The Bourne Identity (2002) |
|
The Bourne Identity (2002) |
|
|
| BUY IT |
| General | Extras | ||
| Category | Action |
Menu Animation & Audio dts Trailer-Piano Alternate Ending Deleted Scenes-4 Featurette-The Birth of The Bourne Identity Music Video-Extreme Ways-Moby Featurette-Extended Farmhouse Scene Audio Commentary-Doug Liman (Director) Theatrical Trailer DVD-ROM Extras Trailer-Johnny English; The Hulk Teaser Trailer |
|
| Rating |
|
||
| Year Of Production | 2002 | ||
| Running Time | 113:36 | ||
| RSDL / Flipper | RSDL (67:07) | Cast & Crew | |
| Start Up | Language Select Then Menu | ||
| Region Coding | 2,4 | Directed By | Doug Liman |
|
Studio
Distributor |
 Universal Pictures Home Video |
Starring |
Matt Damon Franka Potente Chris Cooper Clive Owen Brian Cox Adewale Akinnouye-Agbaje Gabriel Mann Julia Stiles |
| Case | ? | ||
| RPI | $36.95 | Music | John Powell |
| Video | Audio | ||
| Pan & Scan/Full Frame | None |
English Dolby Digital 5.1 (384Kb/s) English dts 5.1 (768Kb/s) English Audio Commentary Dolby Digital 2.0  (192Kb/s)
|
|
| Widescreen Aspect Ratio | 2.35:1 | ||
| 16x9 Enhancement |
 |
||
| Video Format | 576i (PAL) | ||
| Original Aspect Ratio | 2.35:1 | Miscellaneous | |
| Jacket Pictures | No | ||
| Subtitles |
English Portuguese Arabic Bulgarian Croatian Polish Serbian Slovenian English Audio Commentary Portuguese Audio Commentary Arabic Audio Commentary Bulgarian Audio Commentary Croatian Audio Commentary Polish Audio Commentary Serbian Audio Commentary Slovenian Audio Commentary English Titling |
Smoking | No |
| Annoying Product Placement | No | ||
| Action In or After Credits | No | ||
Yet another title falls off the video library shelves and into your favourite DVD retailer. The Bourne Identity was one of the more engaging, stylish, and intelligently made spy thrillers of the last year. Far superior to the last James Bond offering. A remake of the 1988 tele-movie starring Richard Chamberlain and Jaclyn Smith, and somewhat loosely using the Robert Ludlum best selling novel as inspiration, director Doug Liman proved he has a lot to offer the film making world with this effort. I won't offer anything new in the plot synopsis, so if you already read the review of the rental disc, you can skip straight to the transfer quality section.
The Bourne Identity stars Matt Damon as the main man, Jason Bourne. The story opens on a stormy night, when the crew of a fishing boat pluck the body of a man (Damon) out of the Mediterranean Sea, thinking he is dead. They proceed to check him over, finding several bullet holes in his back and a tiny capsule embedded in his hip that contains the details of a Swiss bank account. It also happens that he isn't actually dead, just very close to it. When he comes round, he has absolutely no idea who he is, or how he came to be bobbing around in the sea in the middle of the night. The only lead he has is the Swiss bank account number, so after a brief period of convalescence, he heads to Zurich to find out what is tucked away in the safety deposit box. Once past all the security checks (not bad for a guy who has no ID, no wallet, and no idea who he is), our man is given access to a large box that contains all manner of goodies, including several passports for different identities for a multitude of countries, all with his smiling face on the inside cover. Add in a few spy gadgets, an automatic pistol, and a swag of various currencies and we're getting the idea that Jason Bourne (the US passport is in this name and it's the first one he opens) isn't an insurance salesman.
When he arouses the suspicions of the Swiss authorities, he makes a dash for the American Embassy, only to get himself in more trouble. He is also beginning to learn that he has some pretty serious training on his side when he can effectively disable several armed men, all with his bare hands, and he discovers he is fluent in a multitude of languages. With everyone after him, he makes a spectacular escape from the Embassy and convinces the lovely Marie (Franka Potente, she played Lola, in Run, Lola, Run) to drive him to Paris. From here he attempts to unravel the mystery of exactly who he is and why so many people are trying to do him in. The story cuts to the CIA offices in Langley, Virginia where we find those responsible for his predicament trying to clean up the mess before it escalates out of control. What follows is a cat-and-mouse style chase with no real obvious distinction between good and evil. Some stylish set pieces such as the car chase in a Mini through the street of Paris add to the excitement, as does Bourne's slow realisation of exactly who he is and his bewilderment at the things he can do without actually remembering how.
