I have mixed emotions when it comes to the trio of the three Jason Bourne films.  Upon my initial viewing of The Bourne Identity in the theatres I became instantly enthralled in the world of Jason Bourne, not to mention the utmost respect I gained for actor Matt Damon’s physical demeanor he displayed.  The second installment, The Bourne Supremacy, captivated me and left me ultimately begging for more.  I just remember sitting in the theatre thinking how intense that swirling car chase was and how tragically it ended.  Then came the much-anticipated third installment entitled The Bourne Ultimatum.  I still cannot shake the feeling that The Bourne Ultimatum just feels like a similar re-hash of the second film, but nonetheless, it is a wild good time going down memory lane with Jason Bourne.  With all things considered, The Bourne Trilogy box set is still an action thrill ride that has been sorely missed on the Blu-ray format until now!

The Films  

The trio of films, one of the highest domestic grossing action adventure movie franchises in history, is freely adapted from the novels of Robert Ludlum.  The franchise brought us legendary performances from key cast members Matt Damon, Chris Cooper, Clive Owen, Brian Cox, Julia Stiles, Franka Potente, Joan Allen and Albert Finney.  Now available for the first time on Blu-ray, The Bourne Trilogy is a three-disc set loaded with hours of bonus materials culled from the original DVD releases of past and all-new interactive content exclusive to the Blu-ray format.  Like it or hate it, there is really no denying that this box set is a must-own Blu-ray collection for every Hi-Def movie fan.

The Bourne Identity, released theatrically in the US on June 14, 2002, opened to mainly positive critical praise.  The film opens with Jason Bourne (Matt Damon) being pulled from the sea with two bullets in his back.  Unlucky for him, he awakens with no memory of his identity or his involvement in a top-secret, black ops arm of the CIA, called Treadstone.  However, there is one a clue, a Swiss bank account number that was buried in his skin.  What importance does the Swiss bank account number hold?  I am not going to ruin the surprise in case you never seen this thrilling film as of yet.  As Jason struggles to piece together his shattered memory, members of Treadstone dub him as an out-of-control rogue agent and target him for termination.  Along his journey to put all the puzzle pieces together he recruits the help of a German traveler, Marie Kreutz, (Franka Potente) to assist him.  While attempting to reconstruct his past, Bourne encounters many dangers and assassination attempts, as he rediscovers his extraordinary survival skills, including hand-to-hand combat, martial arts, spy antics and multiple languages.  It is not long before he realizes what he was in his former life, but can he act quickly to save the only person he knows from harm while he stops the people responsible for Treadstone?  You will just have to find out.

The second installment, The Bourne Supremacy, much like its predecessor, opened to a positive critical response when it was released in American theatres on July 23, 2004.  This is The Empire Strikes Back of the franchise for me.  Bourne is back in a#$-kicking form.  The film opens up tragically for Jason Bourne and his now lover Marie Kreutz (Franka) living in India.  Jason quickly realizes that his former handlers are hot on his trail, as he is being framed for the assassination of a fellow CIA agent.  To make matters worse, Jason is still not recovered from his amnesic state of the first film and is haunted by a reoccurring nightmare from his first mission.  Oh and I forgot to mention the slew of traps Jason must evade in order to avoid being captured by the CIA and the relentless bounty hunter he has chasing after him.  Couple this with edge of your seat thrilling action sequences, split second editing and one of the most adrenaline filled car chases ever caught on film and one you have one hell of an adventure to experience…Jason Bourne style.

Last but not least, The Bourne Ultimatum was released theatrically in the summer of 2007, to even more critical praise then the first two installments.  The film continued the saga of Jason Bourne trying to uncover his real identity, while the pesky CIA is still trying to kill him.  I guess it is worth mentioning that The Bourne Ultimatum is the only film in the trilogy to have been nominated for an Academy Award, winning all three of its nominations for “Best Film Editing,” “Best Sound” and “Best Sound Editing.”  Frustrated that the CIA will not leave him alone, Jason Bourne decides to take the fight right to the doors of the CIA by going back to the beginning and finding out who he really was/is.  Of course, what would a Bourne movie be without the usual assassins plaguing and interfering with Jason’s plans to clear his identity once and for all?  Unfortunately for me, this third film feels to familiar to me after being a big fan of the first two films.  The action sequences and plot lines became quite redundant in this installment.  I guess you could compare it to my beloved Star Wars franchise.  Remember how there are two Death Star stories, one in A New Hope and the other in Return of the Jedi, same kind of concept here.  Nevertheless, this past June it was confirmed there would be a fourth Bourne adventure, with matt Damon, Julia Stiles and director Paul Greengrass attached to the film.  Hmm…smells like greed to me.  I hope they can refresh the storyline without making it feel blatantly obvious that this is a last ditch effort to reap the benefit of the first three installment’s box office success on the pockets of the American moviegoers.

