The Bourne Supremacy (HD DVD) (2004) |
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The Bourne Supremacy (HD DVD) (2004) |
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| BUY IT |
| General | Extras | ||
| Category | Thriller |
Main Menu Audio & Animation-Available in English, French, Italian, German, Spanish Audio Commentary-Feature Commentary with Director Paul Greengrass Audio Commentary-Bourne Instant Access - The Total Experience Featurette-Behind The Scenes-Matching Identities: Casting Featurette-Behind The Scenes-Keeping it Real Featurette-Behind The Scenes-Blowing Things Up Featurette-Behind The Scenes-On the Move with Jason Bourne Featurette-Behind The Scenes-Bourne to be Wild: Fight Training Featurette-Behind The Scenes-Crash Cam: Racing Through the Streets of Moscow Featurette-Behind The Scenes-The Go-Mobile Revs Up the Action Featurette-Behind The Scenes-Anatomy of a Scene: The Explosive Bridge Chase Scene Featurette-Behind The Scenes-Scoring with John Powell Deleted Scenes-Explosive Deleted Scenes Featurette-The Bourne Mastermind Featurette-The Bourne Diagnosis |
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| Rating |
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| Year Of Production | 2004 | ||
| Running Time | 108:36 | ||
| RSDL / Flipper | Dual Layered | Cast & Crew | |
| Start Up | Language Select Then Menu | ||
| Region Coding | 4 | Directed By | Paul Greengrass |
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Studio
Distributor |
 Universal Pictures Home Video |
Starring |
Matt Damon Franka Potente Brian Cox Julia Stiles Karl Urban Gabriel Mann |
| Case | Amaray Variant | ||
| RPI | $44.95 | Music | John Powell |
| Video | Audio | ||
| Pan & Scan/Full Frame | None |
English Dolby Digital Plus 5.1 French Dolby Digital Plus 5.1 Italian Dolby Digital Plus 5.1 German Dolby Digital Plus 5.1 Spanish Dolby Digital Plus 5.1 English Audio Commentary Dolby Digital Plus 5.1 English Audio Commentary Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s) |
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| Widescreen Aspect Ratio | 2.35:1 | ||
| 16x9 Enhancement |
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| Video Format | 1080p | ||
| Original Aspect Ratio | 2.35:1 | Miscellaneous | |
| Jacket Pictures | No | ||
| Subtitles |
English for the Hearing Impaired French Italian German Spanish Korean Swedish Danish Finnish Dutch Norwegian Portuguese |
Smoking | Yes |
| Annoying Product Placement | No | ||
| Action In or After Credits | No | ||
The late Robert Ludlum, author of The Osterman Weekend, The Bourne Identity, The Bourne Supremacy and The Bourne Ultimatum to name but a few was a prolific American author whose works often explored terrorism and conspiracy theory. Ludlum created the successful fictional character of Jason Bourne in 1980. The story of The Bourne Identity was initially filmed as a miniseries in 1988 and starred Richard Chamberlain as Jason Bourne and Jaclyn Smith as Marie St. Jacques.
In 2002 Doug Liman successfully directed the adaptation of the book to film with Matt Damon in the starring role. The film was critically acclaimed and the 2004 film The Bourne Supremacy, directed by Academy Award nominated British director Paul Greengrass, further develops the character of Bourne who is lost, confused, disorientated and searching for his former identity. Jason Bourne is a man with no past but who carries a killer instinct and assassination expertise. In the opening scenes of The Bourne Supremacy the audience understands Bourne is trying to live a quiet life in Goa with his girlfriend Marie Helena Kreutz (Franka Potente). However, Bourne experiences tragedy when his past abruptly catches up with him. Targeted once again Bourne is forced to revisit his past in order to face his future.
Unlike the film’s predecessor, The Bourne Supremacy is focused on action and Greengrass has taken a unique approach to the genre by applying a realistic documentary feel to the film. The hand held camera techniques used by Greengrass may appear to be disorientating for the audience but the rawness of the action creates a visceral and unpredictable environment. Matt Damon is well cast as Jason Bourne, as he plays the character as reserved and strong-minded despite the emotional chaos which plagues him. Supporting Damon are a great cast of international actors such as Joan Allen, Brian Cox, Karl Urban, Karel Roden, Franka Potente, Julia Stiles and Gabriel Mann.
