Why So Blu?

Jason Bourne (4K UHD Blu-ray Review)

Jason Bourne needs no trailer to sell it.  Let’s be honest of that fact.  When Bourne Identity dropped in 2002 it rejuvenated the stale international spy franchises out there.  Just look at the style of what came next in the Bond series, Casino Royale, as living proof.  Suddenly Bourne-like movies infected our screens everywhere from the mainstream Mission Impossible franchise to even television series like 24.  Yes, technically 24 came out first, but surely you can see the influence of the Bourne films.  Ha ha.  Whatevs!  What I want to know is what’s up with these “character name” movie titles?  Stallone resurrected two dead franchises like that.  Now I guess it’s Greengrass’ turn, eh?

Film 

Let’s forget about the 2012 entry, Legacy, which focuses on the fallout in the intelligence community in Bourne Ultimatum.  It didn’t feature Matt Damon in the titular role so I could care less about that one.  I do not even own it on Blu-ray.  Instead, let’s fast forward to present day.  Matt Damon is back on board.  Why?  It’s because of director Paul Greengrass.  Matt Damon would not come back unless Paul did and like the Eagles, hell froze over in 2016.  Greengrass not only directs, but shares writing duties with editor Christopher Rouse on Jason Bourne.

If you count the Bourne Legacy, this entry marks the fifth in the franchise.  Damon also serves as a producer here.  Other stars include Julia Stiles, Alicia Vikander, Riz Ahmed, Vincent Cassel and Tommy Lee Jones.  Jason Bourne picks up several years after Jason’s disappearance at the end of The Bourne Ultimatum.  He resurfaces trying to find “all” the answers to his past he doesn’t already have from the first three films.  Yes, believe it or not there are more details to learn discover.  This time Matt has daddy issues.  Meanwhile, the U.S. government has a new military “training” program akin to Treadstone.  They want to keep it under wraps.  So they utilize their various international assets to hunt Bourne down before he can expose it all.  If any of this already sounds remotely familiar at all, please stop me.  Ha!

There’s a beauty in all of this.  Yes, Jason Bourne is a tried and proven formula, but the simplicity of it all rocks in its execution throughout here.  With the exception of the first, this is the my favorite Bourne ever and let me tell you why after I catch you up to speed first on what transpires.  Jason Bourne resurfaces.  We all know that.  However, it’s the why now that every needs to concern themselves with.  Our friend Julia Stiles digs up some information that she thinks Bourne needs to know (the daddy issues and so on).  You see, their friendship is on a “need to know” basis.  Anyway, this rocks the intelligent community because Julia’s character didn’t exactly get her hands on this info legally.  Oh no!  Big brother catches her hacking them.

Furthermore, all it takes is for Jason Bourne to adjust to the gravity of the situation and snap!  He comes out of hiding in full blown Terminator T-1000 mode.  He will not stop until he gets what he wants and takes down the government corruption.  You have to admire a man with that kind of dedication.  In true Bourne style, this is still a globetrotting affair from London to Berlin and Washington to Vegas (the latter being a reason why I love this entry so much).  Jason Bourne takes you for a wild and crazy thrill ride.  Think about the vehicular mayhem of Mad Max: Fury Road style at times here too.  The stakes are high and the exhilaration factor is one-hundred percent all there.

Let’s talk about why I love this one so much.  First of all, there’s the high octane action.  The fight scenes are as brutal and visceral as ever and the car chases are downright exhilarating.  I have not felt that much tension in action sequences since last year’s Mad Max: Fury Road.  When you compare any action sequence to Miller’s film you have a winner on your hands.  Second, it was cliche, but smart and witty at the same times.  As nonsensical as they seem Bourne recruits the use of gadgets that actually serve a purpose to the story.  Their placement within the story was both crowd pleasing and righteous, albeit a bit too convenient at times. The performances themselves were nothing short of satisfying, but last but certainly not least has to be the choice of locations.