While following many of the formulaic conventions laid out in the How To Make A Spy Film guidebook, it is done in a stylish and slick manner. There is no clear delineation between the good guys and the bad guys. In fact, come to think of it, there aren't really any bad guys, or good guys. Even Jason Bourne himself has such an unknown past that the audience is left guessing just whose side he is working for. The casting is perhaps the weakest aspect of the film. Matt Damon is obviously the star here, but you sometimes are left shaking your head about him being a world-weary trained killer spy. He just looks too innocent at times! I also thought that the small role for the lovely Julia Stiles as the covert CIA operative in Paris also felt a little out of place, though I guess the better spies pop up as the most unsuspecting people
One point of local interest. Keep an eye out for the stack of Australian hundred dollar bills in a 'cameo' role. The plastic green notes stand out a mile from the others during the early Swiss bank scene.
It would appear that this video transfer is exactly the same one used for the rental disc. The former release was more than adequate with only a couple of minor blemishes, so I can not think of any good reason to produce a new one. A recent blockbuster film deserves a pristine transfer and I can say this one almost gets one. Almost, but not quite. The video transfer is presented in its original theatrical ratio of 2.35:1. It is 16x9 enhanced.
Sharp and well defined detail is evident throughout. Thankfully, there is no major edge enhancement to be concerned about. Shadow detail looks a little dodgy at times, but this would surely have to be all source-based. Spies do like to creep around in the dark to do their work and this is no different. Grain is so minimal as to be barely noticed. There is also no low level noise. The colours are quite drab, with the entire production feeling like it was filmed under leaden skies with the constant threat of misty rain. Being set almost entirely in Europe, this grey drab tone suits the locales well. Blacks are perfectly solid and skin tones a little pale (but remember this is Europe in winter).
I saw no MPEG artefacts. There is some shimmer on several surfaces that, while quite obvious, just borders on what I consider acceptable. The usual culprits offend here. Some grille-style walls in CIA headquarters at 12:17 and the grille of the Mini at 34:21 are the most notable offenders, with a handful of smaller, less bothersome instances scattered throughout. There are no film artefacts of any note which is always pleasing.
There are plenty of subtitle streams available. I sampled the English variety during the commentary and found them more than adequate for the job.
This is a single-sided, dual-layered disc that is RSDL formatted. The layer change occurs mid-scene at 67:07, but it is so well placed that you will barely notice it. Matt Damon pauses and remain virtually motionless before answering a question. The layer change is smack bang on the moment he pauses and with no audio of any sort is virtually unnoticeable.
| Sharpness |   |
| Shadow Detail | |
| Colour | |
| Grain/Pixelization | |
| Film-To-Video Artefacts | |
| Film Artefacts | |
| Overall | |
The rental disc benefited from the inclusion of not only a Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack, but also a dts 5.1 soundtrack. Thankfully this sell-through version keeps both of those and adds a Dolby Digital 2.0 Commentary soundtrack to the equation.
The English Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack is encoded at the lower bitrate of 384 Kb/s and the dts soundtrack is encoded at the lower bitrate of 768 Kb/s. I listened to both soundtracks back-to-back and did a couple of direct comparisons. The same old lines that we usually trot out to differentiate dts and Dolby Digital soundtracks apply here, though both are extremely high-quality tracks and neither will disappoint. The dts track would be the version of choice, solely based on the marginally more pronounced and solid lower end. Both offer superb separation, heaps of solid, clean grunt, and some really well mixed panning effects. Modern soundtracks, both of them, make no mistake, that will give your amplifier some serious work to do.
The dialogue levels are fine, though on occasion in the early scenes I had a little trouble understanding the various European accents. There are no audio sync problems.
The score is credited to John Powell. It has an espionage-style suspense-building tone and suits the action very well indeed. There didn't seem to be any need to play the score constantly and the moments of silence at the appropriate times add much more to the tension. There is also a song by Moby called Extreme Ways played over the end credits.
