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dvd.review.the.bourne.supremecy |
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Written by Administrator
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Monday, 13 December 2004 00:00 |
"I don't suppose it would do me any good to call for help."
Movie
 The Bourne Identity originally worked for many reasons. Many movies
that fall in the "spy" movie genre are smart, engaging, and generally
fun to watch. The Bourne Identity took it to the next level - it was
smarter, more engaging, and more fun to watch than any spy movie I'd
seen in some time. It did relatively well making over $100 million in
the box office, but in my opinion, it got a little bit ignored both
critically and by the voice of popular opinion just because it was
released right around the same time as Minority Report. Coming into the
movie, I was a little worried. Sometimes the idea behind a typical
Hollywood sequel is that everything has to be "bigger and better."
In case you haven't seen the first movie for you, I'll fill you with a
little bit of background. Jason Bourne (Matt Damon) was shot and is rescued from the
sea by a couple fisherman. Unfortunately, when he wakes up, he doesn't
remember his name or any of the details of his life. Strangely, though,
he instinctively remembers how to "be" a secret agent. Anyways, at the
time he was shot, he was working for as a contract killer for an underground US government
agency. When he doesn't report back, they assume that he's gone AWOL
and they are trying to hunt him down.
In
the Bourne Supremecy, Jason is living a very simple life in a small
village in India with Marie (Franka Potente) when he is setup for a
double murder and must return back to his secret agent lifestyle to
both clear his name and keep his anonymity. A new government agent,
Pamela Landy (Joan Allen) is in charge of finding Bourne. Although
Chris Cooper apparently "died" in between the last movie and this one
(I think that's Hollywood-talk for he probably didn't want to do the
movie), but Ward Abbott (Brian Cox) and Nicky (Julia Stiles) are back
as well.
Anyways, Jason Bourne is my kind of action hero. While some people
prefer the in your face attitude of a Vin Diesel or the tough guy
attitude of Steven Seagal, I prefer Bourne just because I feel I can
relate to him. Check that, if I were to ever be a secret agent in an
idealized worled, then I would be able to relate to Jason Bourne. He's
different than your average action hero just because as the he faces
more and more chaos, he seems to calm down. He seemingly thinks of
every single possibilty for every single situation he might face. It's
very interesting watching him going about his business and trying to
out-think everyone and stay a step ahead.
He's not James Bond with all the coolest gadgets and gizmos. He's more
like a cooler version of MacGyver... without the nasty mullet of course.
The look of the film is something very different than you'd expect from
a Hollywood movie. I'm still not sold on the shaky cam that was used
during the action scenes. While I'm sure it was meant to add a certain
coolness factor to the look of the movie, I think it detracts from the
movie. It's very hard to figure out what is going on during certain
part of the scenes. For certain movies - especially Saving Private Ryan
- the shaky cam creates an awesome style, but I just found it annoying
here. Another thing about the look that should be mentioned is nearly
the whole movie takes place in Europe which adds another special
something. The car chases and chases on foot all have a unique and cool
look just because they are shot in the streets of Europe or Russia
instead of the same looking scenes you've seen over and over. I mean,
think about it - how many times has Times Square been blown up or
attacked or something of that nature? It's refreshing to see something
new.
It should be mentioned that both of the Bourne movies were "based" on
the books of the same names by Robert Ludlum. I say based in quotes
because I've read the Bourne Identity and quite possibly the only thing
the books have in common are the characters and a few very basic plot
points. Otherwise, they are almost completely different entities. I
don't understand why they made changes although I do think both movies
turned out wonderfully. The original stories from the books would have
translated to film just fine, in my opinion.
Video & Sound
Presented in a nice 2.35:1 anamorphic print, the Bourne Supremecy
looked absolutely awesome. I didn't see any scratches or problems with
colors. Like I said earlier, the look of the action scenes really
bothered me, but if you can get over it, the look of the rest of the
film is really quite unique and very cool to say the least. At times,
it looks a little grainy, but I think it is partially intentionally.
Either way, it doesn't detract from the film. The sound, in a Dolby 5.1
surround track, is absolutely awesome. The surrounds are used very well
and the action will most certainly give the subs a bit of a workout.
Extras
The first extra of note is a commentary by director Paul Greengrass
(doesn't that sound like a hippy name?) He's half-interesting, but he
spends to much time explaining the obvious. When the "bad" guy comes
in, he'll sometimes say something like "...here is where danger comes
in..." Overall, he adds a fair amount to the film, but I think it
would've been much better had their been another couple people chatting
with him.
There are five deleted scenes and to tell you the truth they suck more
than deleted scenes normally do. There is one scene that has Brian Cox
saying possibly the stupidest line of dialogue I've heard in a while.
Upon hearing one of his co-workers was murdered, he says "Bourne
must've killed him." The way he said it, though, was just ridiculous.
I was a little annoyed how all the features were little four minute
features. I would've rather had a one longer documentary, but what can
you do? The first of the features - Matching Identities: Casting - was pointless. There really are only two new characters that mattered, so they obviously don't have much to say in this one. Keeping It Real is
a featurette that talks about the look of the film. While I like the
general look of the film, I had to disagree with all the good things
they had to say about how great the action scenes looked. Blowing Things Up was a very cool featurette about exploding a house and using real stuntmen instead of CGI. On the Move with Jason Bourne talks about why certain locations where choosen. A little interesting, but also a little more of the same. Bourne to be Wild was another featurette that kind of bugged me because it basically talked about how awesome the action scenes were. Umm... no.
Crash Cam: Racing Through The Streets of Moscow is a pretty cool
look at how they filmed the scene with Matt Damon driving a cab around
16-lane boulevards in Russia and crashing all over the place. The Go-Mobile Revs Up The Action is a bit about a new camera technique they developed to film car chases. Probably my favorite feature on the whole disc. Anatomy Of A Scene: The Explosive Bridge Chase Scene was pointless. It's basically just Matt Damon jumping off a bridge using safety harnesses. Blah... Scoring With John Powell is
the last featurette and it just talks about how a few scenes were
scored slightly different than a normal movie would be scored. Again,
pretty cool.
Closing Thoughts...
If you liked the first Bourne Identity,
you're going to like the second. If you haven't seen either one, think
of it as a movie that has the style of the first season of Alias with
the all-around coolness and complete on-the-edge-of-your-seat-ness of
the first season of 24. I don't know that this movie would stand alone
on it's own quite as well - definitely see the Bourne Identity before
the Bourne Supremecy. At the very minimum, this is most certainly worth
a rental.
Overall Score
Movie - 8
Video & Sound - 9
Extras - 7
Overall - 8
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Last Updated on Sunday, 12 December 2004 01:22 |
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