The Bourne Supremacy, which is soon to be followed by the forthcoming release of The Bourne Ultimatum this year, is an excellent action thriller which is intelligent and somewhat elegant. The film is pure escapism and what makes the story different to other spy thrillers of the genre is a vulnerable protagonist, unaware of who he is and what he is capable of. As an audience we discover and unravel Bourne’s past just as he does.
The Bourne Supremacy HD DVD offers the viewer a number of new ways to view this acclaimed action thriller. The first is in the ability to view the film at 1080p (1,080 lines of vertical resolution, progressive scan). Alongside the higher quality video output, a number of language options in Dolby Digital Plus are offered. Dolby Digital Plus is based on Dolby Digital (AC-3) technology but delivers higher quality audio without bit-rate reduction as the encoding rate can be as high as 6Mbps. The second way to view the film is through the Total Film Experience which is a feature designed exclusively for HD DVD. The third is to rediscover the film by viewing extensive behind-the-scenes footage.
The transfer for The Bourne Supremacy is remarkable as the HD DVD offers clarity and depth of field. The standard DVD already had a commendable transfer but the HD DVD offers crisper visuals without film to video artefacts. The film is presented in its original aspect ratio and it is 16x9 enhanced. As mentioned Paul Greengrass has visualized novelist Robert Ludlum's spy thriller with a sense of practicality and as such the frantic and awkward action is realized through hand-held camera shots and feverish editing. The HD DVD transfer renders the film with clear focus despite the frequent movement in the frame.
The vivid cinematography by Oliver Wood fills the screen with detailed shots of Goa, Berlin, New York City and Moscow which literally light up the screen. Whether it is darkened European cityscapes or the bright and busy streets of Goa, the colour scheme remains clean, natural and realistic. The transfer has a slight emerald green tinge to the picture. This is most likely an artistic choice, particularly when you compare the behind the scenes documentary footage with the final realised product. However, the stylised colour scheme of cold blues, emerald greens and dim greys are wonderfully presented as they remain natural within the environment the film presents rather than appearing unrealistic or oversaturated. The black levels are also excellent with good shadow detail.
There are no faults to mention in this transfer as HD DVD corrects the limitations often found on standard DVD. No longer is the picture flat, dull and marred by MPEG compression artefacts as the film is encoded with VC-1 over a 30 Gb dual layered DVD. Unfortunately, I am unable to find out exactly how much of the 30 Gb DVD the transfer takes up. This would be interesting to know considering the number of audio options and extras available on this HD DVD title.
The subtitles unique to the multi-lingual film appear on the print as intended. A number of subtitle options also are available to accompany the film. As mentioned the original subtitles appear on the print, as such during these scenes two sets of subtitles will appear on the screen, usually the translated dialogue in the upper half and the original subtitles unique to the film in the lower half. This may appear to be a nuisance for some viewers. The subtitles are presented as clear white text and are true to the on-screen action and dialogue.
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As mentioned Dolby Digital Plus is a high quality audio format and the various language options certainly do not disappoint. As with the image, the advancements provided by HD DVD allow an increased bit-rate for the audio soundtracks and the differences are more then evident as the soundscape appears wider and more controlled.
The soundtrack is focused on trepidation and the creation of a tense atmosphere. The Dolby Digital Plus soundtracks create a wide soundstage with every nuance of the soundtrack clear and audible. The soundtracks have excellent channel separation and this is the main factor in creating the 'wider' soundstage. For example, previous atmospheric low level sounds such as background crowd noise, radio and chatter can now be heard clearly in the rears, while dialogue is notably confined to the front of the stage. The action is engrossing as it uses surround sound to its fullest but it is not aggressive - it is more controlled rather than bombastic. The bass level was moderate throughout the film and this perfectly suited the film's suspenseful mood. The audio soundtracks for this film are best described as clear, crisp and low key.