There is plenty of surround channel use throughout the film, with the levels varying between highly aggressive down to a subtle ambience that finds you looking over your shoulder to see if a bird (or car) hasn't somehow snuck into your home theatre room. Check out the very good surround use examples at 23:57 for some amazing background street-scape style ambience, and again at 84:35 when the birds fly around.
There's plenty for the subwoofer to keep itself occupied. The classic car chase scene through Paris will get it thumping as will a couple of the martial arts scenes.
| Dialogue | |
| Audio Sync | |
| Clicks/Pops/Dropouts | |
| Surround Channel Use | |
| Subwoofer | |
| Overall | |
Nothing too revealing here I'm afraid. Presented in the same aspect ratio as the film (2.35:1) but with no 16x9 enhancement. It merely shows a slightly different way that Bourne and Marie meet at the end. Total running time is only 2:05 minutes.
A total of four deleted scenes, running for between 1:00 and 2:32 minutes. They are fairly tedious when shown as standalone scenes; without any commentary as to the reason for deletion (presumably pacing) they are really quite dull.
A 14:33 minute making-of featurette, that comes complete with English subtitles. It offers a little bit of behind-the-scenes footage, but really does border on the self-congratulatory self-promotion style of feature.
Running for 3:39 and presented in the widescreen aspect ratio of 1.78:1 (without 16x9 enhancement), this is the music video for the song that appeared over the end credits.
Nothing to really get excited over here either. This is merely a slighter longer version (albeit only 1:40 minutes) of the scene where Bourne and Marie visit Eamon's farmhouse. Presented in the aspect of 2.35:1, but it is not 16x9 enhanced and the quality of the video is very ordinary.
Not so much entertaining as chock full of informative and candid admissions from the director Doug Liman. He offers a screen specific commentary that while containing several lengthy pauses to allow the on-screen action to play out, does provide insight into his experience in making the film. He doesn't spend much time on the cast or anecdote side, offering instead his thoughts on the film making process, what went wrong, tributes to the vast crew, and some of the other technical challenges faced in shooting in so many different countries, often in sub-zero conditions.
Running for 2:05 minutes and presented in the film aspect ratio of 2.35:1 (no 16x9 enhancement), this is quite a slick trailer.
Bonus trailer for the just released Johnny English and a teaser trailer for The Hulk. These are exactly the same trailers that were on the rental disc.
NOTE: To view non-R4 releases, your equipment needs to be multi-zone compatible and usually also NTSC compatible.
Now that the extra-laden disc has been released here, the comparison is much fairer.
The Region 4 disc misses out on:
The Region 1 disc misses out on:
Nothing
There really isn't much to tell these two apart. Unless the French soundtrack is a must-have for you, I'd stick with the Region 4 disc.
I said in my review of the rental disc, this really was a dumb action spy thriller, that was still highly enjoyable and so who cared. After having now watched this at least four times, and listened to the commentary track, I must say that it is a whole lot smarter than I first thought. Some of the really intelligent moments need to be watched again and again to pick them all up and when put together offer a plot that is well above the normal big dumb action flick
This really is a stylish and well-made spy film, that offers something a little bit different from the usual run-of-the-mill good guys and bad guys thriller. The well-worn espionage clichés are certainly present, but there are also a couple of very engaging set pieces, in particular a heart pumping car chase through the streets of Paris. Matt Damon isn't too bad as the bewildered young spy with an unknown past, and Franka Potente shines in her limited role.
The video quality is close to perfect. Not quite there, but close.
The soundtracks are superb. Modern, clean, and powerful. Among the best I have heard for some time.
The extras are comprehensive, though apart from the informative commentary track are a little lacking in substance.
| Video | |
| Audio | |
| Extras | |
| Plot | |
| Overall | |
| Review Equipment | |
| DVD | Loewe Xemix 5106DO, using RGB output |
| Display | Loewe Calida (84cm). Calibrated with Video Essentials. This display device is 16x9 capable. |
| Audio Decoder | Built in to amplifier/receiver. Calibrated with Video Essentials. |
| Amplification | Harmon/Kardon AVR7000. |
| Speakers | Front - B&W 602S2, Centre - B&W CC6S2, Rear - B&W 601S2, Sub - Energy E:xl S10 |