The Bourne movies have always inspired people to travel abroad due to their international locations that us American audiences find curious.  Jason Bourne is no exception to that rule.  I personally still don’t want to travel to a lot of parts of the world Bourne find himself in.  They appear way too violent for my personal liking.  However, when you bring Bourne stateside to one of my favorite places in the world, Sin City, you have my full, undivided attention.  You can say he “lays all his cards down on the table” and is all in as Jason takes down corruption in familiar Vegas locales.  I found myself relishing every minute of the Las Vegas culture, vibe and scenery onscreen.  Why not just shoot a whole Bourne film there next time?  We can call it the Bourne Roller.  That has a nice ring to it, does it not?

Oh did I let the cat out of the bag when I said why not shoot a whole other film there?  Well, let’s just say Jason Bourne leaves things a tad open ended.  Don’t get me wrong, there’s a definitive ending here.  Let’s just say they leave it open to more possibilities.  That’s not a bad thing.  I had many reservations going into Jason Bourne that it was going to be more or less the same thing as the first three.  Being proven wrong, I now find myself  grateful to be reviewing this one in glorious 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray.  And now that we have that all out of the way let’s talk about why you’re really all here…the 4K Ultra HD disc vitals.

Video 

The below video score and related critique of things here are based solely upon my viewing of the 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray presentation of Jason Bourne.

• Encoding: HEVC / H.265
• Resolution: 4K (2160p)
• Layers: BD-66
• Aspect Ratio: 2.40:1
• Clarity/Detail: According to IMDB it appears Jason Bourne was compiled and filmed from a multitude of sources with resolutions ranging from 2K to 6K.  Therefore it makes sense the Digital Intermediate for this one is mastered in 2K.  However, that doesn’t take away from how majestic looking Jason Bourne looks on the new 4K format.  For the most part every thing is clear and on display for all to see in UHD fine detail such as facial stubble, wrinkles on Tommy Lee Jones, moles on Matt Damon, fabrics, age spots on hands, wood grain in boardroom table and if you look hard enough you’ll see two stray hairs sticking out on rim of Tommy Lee Jone’s left ear.  Someone place those please!  Some of the establishing shots are a bit rough (think X-Files kind of wide shots), but nothing really to ding this one over.  Thankfully this one never suffers from any aliasing either as a result of all the shaky cam this franchise is known for.  However, that never bothered me in the predecessors anyway.
• Depth: The onscreen characters all pop with three-dimensional qualities against the backgrounds here.  From the protesters lining the streets of Athens, Greece to the breathtaking cityscape of the Las Vegas skyline the depth of field is vast, wide and very much appreciated here.  Even the tightly constrained spaces pop with detail all around placing you the viewer in this three-dimensional world that Jason Bourne inhabits onscreen.
• Black Levels: The black levels are where this presentation really excels from the HDR handouts making this one both crisp and popping in appearance.   What I mean by that is there are a lot of sequences that take place in the night time here and not one of them ever gets lost in the shadows here with the colors brightly on display and fine details for all to take in.  However, that’s not to say everything is perfect as there is some noise here and there in the darkness, but whether we are in Iceland, Rome, Athens or even Vegas, the HDR is the stunning star of the show throughout all the various sequences that go bump in the night.
• Color Reproduction: The colors are very realistic and not overblown, but also gritty and visceral at times too when they want to be.  Of course once we get to Las Vegas the colors really pop with all the lights and vibrant night life to be found on the Strip.
• Flesh Tones: The skin temperatures are very natural in appearance and never exaggerated.  I’m very happy with the way things look here.
• Noise/Artifacts: There’s absolutely nothing that will distract you from enjoying this excellent UHD HDR presentation.  There’s some light grain here or there but nothing to the levels I was expecting when I watch the first three Bourne films on 1080p Blu-ray.  Thankfully with all the jittery camera moves I did not notice any jitter nor did I notice any crushing in the dark scenes.  All in all, this one is top notch.

