Bourne Supremacy, The

Perhaps only "Phantom of the Opera" has sounded better on the new format. We´ll have to see how it compares to the next title on my hit list, "U-571," but for today, "The Bourne Supremacy" is my favorite soundtrack to show off the sound of HD-DVD. The car chase sequence in "The Bourne Supremacy" is a definite point of interest for anybody wanting to hear a great-sounding sequence. John Powell´s music pumps loudly. Bullets fly. Glass shatters and sirens wail. Then, just as it reaches its noisiest and loudest levels there is just silence.

Extras
Instead of beating around the bush, we´ll start right off with the one extra that makes "The Bourne Supremacy" an important HD-DVD release. The feature Presented by Toshiba: Bourne Instant Access is the very first HD-DVD only special feature. Using the higher bit-rate, faster media access and greater power of the hardware, this special feature is a running video commentary. It occupies the lower right corner of the screen and takes up less than ten percent of the overall picture. The feature runs the entire length of the film and features a very nice edited two-hour scene-specific making of feature. Actors and filmmakers talk about what is currently on the screen and you can see making of footage relevant to the current scene. The editing of this feature is nicely done and it feature footage that can also be found on the additional features included on the disc. As an added bonus, this video commentary can be played as just ´audio only.´ I did enjoy watching the new HD-DVD feature and for a first effort, it is good. I do have one gripe. The video frame is surrounded by a low opacity border that takes up almost as much room as the feature itself. The purpose of this frame is to make it look more hi-tech than it really is. I found it very unnecessary. Still, the picture-in-picture feel of the new feature was nicely done and I look forward to this type of things in future releases. Could you imagine a wire-frame PIP of a Disney animated film?

The HD-DVD release finds many of the features culled from previous releases of the Bourne franchise. Many are taken right from the standard definition release of this film. A couple others are borrowed from the latest "The Bourne Identity" special edition release. First up are the Explosive Deleted Scenes. 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.

A slew of short featurettes come to bat next. Matching Identies: Casting talks about the casting of the actors and actresses of the film for five minutes. Keeping it Real is another quick five minute featurette that describes the feel and style of the picture and its evolution from the first film. Things that Go Boom is a minute shorter than the previous two shorts and 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 talks about the shooting locations of the film. Bourne to be Wild: Fight Training is about the fighting scene that took place just before the previously mentioned house explosion. Crash Cam: Racing Through the Streets of Moscow is one the longest of the shorts and runs for six minutes. It 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 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. Anatomy of a Scene: The Explosive Bridge Chase Scene is self-explanatory through its title. Scoring with John Powell is about the musical score for the picture. Altogether, these features run for forty-five minutes. They were all previously included on the standard edition DVD of "The Bourne Supremacy" and offer nice insight into various aspects of the production of the film.

But wait. There is more. The Bourne Mastermind comes via the "Explosive Edition" release of "The Bourne Identity." It is a five minute look at Robert Ludlum´s inspiration to write the three novels that tell Bourne´s story. The Bourne Diagnosis looks at the effects of amnesia and helps to explain Bourne´s condition more. Both of these five minutes shorts are effectively part of the series that were described in the above paragraph and where perhaps unable to fit on the original standard definition release. How do we explain Bourne in psychological terms? Post traumatic stress disorder. Finally, a Feature Commentary with Director Paul Greengrass makes its way from the SD release to the HD release. After watching the film twice, I just skipped my way through the commentary. 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.

Parting Thoughts
I enjoy "The Bourne Supremacy" and the franchise it is part of. Matt Damon is an excellent actor and really does bring the character of Jason Bourne to life. The Bourne franchise feels more "French Connection" and "Ipcress File" than it does James Bond. This makes for a refreshing genre thriller. It is an intelligent and enjoyable film. The HD-DVD release brings along all of the special features of the first release and adds a few more. Two of the additional features are from "The Bourne Identity: Explosive Edition" DVD and really do not amount to much. However, Universal and Toshiba put their heads together and released the first HD title with an HD specific and capable feature, the aptly named so nobody has any question of who helped deliver it, "Presented by Toshiba: Bourne Instant Access." A nice first attempt. It is a bit underwhelming, but nicely done. I do look forward to the evolution of the format. The film has a very clean looking picture, but has a heavy green push that I found to be distracting. Sound was incredible.

Now for a brief moment on a soapbox. HD-DVD has shown in a few releases that it truly can be worth the additional cost. There is no question on good equipment that standard definition DVD can look good. However, on good equipment, HD-DVD can look breathtaking. Sound is still an iffy subject and until Dolby TrueHD sound makes its way into home theaters, it is only a marginal increase over the older format. It is still fuller and cleaner thanks to freedom from DVDs high compression of sound. Two titles currently stand out as being far greater values than their SD brothers. "Jarhead" is the first. It is five dollars cheaper than the limited edition, but contains the same features. "The Bourne Supremacy" is the second. It contains additional features not found on the SD disc and is the first effort of HD-DVD supplements. There are times when I am not sure of how HD-DVD and/or Blu-Ray is going to succeed, but the format is already starting to show its superiority over the older format. Now, if Universal can bring me "The Bourne Identity" to go with my "The Bourne Supremacy."

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