Video 

I should make mention before diving into the video quality of the Blu-ray transfers that Bourne movies are not known for their pristine and brilliant video, but rather they sport a gritty and sometimes soft appearance with fast cut motion sequences.  Having owned the previous HD DVD editions of these three films, the Blu-ray transfers pretty much look visually the same to me.  These are not demo quality presentations, but considering the source material these Blu-ray transfers are culled from these are the best possible representations of the films.  All video transfers use a 1080P VC-1 encode framed in a 2.35:1 aspect ratio with the exception of the last film which is presented in a 2.40:1.  I have broken the video section up over the next three paragraphs that individually discuss the praises and complaints I have of each film.  Before we begin I do need to make a quick disclaimer.  Because these films are highly stylized of director’s intent it made it increasingly difficult to score effectively so I had to go with what the film’s original image looked like in the theatre and compare it to how the Blu-ray transfer upheld the intended visual look.

The Bourne Identity is the weakest of the three films in terms of audio and video.  It visually has the feel of a late 80’s movie.  Again, please keep in mind that the video quality of the original film source is not much better.  These films were intentionally made to look the way they do.  With that being said this Blu-ray transfer is a faithful representation of the source material.  However, the blacks look a bit weak and faded in the soft look of the film.  The detail in the transfer is there, like the fabric in Jason Bourne’s diving suit, but it varies from scene to scene.  The flesh tones are all natural looking throughout the film.  Unfortunately, the print is not completely free of noise and occasionally suffers from some infrequent black spots and white speckles here and there.  I give the video quality of this first film a 3.5 out of 5.

Things improve drastically with the video quality in The Bourne Supremacy.  The blacks are completely solid with much better detail in facial features and objects.  However, due to the way the film was produced the levels of fine detail vary dramatically throughout the feature with some very noisy shots.  Most of the noisy shots take place in the soft focused backgrounds.  Like The Bourne Identity, the colors are never extremely vibrant and the overall film has a murky visual tone to it.  The print for The Bourne Supremacy is much cleaner than that of The Bourne Identity.  There are only a few instances of white speckles.  There are some scenes that are stellar examples of 1080P such as the sweat on Jason’s face when he awakens from another one of his nightmares, but there are also some horrendous looking scenes, of director’s intent of course.  I gave the video presentation for this film a 4 out of 5.

The Bourne Ultimatum ’s visual look is a remarkable improvement over The Bourne Supremacy.  From the opening scene you can see the much-improved detail in the facial features of the actors and backgrounds.  There is still much of the stylized elements of the first two films that impeded with reference quality video, but I am very pleased with the video quality of this third installment.  Compared to that of the first film the three-dimensional aspects of this third one is a vast improvement.  This one looked more like a Blu-ray should look like.  I am going to award this one a 4.5 video score, but be warned many of the shaking camera effects and resulting soft focus aspects are still intact in this film.  Having seen this film in the theatre I know this to be once again a faithful representation of how it was intended to look.

Audio 

Where as the video quality is spotty at times with the trio of films, the audio quality is where the real action is.  Universal delivers with a DTS Master Audio 5.1 surround track on all three releases.  This differs from the previous HD DVD releases where the first two films did not have a lossless audio track on the defunct HD DVD format.  I like saying that…the defunct HD DVD format that is.  Of course, let’s not forget about Moby’s “Extreme Ways” music track at the end of every film.  I am not a big fan of Moby, but I could not think of a better way to end these films.  You will see what I mean when you sit down to watch the trio of films.  The same deal that applies with the video section applies here.  I have broken the audio section up over the next three paragraphs that individually discuss the tonal qualities of each film.

