HD DVD Review: The Bourne Ultimatum

THE MOVIE: 5 stars out of 5

After a spate of disappointing third installments this year of some of Hollywood’s biggest movie franchises (Pirates, Spider-Man and Shrek), the third installment of the Bourne franchise was a godsend. In this writer’s humble opinion, not only is The Bourne Ultimatum the best of the three Bourne films, it is one of the best, if not the best, action thrillers ever made. If you want action and suspense, this film has it in spades. In fact, this film is almost non stop action and is one helluva intense ride. The movie was filmed with a jerky style which only adds to the suspense as does a thumping score. The car chase scene near the end of the film is one of the best ever filmed. The action and violence here is very authentic looking. The fight scene in the house in Tangier is simply jaw dropping and makes you wonder how they could have filmed it to make it look so real without seriously injuring the actors. While I loved Live Free or Die Hard (review pending), the action there is almost cartoonish (and a lot of fun!). Not so here. This is as real as it gets, at least at the movies. If you are a fan of the Bourne films or the action film genre in general, this film is a must have. Very highly recommended.

THE VIDEO: 5 stars out of 5

Encoded with VC-1 and presented in its original aspect ratio of 2:40:1, The Bourne Ultimatum boasts one amazing transfer and one of reference quality. The film looks exactly like it looked in the theater with an amazingly sharp image with no evidence of the dreaded edge enhancement. The colors are spot on as are the black levels which are very deep rendering a totally three dimensional image. Some may nitpick about the green tinge to the darker interior scenes of the film. However, this is how the film looked in the theater and is as the director intended (as was the case with The Bourne Supremacy). Therefore, it does not warrant any deduction in points as it is a totally accurate reproduction of the film. The daylight scenes are amazing with an incredible amount of detail, beautiful shadow detail, spot on colors and skin tones with a “looking through a window” effect. The aerial shots of Turin, Tangier and Madrid are simply amazing It fact, it is hard to imagine this film looking any better, at least within the limits of today’s home video technology. I would love to see a 4k transfer of this film one day. As of today, it does not get any better than this folks. As an aside, The Bourne Ultimatum is presented as a Combo disc which played flawlessly for me.

THE AUDIO: 5 stars out of 5
As good as the video presentation is, it is matched by the audio. The Dolby True HD track is without question of reference quality. The sound design is in your face and intense with deep and tight bass and a very smooth and open sound without a hint of stridency. Go ahead and crank this baby up without fear of listener fatigue. The sound field is totally immersive. It feels like you are there in the middle of the action. You feel like you are in the Waterloo train station in London, or a hotel or alley in Tangier or the tile room at the CIA facility in New York during the last scenes of the film. The chase scenes are stunning and riveting with cars and scooters flying around the room. It does not get any better than this. The sound of gunshots are palpable and enough to make you jump in your seat. Dialogue is also full and well recorded and placed in the mix. One can clearly hear and follow the dialogue despite all the action swirling around the room. One can clearly hear the echoes of voices in the room, the parting of lips before a character speaks along with the sound of breathing. This is amazing stuff and the reason we spend the money we do for home theater rigs. Extremely well done!

IN CONCLUSION

This is one amazing release and boasts reference quality audio and video along with one great action movie to boot. Very highly recommended.

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