Director Paul Greengrass has painted a picture that can proudly sit beside the early masterpieces of the Albert Broccoli collection.
Tools:
Send to a friend »
Matt Damon. Whenever I hear that name, the first thing that comes to mind is "Team America: World Police." Though Damon was ridiculed by Trey Parker and Matt Stone, he is an actor that I enjoy watching. Aside from his debut in the film "Mystic Pizza," there haven´t been many Damon films I didn´t like. I feel some of his best work was the two movies that launched him to superstardom, "Good Will Hunting" and "Saving Private Ryan," but since those two films, Damon has proved to be a bankable actor and the "Bourne" and "Ocean´s" franchises are good examples of why.
"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."
Matt Stone and Trey Parker parodied Damon in "Team America: World Police." Truth be told, the parody was entirely due to the Damon puppet not looking very intelligent. Matt Damon is a fine actor and his portrayal of the Jason Bourne character launches this film into the must-see category for anybody looking for a good spy thriller.
Video
"The Bourne Supremacy" is a fine looking HD-DVD title. I do admit that I have some reservations about the visual style of the film. The quick editing and constant movements in some sequences are distractions. They are in the minority and the movie does have a greater amount of longer cuts and steady scenes. What is more disconcerting to me is the heavy green push through much of the film. So much of the film has a green tint to it and at times it takes away from the true beauty of the picture. The heavy green push was just as present on the standard definition DVD and the theatrical release. Using the new HD-DVD video commentary feature, it was interesting to see the film as it was being shot and the final picture and its love of green.
Once you get past the green push, the 2.35:1 widescreen image is splendid. The picture may not be as crisp and brilliant as other HD-DVD offerings, but it is an improvement over the standard definition release. Compared to the older DVD, the newer release is far cleaner. The picture seems truer and more film-like. There are many ´dark´ sequences in the film and the HD-DVD does a much better job of delivering them to the screen. The picture is sharp, but there are more than a couple scenes that appear nearly identical to the standard definition disc. If nothing else, "The Bourne Supremacy" on HD-DVD shows how clean the format can be. Motion artifacts, a problem that plagued early DVD are now completely eradicated with the new format.
Audio
"The Bourne Supremacy" is the first HD-DVD title that I have experienced via the six-channel analog inputs on my receiver. I have sat through previous HD-DVD viewings where the Toshiba player uses an on-board DTS decoder to send the Dolby Digital 5.1 Plus soundtrack as a DTS track through the digital inputs. My colleague, John J. Puccio has been doing this since he set up his Toshiba unit and I concur with him that the analog signal is cleaner and richer. They lively soundtrack of "The Bourne Supremacy" is rich and full in detail. The speakers are constantly busy with either ambient effects, sound effects, dialogue or the excellent soundtrack. Telephones, sirens, breaking glass and gunfire are all sounds I could tell where distinctly improved when compared to the standard definition title.
Average user rating (1-5):