Wow!!! If you liked the first two Bourne movies, you should love this one. Story line is IMO the best of the three. More bad guys, more intrigue and more action. PQ is very good and the True HD sound is fantastic. One thing that really caught my attention, as minor as it may be, in one scene they are in a store and you can hear the old style cash register ringing in the left surround speaker.
I borrowed this from someone else and he sums up my thoughts.
"The video is impeccable, very sharp resolute, the outdoor scenes will blow you away,and becon you to Tangiers, Moscow, New York. I have never been so engrossed by an action movie like this. The style of photography really lends to the action, with it's hand held style motion camers, that makes you feel you are right there. It is not distraction but draws you the viewer into the action. There is ever a touch of slight grain, compared to the last Bourne ( Supremacy), but it lends to its realism. The contrast is bang on, very resolute, colors ever slightly faded , i think it is for the gritty style of the director. You should rush to buy this movie, are we lucky it is ONLY on HD DVD, Universal".
Here's someone else.
The Video: Sizing Up the Picture
If you're familiar with the first two installments in the Jason Bourne series, then you probably already know what to expect from the visual look of 'The Bourne Ultimatum.' Grainy, desaturated and with nary a static shot in film's entire 115-minute runtime, the intentionally rough sheen of 'Ultimatum' certainly doesn't help it in terms of delivering the kind of ultra-clean, super-slick look of the best high-def transfers, but as a representation of the source material this HD DVD is aces.
Universal presents 'The Bourne Ultimatum' in 1080p/VC-1 video, framed accurately at 2.40:1 widescreen. The source is grainy almost throughout, but it's otherwise clean with no blemishes, dirt or other defects. Contrast is appropriately on the hot side, but blacks hold firm and there is little severity to the "crush" on the low end of the scale, leaving shadow details surprisingly supple. Colors are almost uniformly desaturated, and most scenes skew towards blue or green, so don't expect rich orange fleshtones. Still, hues are quite stable and never bleed or fuzz-out, so I was generally impressed with the level of depth and detail, considering the source. Universal has also delivered a top-notch encode -- even with the intense level of fast motion throughout 'The Bourne Ultimatum,' the image never breaks up or suffers from compression artifacts.
The Audio: Rating the Sound
As good as 'Bourne Ultimatum' looks, it sounds even better. This is a reference-quality Dolby TrueHD 5.1 Surround track (48kHz/24-bit), and one that is equally powerful in terms of envelopment and impact.
'Ultimatum' is exciting because it understands the value of contrast -- Bourne's moments of quiet introspection are heightened by the loud bursts of action, and vice versa. Like its title character, the sound mix is constantly on the move -- even when the bullets aren't flying fast and furious, the techno-fueled score is always humming along, so there's never a dull moment. Realism and heft to the entire 360-degree soundfield is exceptional, with great clarity to discrete effects and seamless pans between channels. Subtle ambiance is better than I anticipated, with bleed of the score again excellent and the attention paid to fine sonic details fantastic. Director Paul Greengrass often makes clever use of subtle aural cues to inform us of Jason Bourne's state of mind (a ringing telephone, footsteps outside a door, etc.) and it's all rendered here with creativity and great care.
Lest anything think there is no bombast to 'Ultimatum,' think again. Dynamics are fantastic, from the subwoofer-shaking low bass (there is some serious rumble in nearly every one of the film's many action scenes) to the finely-attenuated higher end of the spectrum. Finally, unlike so many other action films, dialogue is actually important to 'Bourne Ultimatum,' and happily the mix is perfectly balanced. I never suffered any volume level problems (a real pet peeve of mine), so feel confident that if you crank this puppy up, you can safely put down your remote for the rest of the flick. A tremendous five-star audio experience.
12-13-07, 01:23 AM
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