The Bourne Supremacy

Posted by Robert Fure (robert@filmschoolrejects.com) on July 31, 2007

Finishing up the duo of previously released Bourne movies, here is the review of 2004’s The Bourne Supremacy. Watch this badboy thriller to bone up for another of this summer’s sequels (in fact, it’s at least the 4th film series to release it’s 3rd film in 2007) so you’re all set to get ultimatized by The Bourne Ultimatum.

In this adventure we rejoin Jason Bourne on his adventures in amnesia land, though a few more things are starting to click. Reupping for another tour of duty are Brian Cox, Julia Stiles, and Franka Potente in addition to our Streisand-turned ass-whooper Matt Damon. For good effect we add a dose of Karl Urban and Joan Allen to assemble a tight little cast. One of my personal favorites, Karel Roden, also joins the cast in a small role, but his menacing looks are put to good used.

This time out Bourne has been framed for a double murder and all signs point to Treadstone, the project behind the creation of the super-spies. Joan Allen co-stars as Pamela Landy, an FBI Investigator on the tail of Bourne and with an ear to the ground when it comes to inter-office betrayals.

We get a few sweet fights that strive to remain in the realm of realism and have a nice, vicious and brutal quality to them that stays with the film’s overall approach to the spy genre. There is an ultra-awesome foot-to-car chase that ends with some stylish driving and a good smash-up that is always a crowd pleaser. Just like The Bourne Identity, this film is generally available on the cheap with the marketing campaign of the Ultimatum just around the corner.

As for extras, again we are treated well. There are some deleted scenes advertised as “explosive,” though I found them rather bland. There is featurette on the Moscow car chase and a look at the ‘go-mobile’ cam, a car mounted chase camera car that helps get some of the awesome shots in the film. We get another behind the scenes look at Matt Damon learning to whip realistic ass with the help of a star fight choreographer and a nice look at how one of the films cooler moments, a righteous explosion, was handled. I love stunt specials!

Toss in a featurette on the Bridge Chase Scene, a casting featurette, a locations featurette, and one detailing the filming style of The Bourne Supremacy. There is also some sound-board type featurette that I didn’t fool with too much, but for the audiophiles out there I’m sure it’s boner-worthy, though for the rest of us it’s just a nice piece of padding filling up the disk.

The Bourne Supremacy continues the trilogy nicely and is a good lead-in to this summer’s Ultimatum. If you plan on catching that in theaters, this DVD is required viewing. We again get nice action, good thrills, and a few genuine surprises, twists and turns that come out of nowhere. Toss your expectations out the window, pop this sucker into your DVD player and get ready for the summer sequel spectacle to continue.

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