4K-UHD/Movie Review: The Bourne Identity

 

The Bourne Identity is a 2002 action thriller directed by Doug Liman and adapted from Robert Ludlum's novel of the same name. It stars Matt Damon, Franka Potente, Brian Cox, Chris Cooper, Gabriel Mann, Julia Stiles, Clive Owen and Adewale Akinnouoye-Agbaje. Sharp-eyed viewers will also recognize Walton Goggins (from the excellent series Justified) in a minor role. The movie starts with Damon's character being pulled out of the ocean by the crew of a fishing vessel. He has been shot in the back and has no memory of who he is or where he comes from, and the only clue to his past is a small laser projector embedded in his hip with the name and address of a bank in Switzerland on it. He discovers that his name is Jason Bourne, and throughout the movie, he realizes that he speaks multiple languages and is highly skilled in fighting and counterintelligence. Potente is a woman he meets at the American consulate in Zurich who agrees to help get him to Paris in exchange for $20,000. The two are then pursued by local authorities and shadowy assassins with the same skills as Bourne. Bourne ultimately discovers that he is part of a CIA black ops program called Treadstone, which is run by Cooper's character, Alexander Conklin, who works for the deputy director of the CIA, Ward Abbott, who is played by Cox. 

The 4K set is a two-disc set containing a UHD disc and a regular Blu-Ray disc. The UHD disc's A/V quality is good. The audio is outstanding, but the video transfer is not as good as it should have been. The only bonus feature on the UHD disc is the director's commentary track. The other bonus material, which includes an alternate opening and ending, deleted and extended scenes, and about two hours of behind-the-scenes material, is on the regular Blu-Ray disc. The movie itself is a good blend of action and drama with a couple of humorous moments mixed in. Damon does a good job in the lead role, and although he is not extremely physically imposing, he does an excellent job in the action sequences. It is well-written and very well-acted, and while you do have to suspend your disbelief to accept that Bourne could survive everything he goes through in the movie, it is entertaining. If you are a fan of action thrillers or the spy genre, the movie is absolutely worth seeing. The A/V quality of the UHD disc is not a major step up from the regular Blu-Ray, so if you already own it on Blu-Ray, you may want to stick with that version, especially if you are a big A/V wonk.

Blu-Ray/Movie Review: The Martian

 

The Martian is a 2015 Sci-Fi/Adventure movie directed by Ridley Scott and starring Matt Damon, Jessica Chastain, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Kate Mara, Sebastian Stan, Kristen Wig, Michael Pena, Sean Bean, Donald Glover, and Jeff Daniels. The movie is adapted from a book by the same name about an Astronaut named Mark Whitney, played by Matt Damon, who ends up getting stranded on Mars when the rest of his crew leaves believing that he died. The story basically revolves around his efforts to stay alive and communicate with NASA with the equipment that is left behind, and the concurrent plan to rescue him.

The original Blu-Ray release is a single disc with the movie and a decent amount of extras. The Blu-Ray's A/V quality is outstanding, and the movie looks and sounds great in HD format. As for extras, there are probably between an hour and a half to 2 hrs worth. The biggest is a mock documentary telling the story that plays out in the film, mainly from Sean Bean and Jeff Daniel's character's perspectives. But most of the cast is involved. There are also some commercial-like vignettes promoting the Mars missions, including one done with Neil Degrasse Tyson. Then there are some behind-the-scenes and making-of features as well. A decent amount for those who like to go through the bonus material.

Overall, the movie is wonderful. The screenplay was great and the acting is superb on all fronts.  I have not read the book, but apparently, the writers did not change much from the book. For those who are into science or engineering, it is enjoyable because they based things on real science, and although they certainly did take liberties with some things, they kept most of those liberties plausible. And for those who are not very science literate, the film did a good job of not being so technical that everything would only be understandable to scientists and engineers. It is absolutely worth the time to watch.

Blu-Ray/Movie Review: Jason Bourne

 

Jason Bourne is the fifth, and likely final, movie in the Bourne franchise. It saw the return of Matt Damon as the titular Jason Bourne and Julia Stiles as Nicky Parsons, after the Bourne Legacy with Jeremey Renner and Rachel Weisz underperformed.

The style of the movie is much like the others in the franchise with Bourne seeking answers about the Treadstone program and trying to evade government agents sent this time by Tommy Lee Jones' character Robert Dewey, the current director of the CIA, who is another in the long cavalcade of agents who have tried to take down Bourne. As is the case with all of the other movies, there is a ton of good action, and the requisite chase sequence, which is again the highlight of the action.

For those who get the blu-ray set, the A/V quality is very good and there are a decent amount of extras. Those include seven making-of and behind-the-scenes featurettes ranging from about four and a half minutes to just under nine minutes.

Overall, the movie is good, but really nothing all that different from what we have seen in the other movies. It would have been very nice had there been a team-up between Bourne and Renner's character Aaron Cross, but unfortunately, because of Renner's MCU commitments, that was not meant to be. This movie feels like it could be the final movie in the series, but it ends in a way that another movie could be made at some point. The supporting cast in this movie is very good and, besides Jones, includes Alicia Vikander as Heather Lee, head of the CIA Cyber Ops Division, and Vincent Cassel as an assassin sent after Bourne. I would say, in general, if you have enjoyed the other movies, you will probably like this one, especially with Damon reprising the Bourne character. If, however, you did not like the earlier movies or felt they were getting stale, this one is not likely to change your mind.