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.