Review of Bourne Identity, The (Special Edition)

Introduction

The Bourne Supremacy is imminent in British cinemas, and by a curious coincidence Universal release The Special Edition DVD of the first film, The Bourne Identity in the same week. It`s been almost eighteen months since the first release, a fairly feature packed disc, with a commentary and DTS sound, something that this re-release lacks. So does this version of The Bourne Identity deserve the Special Edition moniker? The Bourne Identity passed me by the first time round (A Matt Damon action movie?), and this is the first time I have seen the film.

A man is fished, half-drowned from the Mediterranean. Suffering from amnesia and gunshot wounds, he`s nursed back to health by the trawler`s doctor, although he can`t make head or tail of who he is. The only clues he has are an unexplained facility with languages, and an implant removed from his body with a Zurich bank account number on it. Arriving in Zurich in an unkempt state naturally arouses the suspicions of the authorities, revealing another talent for unarmed combat. The bank has a safe deposit box, with thousands in cash and a passport belonging to one Jason Bourne, and discretely hidden away, half a dozen other passports and a weapon. Leaving the weapon behind, he decides to investigate the Bourne identity, as it seems that is who he is, but he has awakened a sleeping monster, and soon a mysterious monolithic organisation is hunting him. With the aid of $20000 dollars, he elicits the aid of Marie Kreutz, a passing motorist, to drive him safely to his address in Paris, but it isn`t long before the both of them are being pursued. Now, finding out who he truly is, is a matter of life or death for Jason Bourne.

Video

The 2.35:1 anamorphic transfer is nigh on flawless. The image is crystal clear, pin sharp and boasts vibrant colours. Well, as vibrant as you can get in Europe in the wintertime. As usual in many recent films, Prague seems to stand in for any generic European city, and the results are effective. The bleak winter setting certainly helps the oppressive atmosphere in the film, and the results are reminiscent of all the best cold war thrillers of the sixties, seventies and eighties.

Audio

The sole soundtrack on this disc is a DD 5.1 English track. It`s a nice surround track, with effective ambience and dynamic effects showing the action sequences at their best. The music is also in keeping with the pulse racing paranoia and exciting thrills of the film, calling on contemporary artists like Paul Oakenfold and Moby to provide the tunes.

Features

The Bourne Identity Special Edition comes with some nice animated menus, with blessedly short transitions that don`t annoy.

When you play the film, you get the choice of the theatrical edition or the Explosive Extended Edition. Don`t be fooled, it`s not that explosive, nor is it a seamless reintegration of lost footage. You get the alternate start and end of the film when you access a white rabbit like option. Also, while the film is anamorphic, the extra footage is poor quality letterbox in DD 2.0 Surround sound.

It`s far easier and more rewarding to watch these scenes in isolation, via the Bookend Scenes option in the extras menu. The extras scenes, plus the intro by Frank Marshall, Tony Gilroy and Brian Cox come to 11 minutes.

The Bourne Mastermind looks at the author of the original Bourne novels, Robert Ludlum with a mixture of archive and recent interviews. This is 6 minutes long.

Access Granted interviews screenwriter Tony Gilroy, and he explains the difference between the novel and the screenplay over 4 minutes.

From Identity To Supremacy (3½ minutes) interviews both Matt Damon and Franka Potente about their characters. There`s plenty of behind the scenes footage of the upcoming Bourne Supremacy too.

The Bourne Diagnosis (3½ minutes) allows a psychologist to discuss Bourne`s amnesia as shown in the film and it`s basis in reality. This featurette is instantly forgettable… ahem.

Cloak & Dagger: Covert Ops is a 5½ minute guided tour of the CIA, and purports to show just how realistic the film is. Forgive me if I`m not convinced.

Inside A Fight Sequence takes 5 minutes of your time to tell you how the bank fight sequence was conceptualised and shot.

Declassified Information shows 4 deleted scenes lasting 7 minutes in total, and they are better off deleted. A couple are interesting though.

Moby shows up with a music video, Extreme Ways with lots of movie footage in.