Audio 

Like I mentioned up above in the video section, the below audio score and critical comments of such are based solely upon my viewing of the 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray presentation of Jason Bourne.  Universal did not skimp in the audio department here.  Both the 4K UHD disc and the regular 1080p Blu-ray come armed with a DTS:X surround track for their presentations.

• Audio Format(s): English DTS:X, DTS Headphone:X, Spanish DTS-HD 7.1, French (Canadian) DTS Digital Surround Sound 5.1
• Subtitles: English, English SDH, Spanish, French
• Dynamics: Jason Bourne‘s dynamics really puts you the viewer in the middle of this 360-degree soundscape where the tiniest whimper is clearly audible with discreet directionality to the loudest of shrills or explosions rocking the soundstage.  I guess what I’m trying to say is this is a deep, immersive DTS:X surround track that doesn’t hold back any punches.  Every onscreen action is faithfully reproduced and rendered around you in the surround presentation with the utmost of accuracy and flawless execution.  From the infectious score to the debating moments of dialog and banter between onscreen characters, Jason Bourne invigorated my sound system and warranted my undivided attention as I let it draw me into its soul sucking experience of blissful, object oriented, lossless audio delusions of grandeur.
• Height: The DTS:X surround track goes overhead many times with a multitude of helicopters swirling and taking off above you.  Other examples where a sense of height is employed range from the many explosions that rock your viewing screen throughout to the riots and demonstrations taking place in the streets of Athens, Greece, burning debris falling from overhead and more.
• Low Frequency Extension: The LFE channel erupts with moments of gunshots, punches, a gutsy score, action sequence after endless action sequence, explosions, car crashes, helicopters, motorcycle roars and the list goes on and on and on.  The subwoofer is not overly worked and its not overly aggressive, but it just gives the right amount of oomph in my opinion to the onscreen events capturing your undivided attention and making you feel every blow that happens.
• Surround Sound Presentation: The rear channels bring this DTS:X surround track to life with lots of crowd chanting, cheering and even rioting moments, helicopters swarming, fireworks exploding, alarms going off, Vegas slot machines thriving and so much more.  Some of my favorite uses of the surround channels was when flashback events were called upon.  Call me a sucker, but I just like slick transitions and this surround track knows how to grab my attention.  Come on!  This is a Bourne movie after all.  They’re known for action.  You better believe this surround presentation is going to deliver and put you squarely in the middle of it all.
• Dialogue Reproduction: For the most part the dialogue is prioritized and centered throughout with the exceptions of moments where its heard behind you like in flashbacks for example or for directionality purposes.  Every spoken word is clear and understandable.  That’s all that really matters in my book.

Extras 

Universal brings Jason Bourne to the 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray format which includes commentary from the cast, filmmakers, stunt performers and fight coordinators, plus behind-the-scenes features that take viewers inside the making of the film’s intense stunt choreography and one of the wildest car chases in Bourne history.  If that’s not enough there’s a redeemable Digital HD code which I was able to use to claim the feature film in both UltraViolet UHD in VUDU and in iTunes HD.  So without further ado let’s take a look at everything you’ll find in the way of said extras all housed on the 1080p Blu-ray disc.

