Bourne Supremacy, The

Jason Bourne (Damon) is living his life in seclusion but always on the lookout for those who are after him. After his worst fears are realized and his girlfriend is killed, Jason leaves his idyllic existence to chase after the person who destroyed his life. Determined not to let anything get in his way, Jason's thirst for revenge is so strong that he won't give up until he has won. Get ready for one wild car chase after another in The Bourne Supremacy, the second film in the series based on the novel by Robert Ludlum. (Tricia Littrell)

Supplements include an instant Access feature presented by Toshiba for HD DVD, which is essentially a parallel video presentation (the "total experience") of featurettes and behind-the-scenes info that plays in the bottom right corner of the film frame, so you don't have to leave the movie experience to view added value content (there is also an audio-only option). Separately, there are explosive(!) deleted scenes; several featurettes: Matching Identities: Casting; Keeping It Real (five minutes); the four-minute Things That Go Boom, which explores some of Supremacy's pyrotechnical sequences and how they were created; On The Move With Jason Bourne, a five-minute travel guide to the film's many fascinating locations; Bourne To Be Wild: Fight Training, four minutes of Matt Damon's fight training; Crash Cam: Racing Through The Streets Of Moscow, which is a six-minute look into how the stunt-coordinators plan and apply the high-speed chase scenes; the seven-minute The Go-Mobile Revs Up The Action; the five-minute Anatomy Of A Scene: The Explosive Bridge Chase Scene; Scoring With John Powell, a five-minute look into the suspense-heightening music; The Bourne Mastermind, five minutes with author Robert Ludlum; and The Bourne Diagnosis, six minutes with the cast and filmmakers assessing the Bourne series. There is also audio commentary with director Paul Greengrass.

The high-definition 2.35:1 HD DVD picture looks quite detailed, with nicely rendered textures into backgrounds. The picture lacks a smooth, polished look; as an intentionally harsh, gritty appearance seems more visually complementary to the thrilling subject matter. The color scheme can be generally well balanced, though a few scenes have a green tinge. While some scenes seem a bit desaturated, hues can be nicely saturated, with undefined and endless blacks. Film grain is often noticed in the source element. The picture is extremely clean and solid, with no bothersome edge halos or VC-1 compression problems for a completely satisfying visual experience. (Suzanne Hodges)

Like the DVD, imaging around the room is fantastic in this Dolby® Digital•Plus 5.1-channel encoding, with an impressively wide front soundstage, convincing side-to-side and front/back pans, and a fluid clean fidelity that is enhanced by the increased bit rate of the advanced audio codec. Bass is deep, tight, and persistent, often dropping below 25 Hz in each of the main channels. The well-executed imaging around the room creates an impressively dynamic spatial dimensionality that really gives a "being there" experience. Dialogue sounds very smooth and natural, with impressive fidelity that definitely benefits from the added bits. This is an incredibly detailed and creative soundtrack that does a good job of enveloping the audience into the story and the action, and, when combined with the Dolby Digital•Plus format, provides an exciting experience. (Danny Richelieu)