The Bourne Identity (Explosive Extended Cut)

Posted by Robert Fure (robert@filmschoolrejects.com) on May 30, 2007

This has been out for awhile but with the third installment on its way, we’re throwing this review out to you. This package is a pretty sweet one and though it’s called the “explosive extended cut” the extended action sequences don’t add any explosions. In fact, I found them to be rather bland and not worth it. When offered the chance to view the theatrical version or the version with the bookended new beginning and ending, choose the theatrical. You can watch the scenes as extras later just to see and they explain why they were needed, which is interesting.

Obviously we get the film and it’s a good action/thriller. If you haven’t seen it yet, get caught up before Bourne Ultimatum comes out. Basically we get super-spy in a super-coma Jason Bourne, a pretty bad ass dude. As they say in The 40 Year Old Virgin “I always thought Matt Damon was like a Streisand but he’s really rocking the shit in this one!” This thriller follows the “Just leave me alone” Super spy as he journeys to find out who he is. But when Chris Cooper is involved as a shady CIA handler, you just know things aren’t going to go smoothly. Be on the lookout for Clive Owen as well as he pops up as super-killer “The Professor” back in the days before his face could sell a movie.

The real cool thing we get here is a good deal of extras. They’re all, for the most part, in the 5 minute range but they’re enjoyable and interesting. You get a featurette on the author Robert Ludlum, a small featurette with a retired CIA operative and his view on the film, a medical diagnosis on Bourne’s condition, deleted scenes, interviews, and a behind the scenes look at the choreography between some of the fight scenes. They’re short and sweet and fit the bill. While some would have been cooler if they went more in-depth, like with the CIA guy, they stay short enough that even the more boring of the group never grows old. This is one of the first DVDs that I actually wanted to and finished watching all of the extras without being bored out of my mind. Of course, there are also some commentaries thrown in, if that’s your bag.

So all in all this is a good buy, especially if you act soon as most retailers are selling for about $7 right now, so act fast. In the end we get a sweet action film that shows a more realistic view of the world of espionage, a handful of sweet extras, and a few minutes of unseen footage that could, in my book, remain unseen.

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