The Bourne Identity, starts out with a bang from the opening scene that showcases spectacular rear channel effects that originate from the relentless wind, gushing water and lightning at sea.  Essentially, every sound effect is mixed perfectly balancing the front channels ever so gingerly with the rears.  Even the music is mixed masterfully.  If you wanted to probe deeper I will even suggest listening to the hum of the bass the tiny engine in the Mini Cooper makes in the main car chase of the film.  Bullets, gun shells and chaos spray audibly all around you.  If I had one complaint to make I would take that up with the dialogue department.  Don’t get me wrong, the dialogue is always loud and intelligible, but it sounds flat rather than dynamic.  I will give the audio score of this first Bourne entry a deserving 4.5 out of 5.

Not that there was much room for improvement upon the audio of The Bourne Identity, but The Bourne Supremacy managed to impress me even more.  The sound field is sonic in all environments, from the under water escapes to driving through brush fields, I always felt like I was immersed within the movie.  The musical score is loud, riveting and prominent throughout the entire feature.  The drums, within the score, are thunderous.  The effects all sounded ultra realistic.  I never felt cheated in anyway.  This is the way to make appropriate use of the rear channels.  All the dialogue is loud and clear throughout.  Nothing less than a score of 5 out of 5 would be acceptable for this audio track.

Not even a minute within the start of The Bourne Ultimatum, I found myself reaching for the receiver remote to turn the volume down four notches from my usual listening volume.  This sound track is loud folks!  As usual, the dialogue levels are loud, clear and intelligible throughout, even at my reduced volume.  You have to love that!  Once again, I was immersed within the world of Jason Bourne as the music and effects are perfectly mixed throughout all sound channels.  The sound effects are so authentic I swore it was raining outside of my house when Matt Damon was holding actress Julia Styles at gunpoint.  And what about that spring that flies off the car in the final car chase?  It goes without saying; once again I am compelled to award The Bourne Ultimatum a perfect audio score.

Special Features 

As I mentioned prior, Universal dropped a mother load of bonus materials upon us for all three feature films.  Most of the bonus materials are culminated from the original DVD releases of the films with a few new interactive surprises designed especially for the Blu-ray release.  With that being said, the disappointing news I have is the fact that the majority of the special features are only in Standard-Definition.  Let’s begin below by breaking up the special features that can be found on all three Blu-ray discs.

The Bourne Identity

• The Ludlum Identity – This featurette contains archival interviews with friends, colleagues, family members and Ludlum himself.
• The Ludlum Supremacy – A revealing look at how Jason Bourne was born (no pun intended).
• The Ludlum Ultimatum – Here we look into why the fans adore and care for Jason Bourne.
• Alternate Opening and Ending – These are provided with an introduction by producer Frank Marshall, screenwriter Tony Gilroy and actor Brian Cox.
• Deleted and Extended Scenes
• The Birth of the Bourne Identity
• The Bourne Mastermind: Robert Ludlum – Here we have another documentary of the life of Robert Ludlum.
• Access Granted – This is an interview with screenwriter Tony Gilroy about the challenges of adapting Ludlum’s 500-page work to the big screen.
• From Identity to Supremacy – Jason & Marie – Here we find interviews with Matt Damon and Franka Potente about making the movie and bridging the gap between the sequel.
• The Bourne Diagnosis - A UCLA psychologist looks into the realistic causes and effects amnesia would have on a person in the case of Jason Bourne.
• Cloak and Dagger - CIA office Chase Brandon talks about what would make a real world super spy.
• Inside a Fight Sequence - This featurette gives you a closer look at the training Matt Damon underwent with the stunt choreographer for the U.S. Embassy fight sequence.
• Moby “Extreme Ways” Music Video
• Feature Commentary with Director Doug Liman
• Exclusive U-Control
  • Picture in Picture
  • Bourne Reminders
  • Bourne Card battle Strategy Game
  • Treadstone Files – This includes interactive character dossiers, agent status info and GPS features
• BD-Live
  • - Blu-ray players with an active Internet connection can access exclusive interactive applications that allow viewers to communicate with others while watching the film.
    • My Scenes Sharing
    • Bourne card battle strategy game - This is an interactive strategy game that pits users against each other in hand-to-hand combat simulation.  Pretty neat huh?