All these extras are presented in 4:3 regular and various letterbox ratios. The sound is DD 2.0 and the featurettes are subtitled.

The Speed Of Sound is a 4-minute featurette that discusses the sound design for the car chase sequence, and as a sound featurette should be, it`s presented in DD 5.1 sound. After the heads have stopped talking, you are taken to an interactive virtual mixing desk where you can explore the various sound segments used to make up the finished scene.

Finally there are cast filmographies, DVD credits and a trailer for Van Helsing.

You`ll have noticed that the director`s commentary from the first release isn`t mentioned. That`s because it isn`t on this Special Edition disc.

Conclusion

With the Bourne Supremacy only a few days from release in British cinemas, the re-release of the first film in Special Edition clothes seems more than coincidence. When the Special Edition turns out to be anything but, compared to the first release, the cynic in me starts screaming "Marketing ploy!" Yet there is one thing about this disc that stops me from protesting to loudly, the film itself. I had little interest in The Bourne Identity when I started watching it, and consequently no expectations. After two hours of thrills, spills and nail-biting action, I came away a fan, and also determined to part with my cash the day the Bourne Supremacy opens. If it was simply a marketing tactic, then it has worked on me at least.

This is despite the extras. There is 50 minutes of extra material on this disc, but it is all in the form of featurettes lasting a few minutes or so, designed for those lacking attention spans. I hardly had a chance to put my remote control down. It`s pretty much all ephemeral EPK stuff, with hardly enough weight to register. A couple of featurettes grabbed my attention, the Anatomy Of A Fight Scene, and The Speed Of Sound, but the cynic in me wasn`t surprised at the presence of From Identity To Supremacy. I was surprised though, that they didn`t simply put the Bourne Supremacy trailer in. I guess that would have been too obvious.

But as I said, it`s the film itself which is the most tantalising ingredient on this disc, and I found myself watching a tense, exciting spy thriller that had me on the edge of my seat most of the way through. It doesn`t insult the intelligence with too much exposition, and it keeps the plot ambiguous for the most part, giving few clues away. We are pretty much in the same position as the amnesiac Jason Bourne, and while the film does let us get ahead of him in finding out what`s going on, we`re never too far ahead to appreciate the twists and turns, or to share in his paranoia as it seems the world is closing in on him.

Matt Damon nails the role as Jason Bourne; he`s immediately believable as the amnesiac with a dark past. His bewilderment and confusion isn`t allowed to become the focus of the film, especially when his skills start to resurface. When it becomes apparent that he is far from a mundane civilian, he gains an intensity of focus and lethal intent that is very believable. He has some good chemistry with Franka Potente who plays Marie, the woman who helps him evade his pursuers. There is also solid support from Chris Cooper, Brian Cox and Clive Owen.

As a spy thriller, The Bourne Identity ranks among the best. It`s remarkably tense, and the thrills don`t cease. Yet it manages this without gimmicks, gadgets or gizmos. There is a nice moment of nostalgia, seeing a classic mini in a car chase again, and there is a nice touch of dry comedy to counterbalance the suspense. The direction is spot on, fast paced and snappy and there is a tension and hint of paranoia running all the way through. The Bourne Identity manages this through good characterisation and a tight story. As the end credits rolled, I was left thinking James Bond should be so exciting. If there is a flaw, it`s that the story is thin. When all the thrills are done, the story underneath is a simple and indeed familiar one, the amnesiac caught up in a world of espionage. It`s well written and tightly plotted, and little puzzles introduced early on are satisfactorily resolved as the film progresses, but as a film it relies heavily on these revelations and plot twists, something that only works the one time. I`m not sure as to whether the Bourne Identity has replay value.

The Bourne Identity: Special Edition is a bit of a misnomer. This disc lacks the commentary and the DTS soundtrack from the original release, but has several piecemeal featurettes in their place. If you have the first release, then there is no need to double dip in my opinion. Yet I`d be happy to recommend this film regardless of what disc it be on, and if you are in the mood for a spy thriller and you haven`t seen it yet, then I urge you to give The Bourne Identity a try. If DTS and an audio commentary don`t concern you, then this disc will do just fine.