Review of Bourne Supremacy, The

Introduction

Jason Bourne as played by Matt Damon first emerged from the ocean in The Bourne Identity. With a ready supply of books it`s not surprising that the producers are keen to keep the franchise alive.

As the second film opens Bourne is retired and living, in a sort of peace with his girlfriend in Goa. He is haunted by fragments of memory about a mission that went wrong. Trying to keep track of his returning memory he keeps a diary of scraps of information. His stay at the tranquil spot is disturbed by the arrival of a stranger who is looking for Bourne. Jason and his girlfriend try to escape but this man has been sent to kill.

After the failed assassination attempt Bourne heads towards mainland Europe to try to pick up the trail and determine why his ex-employers are so keen to see him dead.

There is some excellent support for Matt Damon here including Franke Potenta, Julia Styles, Brian Cox and Joan Allen.

Video

This has an edgy and intense plot which is showcased by the use of handheld cameras. The audience is taken as close to the action as it possible with some very claustrophobic shots. It owes a lot to Greengrass` background in TV and the success of TV dramas like "24" which offer a fast moving and sometimes confusing plot construction.

There are no problems with the picture reproduction.

Audio

The music is the focal point of the film underlining the often minimal dialogue. When dialogue does come it is in short and intense bursts. Happily the music is well balanced with the dialogue and there are no problems with the sound reproduction.

Features

There look to be lots of extras on this one disc edition but on closer inspection they mainly consist of short featurettes.

Audio commentary from director Paul Greengrass

This is an intimate commentary which goes into considerable detail about the film and the people involved. It comes across that he took a significant part in the development of the story and that it was a very collaborative production. It`s as enjoyable as the film itself and makes the film worth a third viewing and more.

Deleted scenes

There is one significant `talkie scene` which would have been near the end of the film. As the film is moving quite fast at this point it is obviously why this explanatory scene was removed.

`On The Move With Jason Bourne` featurette

`Bourne To Be Wild: Fight Training` featurette

`Matching Identities: The Casting Of The Film` featurette

A short film that discusses each member of the main cast and reasons for chosing them. Enjoyable.

`Keeping It Real` featurette
A short film about the intended look of the film.

`Blowing Things Up` featurette
A short film about how they put together the one big bang in the film.

`Anatomy Of A Scene: Bridge Chase Scene` featurette

`Scoring With Composer John Powell` featurette

`The Go-mobile Revs Up The Action` featurette

`Crash Cam: Racing Through The Streets Of Moscow` featurette

All the featurettes are shorts that were probably part of one big `making of` production possibly for TV. They are interesting and informative and what really shows is the complete enthusiasm and professionalism of all involved.

Conclusion

I loved the first film in this series and I`m thrilled to say I loved this even more. Matt Damon is very watchable and packs a lot into what could be an average spy-die thriller. Paul Greengrass has also packed the film with ideas and lifts it from banal-Bond to a good old-fashioned thrill-a-minuter.

I know I`m not the target audience for this but it relally got me hooked.
I was eager and willing to watch it again and again It is a superb example of creative and absorbing film-making. It doesn`t play to the lowest common denominator. Overall the plot is not as complicated as first appeared but the secret is to hold our interest by giving us limited information we learn often when the protagonists learn. Films like this have been very successful because they allow the audience to think they are clever and that`s always popular.

Although there are not a huge amount of extras they all add to the continued enjoyment of the film and I particularly enjoyed the director`s commentary.
The good news is that Bourne will return and so will Paul Greengrass so a big thumbs up to that.