The Bourne Supremacy

• Explosive Deleted Scenes
• Matching Identities: Casting – See what it took to land a role in The Bourne Supremacy.
• Keeping It Real – A look at the unique visual style the filmmakers brought to the film.
• Blowing Things Up – See how most of the film was created without the use of CGI.  The lack of CGI use, in my opinion, helps to make these three films unique, riveting and groundbreaking.
• On the Move with Jason Bourne - We get to travel the globe to visit the film’s exotic locations such as India, Berlin and Moscow.
• Bourne to be Wild: Fight Training – Here we have another documentary showing how Matt Damon trained hard to acquire his character’s fighting skills.
• Crash Cam: Racing Through the Streets of Moscow – This featurette explores my favorite scene as we get to see what went into filming the high-speed car chase.
• The Go-Mobile Revs Up the Action – This is another featurette exploring the car utilized for Matt Damon’s high-speed car chase scene.
• Anatomy of a Scene: The Explosive Bridge Chase Scene – This is a look at the set of one of the dangerous action sequences about to be shot.
• Scoring with John Powell - This is a behind-the-scenes look at creating the score for the film.
• The Bourne Mastermind: Robert Ludlum – This is another documentary of the famous author responsible for the Bourne series.
• The Bourne Diagnosis: Part Two – The UCLA psychologist is at it again with his thoughts on the causes and effects of Jason Bourne’s struggle with his amnesia.
• Feature Commentary with Paul Greengrass

• Exclusive U-Control
  • Picture in Picture
  • Bourne Reminders
  • Bourne Card battle Strategy Game
  • Supremacy Dossier

• BD-Live – Blu-ray players with an active Internet connection can access exclusive interactive applications that allow viewers to communicate with others while watching the film.
  • My Scenes Sharing
  • Bourne card battle strategy game – This is an interactive strategy game that pits users against each other in hand-to-hand combat simulation.

The Bourne Ultimatum

• Be Bourne Spy Training – Viewers get to see if they have what it takes to be a covert operative.
• Man on the Move: Jason Bourne – Again we get to visit the exotic locations that the film takes place in.
• Rooftop Pursuit – This is an examination of my favorite scene from the movie, the Tangier rooftop chase.
• Planning The Punches – This is the third time now we get to see Matt Damon training for his fight scenes.
• Driving School – Here we get to see Matt Damon preparing for the New York Chase scene.
• New York Chase - This is a look at how the car chase scene was filmed.
• Feature Commentary with director Paul Greengrass
• Deleted Scenes
• Exclusive U-Control
  • Picture in Picture
  • Bourne Reminders
  • Bourne Card battle Strategy Game
  • Brackbriar Files – This includes interactive character dossiers, location analyses and exploring the technology behind the spy gadgets through visuals and 3-D animations.

• BD-Live – Blu-ray players with an active Internet connection can access exclusive interactive applications that allow viewers to communicate with others while watching the film.
  • My Scenes Sharing
  • Bourne card battle strategy game- This is an interactive strategy game that pits users against each other in hand-to-hand combat simulation.

  

Final Thoughts 

Like I said prior, this is a must-own for any Blu-ray movie collector.  This box set is definitely a must-have in your Blu-ray movie collection.   With a stylized visual look like none other, superb audio and a special features package to keep you busy for days, this Blu-ray collection is sure to provide you with edge of your seat excitement as you sit in the driver’s seat experiencing one of the greatest spy thriller franchises of all time.  This is a value well worth the price of admission if you ask me.  So if you have never seen these films before you are in for a treat.  If you are already a Jason Bourne fan then you need no further encouragement, pre-order your box set today to start enjoying the Bourne films in their finest presentation available anywhere, on the Blu-ray format.  Final words…The Bourne Trilogy collection is Highly Recommended for ALL.

I hope you enjoyed my review of Universal’s The Bourne Trilogy Blu-ray release.  Please feel free to share your thoughts and comments below.  I look forward to receiving any feedback from my readers.

The Bourne Trilogy will be released on Blu-ray January 27, 2009.  If you like what you read in the review above, then please show your support for our site by clicking the shopping cart link above to pre-order and save with Amazon’s Everyday Lowest Price Guarantee.  Thanks!