The original music by John Powell is equally clear and also focuses on the awkward rhythm of the film. The music drives the action but at times can also be restrained, particularly during the quiet and suspense building scenes. The score is also key to the sensibilities of the principal characters who can be described as somewhat emotionally stilted.
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The menu system for The Bourne Supremacy is well suited to the numerous features of the film. Immediately after start up, the user is asked to select a language as the main menu is offered in various languages. This option seems unique to Australian and European HD DVDs.
The main menu is animated with scenes from the film and features a section of the score. The navigation system for HD DVD is different to that offered on a standard DVD. The menu appears on the left half of the screen and can be accessed during the film without interrupting playback. The menu is reliable and did not cause any errors despite constant switching of soundtrack languages, subtitles, scene selections and extras.
This feature is exclusive to HD DVD. This feature allows the viewer to watch the film with a feature length video commentary. This picture in picture commentary features a window in the lower right side of the image with footage of the cast and crew reflecting on the film edited together with behind the scenes footage.
The commentary on the film is mostly related to the on-screen action and is a wonderful tool for the audience to see how the film was created and filmed and how the cast and crew react to the final realised product. The same commentary can also be accessed as an audio only feature. The commentary, interviews and behind the scenes footage seem to have been assembled from unused making-of footage from the standard DVD releases. Regarding this feature, it is innovative but may prove too annoying for some audiences as the comments at times somewhat state the obvious and some segments appear as all-too-short sound bites. Also, the feature may seem like a gimmick to show how HD DVD can handle the playback of two video and audio streams at the same time, but on a whole it is unique and does allow the audience to view the film with a different perspective. Best described as a novelty feature.
The other extras available on the HD DVD release are gathered from the standard release of The Bourne Supremacy as well as the standard release of The Bourne Identity: Explosive Extended Edition. These extras are presented in 480i Standard Definition. I have chosen not to detail the following extra feature content as they have been evaluated in the previous standard DVD review. These extras are more or less promotional soundbites and the themes are discussed in the "Bourne Instant Access" feature. As mentioned, the "Bourne Instant Access" feature has been assembled from unused footage from the making of which featured on the standard DVD. From what I can tell none of the following extras were blatantly reused in the "Bourne Instant Access" feature.
NOTE: To view non-R4 releases, your equipment needs to be multi-zone compatible and usually also NTSC compatible.
As the Australian HD DVD release of The Bourne Supremacy features European ratings on the disc it is fair to assume that the local product is identical to the European HD DVD release. The local Amaray packaging has a slightly wider spine than the Amaray packaging common to HD DVD in America.
The American HD DVD release of The Bourne Supremacy is identical in terms of the film and extra feature content but is missing the German Dolby Digital Plus 5.1 and Spanish Dolby Digital Plus 5.1 language options. Also, Italian, German, Korean, Swedish, Danish, Finnish, Dutch, Norwegian and Portuguese subtitles are absent from the US release. The cover art also differs as it is focused on an image of Bourne not found in the theatrical advertising. The local and European releases use an image used in the international advertising of the film as cover art.
The Bourne Supremacy HD DVD presents the film with the highest quality sound and image. The title also showcases The Bourne Instant Access feature which is unique to the HD DVD format. While this feature is impressive in demonstrating the playback capabilities of HD DVD, some viewers may find the extra feature nothing more than a novelty.
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| Review Equipment | |
| DVD | Toshiba HD-A1, using HDMI output |
| Display | Panasonic PT-AE 700. Calibrated with THX Optimizer. This display device is 16x9 capable. This display device has a maximum native resolution of 1080p. |
| Audio Decoder | Built in to amplifier/receiver. Calibrated with THX Optimizer. |
| Amplification | Yamaha DSP-A595a - 5.1 DTS |
| Speakers | (Front) DB Dynamics Polaris AC688F loudspeakers,(Centre) DB Dynamics Polaris Mk3 Model CC030,(Rear) Polaris Mk3 Model SSD425,(Subwoofer) Jensen JPS12 |