• Bringing Back Bourne (HD, 8:15) – Here we see Matt Damon and Director Paul Greengrass discussing how they brought the beloved character of Jason Bourne back to the big screen.  This one starts out by reminding us why Matt came back because of Paul.  Only the time it comes straight out of Matt’s mouth not through interviews.  It looks like this all started 18 months and they explained why they waited so long.  So this one talks about the idea with a lot of cast and crew interviews plus behind-the-scenes footage of the movie being filmed.
• Bourne to Fight (HD, 18:13) – This is where go behind-the-scenes of the brutality of it all and look at the fight sequences within Jason Bourne.  This one has a play all option or you can select the following three segments below individually.
  • Bare-Knuckle Boxing (HD, 7:55) – Matt Damon discusses his love for boxing and how he prepared for the bare-knuckle fight sequences.  If you haven’t seen this film, think Fight Club, but with Jason Bourne!  This one is all about his training quests and pounding his opponents into oblivion.  Interestingly enough Matt started boxing to prepare for the first Bourne film.  Matt is in full beast mode in these training segments.
  • Close Quarters (HD, 4:27) – Here we have a behind-the-scenes look at the brutal fight between Jason Bourne and hacker Christian Dassault (Vinzenz Kiefer) in a very tight studio apartment so to speak.  This also goes into why Jason is here and of course that fight with dumbbells and other found objects.  Ha ha.
  • Underground Rumble (HD, 5:59) – Matt Damon, Vincent Cassel and fight coordinator Roger Yuan discuss how they staged Bourne’s final showdown with “The Asset.”  They discuss how this is the most intense final fight ever with the last two guys from the Treadstone project.  That’s all I’ll tell you in case you have not seen this one yet.  It’s always interesting to see how these are choreographed and sadly how fake they are with no punches really landing.
• The Athens Escape (HD, 5:37) – Here’s where it gets real for me in regards to the two vehicular chase scenes within the film.  In this extra Matt Damon, stunt coordinator Gary Powell and second unit director Simon Crane discuss the challenges of shooting a chase sequence through cramped city streets.  Matt Damon introduces this extra about how to top the former car chases of the Bourne movies.  It was amazing to see how this one was filmed on motorcycles (chasing with cameras on other motorcycles).  Matt jokes about what’s great about technology today is face replacement on stunt doubles so people buy the magic trick.  Ha ha.
• Las Vegas Showdown (HD, 14:56) – For the final act of Jason Bourne, filmmakers wanted something bigger and bolder than ever before.  Here’s an inside look at how they pulled it off as Matt talks about the unprecedented access they had in Vegas.
  • Convention Chaos (HD, 6:36) – Here we join the cast and crew on location in Las Vegas as they film the final act of Jason Bourne.  They picked this as the final culmination a real place people can identify with.  Matt says this is on another level than when he shot here during Ocean’s Eleven.  They filmed around the clock here in two different shifts.  This one also examines the many parts of Aria where filming took place from the convention floor to the rafters.  Matt said this was the biggest crowd scene he ever shot with 1,600 extras.  Most of the vendors in the convention scenes were real actually real.  Matt even explains to the crowd about how the stunt gun operates.  What a nice guy!
  • Shutting Down the Strip (HD, 8:24) – This one is definitely one of my favorites.  Here we have a behind-the-scenes look at one of the wildest car chases in Bourne history through the downtown city streets right into the Riviera’.s front doors.  Matt says this is the biggest set piece in any of the movies.  I guess there has never been a car chase in Vegas and none of it is CG.  This one even showed all the testing and smashing of vehicles to choreograph this final, history making car chase down my favorite street in the U.S

Overall 

One thing is for sure here.  You definitely can’t keep a good man down!  Matt Damon is back, kicking a$$ and asking questions later in Jason Bourne, the action-packed fifth installment of the blockbuster franchise, coming to 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray December 6th, from Universal Pictures Home Entertainment. While a lot of critics just didn’t get behind it I’m in the minority here.  I loved it!  Furthermore, I love this Ultra HD outing as well.  From the action packed, adrenalized sequences to the outstanding UHD presentation Jason Bourne has all the right ingredients for a summer blockbuster that you MUST bring home on the new premium format.  Look for it in stores everywhere December 6th, but just to be on the safe side I would suggest pre-ordering it today.  Wait!  What’s this?  It’s a pre-order link.  Click on it now!  You’re welcome.

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DISCLAIMER: This 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray review was judged and graded using the following 4K certified A/V gear found here.  Make sure to check out all our 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray reviews archived here.

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Jason Bourne Resurfaces

on 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray

December 6th!

PRE-ORDER NOW!

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Click on the below thumbnails to check out the front and rear case artwork.

      

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