Stars:
Matt Damon, Franka Potene, Chris Cooper, Clive Owen, Brian Cox, and Adewale
Akinnodyle-Agbaji
Writers:
Tony Gilroy and William Blade Herron
Based
On The Novel By: Robert Ludlum
Director:
Doug Liman
Feature
length: 119 minutes
Extras:
Alternate Ending, Deleted Scenes, Extended Scenes, Featurette, Music Video,
Director’s Commentary, Trailer, Production Notes, Cast & Crew Biographies
and Highlights, Universal Total Axess, and DVD-ROM Games
Languages:
English DTS Digital 5.1 Theatrical Surround Sound and English and French
Language Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound
Subtitles:
English Captions and Spanish Language Subtitles
Packaging:
Keep Case
Chapter
Stops: 20
Sound:
DTS Digital 5.1 Theatrical Surround Sound and Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound
Year
of Theatrical Release: 2002/DVD Release: 2003
Theatrical
Distributor: Universal Pictures
Home
Video Distributor: Universal Home Entertainment
MPAA
Rating: PG-13
Reviewer:
Mark A. Rivera
A
body of a man is found floating in the ocean. He has two bullet holes in his
back and an implant in his hip with the number to a Swiss bank account. The man
miraculously comes back to consciousness with no memory of who he is, but innate
gifts for language, fighting skills, weapons, and incredible memory and
observation skills. When he arrives at the Swiss bank he discovers a safety
deposit box with various passports with many aliases, money, a gun, and more.
However his arrival at the bank triggers an alert back to the CIA, which is in a
bit of hot water over a failed attempt to assassinate s deposed African national
living abroad. Going under the name Jason Bourne, our fugitive manages to escape
with the help of a gypsy like expatriated young woman, who participates in his
odyssey of danger and intrigue in Paris as Jason Bourne slowly discovers who he
really is.
“The
Bourne Identity” is one of the best espionage thrillers I have seen in a long
time. What I liked about it the most was the pacing and Damon’s ability to
draw us into his character so that we are sympathetic to him even once we
understand exactly what is profession is. The choreography of the fight scenes
is without a doubt top shelf and the film is paced very well. Universal Home
Entertainment has released a full-screen and widescreen “Collector’s
Edition” DVD release with identical extra features. Both presentations are
available to consumers, but are sold separately. The widescreen edition presents
“The Bourne Identity” with a beautiful anamorphic widescreen (2.35:1) aspect
ratio that has solid colors and no anomalies whatsoever. The English DTS Digital
5.1 Theatrical Surround Soundtrack is fantastic with a completely enveloping
discreet use of the channels so that no effect overshadows anything
unintentionally and yet the sound just jumps out when it is necessary so the
action truly feels real as a whole for the home theater experience. A well-mixed
English Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Soundtrack is also included along with a
French Language Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Soundtrack and English Captions for
the hearing impaired and Spanish Language Subtitles encoded on to the DVD as
options.
Director
Doug Liman delivers a screen specific and articulate feature length audio
commentary track where he explains his affinity for the novel and how the
feature adaptation is actually very different from the book in order to update
it for our time. He also notes how his father’s memoirs and background of
working within the NSA played a role in the film’s production design for the
bureaucratic CIA scenes in the movie and he even gives some technical background
on the challenges of working with a crew whose native language was not English
and how he dealt with some of the difficulties of location shooting like the
Siberian winter outdoor car driving scene where three cameras had to be used
because the first two simply froze. Overall this is a very detailed and engaging
commentary track that enhances the DVD experience for the viewer as well.
The
featurette, deleted scenes, and extended scenes as well as the trailer all
feature optional English Captions for the hearing impaired as well as French and
Spanish Language Subtitles. All of the deleted, alternate, and extended scenes
are presented in a letterboxed (2.35:1) aspect ratio with English Stereo Sound.
They include an alternate ending (2:05), an extended “Farm House” scene (:
59), and deleted scenes that are comprised of “Wombosi On Private Jet”
(1:00), “Bourne And Marie By The Side Of The Road” (2:31), “Psychologist
Discusses Bourne” (1:48), and “Bourne And Marie Practice On The Subway”
(1:43).
A
videotaped featurette with behind-the-scenes footage and interviews from the set
entitled “The Birth Of Bourne Identity” (14:32) is included and is
complemented by Cast, Screenwriters, and Director Biographies and Film
Highlights as well as on screen production notes, which are also present within
the insert inside the DVD keep case. The (1.85:1) music video for “Extreme
Ways” by Moby (3:39) and the (2.35:1) widescreen theatrical trailer for “The
Bourne Identity” (2:11) are also included and a teaser trailer for the Rowan
Atkinson comedy “Johnny English” (1:01) precedes the feature too.
Computer
users with Windows 95 or higher and a DVD-ROM drive also have access to
Universal’s “Total Axess” for an exclusive web link to various
behind-the-scenes extra features that are updated weekly. There are also a few
DVD-ROM games included, which are comprised of the “Pac Man” like “Blue
Print Chase”, the “Observation Room” where one’s memory is tested to
identify what is in the selected photo shown for a few seconds on screen and
what is not in the room, a “Memory Match” where one has to identify the
matching cards in a very small amount of time, “Stop The Enemy,” which asks
the player to identify which weapon goes to which character, and a “Snapshot
Game” where one has 15 exposures and 20 seconds to catch the targets on film.
The goal for all of these games is to collect the codes in order to find out the
true identity of Jason Bourne.
The
main menu is animated with motion transitions to standard interactive still
frames and all of the menus are easy to navigate. This is a well-rounded DVD
worthy of purchase. “The Bourne Identity: Collector’s Edition: Widescreen”
is available on DVD-Video now from Universal Home Entertainment.
©
Copyright 2003 By Mark A. Rivera
All Rights Reserved.