on HD-DVD from Universal Studios. I always felt it was a bit odd that the second film was released first and the first film was absent, but coinciding with the release of the third film in the trilogy, the first is finally available as a next-gen disc. With U-Control and a ton of special features, the HD-DVD is a very nice disc. Picture quality is superb with a very natural and nicely detailed image. Sound quality would have been better if it were Dolby TrueHD, but we can´t have everything, can we? The disc itself is very nice and the fact that it took me nearly three days to pound out this review suggests how entertaining the offerings are and how long it takes to get through everything. I enjoy the first film more than the final two pictures and appreciate that it is now on HD-DVD. This is one of the better overall releases from Universal and does justice to the Jason Bourne character. It isn´t "Hot Fuzz," which is one of the finest HD-DVD releases to date, but this is a fine addition to anybody´s high definition collection.
A few odd catalog titles have recently seen a Dolby TrueHD soundtrack accompany the film onto HD-DVD. However, the studios tentpole films continue to miss out on the exciting new technology of uncompressed and superior sound. "The Bourne Identity" is one of these titles that was just screaming for TrueHD, but is left with only a Dolby Digital Plus 5.1 mix. Thankfully, the Dolby Digital Plus soundtrack is effective and creates a nice enveloping soundfield for the film. Rear surrounds are used effectively in the film. Details can be picked out from a Parisian taxi to breaking glass. The .1 LFE subwoofer pounds hard a few times during the film and the deep bass sounds excellent. The front channels carry much of the film´s audio and expertly delivers dialogue. Movement between channels is solid as well. The score by John Powell is hard hitting and emphasized by both bass and direction. I enjoyed the soundtrack of "The Bourne Identity," but am still wondering why TrueHD did not make its way onto the shiny little platter.
Extras:
Universal may have slighted "The Bourne Identity" in the sound department, but they certainly did not skimp on bonus materials. Perhaps the limited soundtrack was to allow for more space for the bonus offerings. The film benefits from its jump to the next generation format with the inclusion of Universal´s U-Control. On this disc, the Picture in Picture pop ups provide insightful information on various aspects of the film. Director Doug Liman, Franka Potente, Matt Damon and others chime in throughout the film and give reason to hold onto the remote. Some of the material can also be found in the stand alone extras, but much of the material didn´t seem as familiar. The second part of the interactive U-Control is something called The Treadstone Files. When this is activated, a nice graphical overlay provides detailed information on what is on-screen. During a fight scene, this showed the damage inflicted onto Bourne´s opponent. The "Treadstone Files" looked very spiffy and was fun to play with, but it was lacking in providing anything overly exciting after the first four or five instances it appeared.
Old School technology is in abundance on the disc as well. A nice Feature Commentary with Doug Liman can be played in place of the U-Control and features a nice chat with the film´s director. Liman´s commentary is insightful and the director is both chatty and personable through his commentary track. I did not purchase the DVD that contained this commentary and rather enjoyed sitting through his take on his movie. I won´t call this the best commentary track I´ve ever heard, but I learned a good amount of tidbits on a film I´ve watched a half a dozen times and feel it is worth taking time out to enjoy.
The stand alone supplements are a mixed bag. Some are very good, while others are easily passed over. Regardless, there are a lot of them. The offerings beging with a three part look at Robert Ludlum. The Ludlum Identity (12:47) features snippets from an interview with the original novel´s writer and friends of the novelist recounting their memories of the man behind the Jason Bourne stories. The Ludlum Supremacy (12:41) is the second part of the recount of Robert Ludlum. It features much of the same as the first part. The third part continues mimicking the name of the films and The Ludlum Ultimatum (24:48) is the longest and most informative of the three Ludlum-centric supplements. This wraps up the Ludlum documentary and talks about Ludlum´s interest in making a new film based on the book and other tidbits about the author.
Next up are different scenes and excised bits not used in the film. Both an Alternate Opening and Alternate Ending (10:46) are included. They can be played together or separately and contains an optional introduction with Producer Frank Marshall, screenwriter Tony Gilroy and actor Brian Cox. This was a very nice way of providing the alternate bookends for the film and they were interesting enough. Four Deleted Scenes (6:58) are contained on the disc. They provide character details, but are not missed from the main film. Sadly, their visual quality is poor with letterboxing and pillarboxing. An Extended Farmhouse Scene (:58) is short and sweet and of even worse condition than the deleted scenes. It is interesting to see something that is VHS in quality in glorious high definition. Still, it is a nice addition for the disc.
The extras continue with The Birth of The Bourne Identity (14:31). This relatively short featurette is your typical electronic press kit feature with plenty of talking heads moments and face time with the stars. It is glitzy and polished and does more advertising of the film than including making of bits. The last item on the first page of supplements on the disc menu is The Bourne Mastermind: Robert Ludlum (5:44). This vignette doesn´t cover anything that wasn´t in the three part feature previously, but it is a nice quick look at the author. For those that do now want to sit through the other forty five minutes of Ludlum bits, this is a nice summary. The Access Granted: An Interview with Screenwriter Tony Gilroy (4:03) is another quick vignette and spends just a few moments with the film´s screenwriter.
The short vignettes continue with From Identity to Supremacy: Jason & Marie (3:37). This is quick and features Damon and Potente discussing their characters and hinting at their involvement in the sequel. Having seen the second film, this was passable. The Bourne Diagnosis (3:25) looks at the possibility of the level of amnesia suffered by the main character with a psychologist named Reef Karem. Lots of big words in just three and a half minutes. Cloak and Dagger: Covert Ops (5:31) runs a little bit longer than the first and continues with the supplements that were produced together. This looks at the history of the CIA and the Covert Ops that actually occurs there. A little information is given with former clandestine operative Chase Brandon. The Speed of Sound (4:04) and Inside a Fight Sequence (4:42) are two quick making-of vignettes. After hitting menu from "The Speed of Sound," I was taken to an interactive mixing board. I assume this was an easter egg. It was kind of fun to play with. Finally, the Moby "Extreme Ways" Music Video and a Theatrical Trailer complete the bonus materials.
Closing Comments:
"The Bourne Identity" finally joins "The Bourne Supremacy" on HD-DVD from Universal Studios. I always felt it was a bit odd that the second film was released first and the first film was absent, but coinciding with the release of the third film in the trilogy, the first is finally available as a next-gen disc. With U-Control and a ton of special features, the HD-DVD is a very nice disc. Picture quality is superb with a very natural and nicely detailed image. Sound quality would have been better if it were Dolby TrueHD, but we can´t have everything, can we? The disc itself is very nice and the fact that it took me nearly three days to pound out this review suggests how entertaining the offerings are and how long it takes to get through everything. I enjoy the first film more than the final two pictures and appreciate that it is now on HD-DVD. This is one of the better overall releases from Universal and does justice to the Jason Bourne character. It isn´t "Hot Fuzz," which is one of the finest HD-DVD releases to date, but this is a fine addition to anybody´s high definition collection.
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