Customer Reviews

Bourne Ultimatum (Single-Disc Blu-ray/DVD Combo)

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

My PS3 works fine. This "flip disc" contains the DVD on one side and Blu-ray on the other. This Blu-ray WILL NOT PLAY IN MY PS3.

Unfortunately I've already purchased the whole individual collection and now must return it to Amazon.

I bought this Bourne Ultimatum single disc Blu-ray/DVD combo on the release date. I can't wait to have an affordable Blu-ray Bourne movie. The Blu-ray disk plays very smoothly on my Panasonic Blu-ray player, not a single problem at all. The picture quality is very very good. I am very satisfied.

The two sided disks contain the same formatted DVD and Blu-ray software as the one sided disks. And while they may or may not scratch easier?, that has nothing to do with their compatability in the Blu-ray players. The reason you get the problems with freezing, pausing, skipping and so on, is the Blu-ray players are not able to handle the disks software, and while updating firmware in players can prevent some of this, it will not always solve ALL compatability issues. Case in point - AVATAR Blu-ray. Almost 50% of the Blu-ray players out in circulation could not play the Avatar Blu-ray disk. And even with firmware upgrades, many still could not play it properly without menus popping up or staying on screen, skipping, pausing and so on. One of the players that had the biggest problem with playing Avatar - Samsung. Samsung initially took more calls and complaints than any other manufacturer, and I'm not sure if they ever got the problem solved. I'm not bashing Samsung, both of my higher end Blu-ray players, the Marantz and the Pioneer couldn't play Avatar either, while my Magnavox (first generation) Blu-ray player played Avatar perfectly, with no problems, and no firmware upgrade. The point is, the Bourne flip-disks are fine, if you have the right player. (Probably Sony(not sure about PS3), Vizio, Panasonic, Magnavox/Insignia/Sylvania, just guessing). By the way, I loved the Bourne movies (all three) with Matt Damon. Damon brings his unique blend of strength and sincerity to the part of Jason Bourne, and he delivered fresh and passionate performances in each film.

I'll be the first to admit that this review is less to do with these specific Bourne movies and more related to the Blu Ray conversion however I feel that one needs to understand the issues with these discs before addressing the movies themselves. Let me cut to the chase, do NOT buy these discs! They will frustrate and annoy you every time you attempt to watch them, allow me to explain.

I have a Samsung Blu Ray player with updated firmware (don't get me started on that process) connected via HDMI cable to Samsung LCDTV, generally Blu Ray discs work fine on this set up, there are occasions when on other discs the movies will pause for a brief second and then continue however these Bourne movies were impossible to watch. To begin with they seem to feature their own unique controls meaning that trying to scan forward or backward would cause the disc to lock and seemingly stall, never did get the movie to scan properly. Then there were the issues with the movie in general, the picture repeatedly froze, in car chases and in Chapter 11 (and multiple points thereafter) while they are sitting talking in the car, the sound was then out of synch with the picture and more freezing and stalling, it was so bad that I ejected the discs and watched the old DVD versions of the movies. Utterly unacceptable, beyond annoying!

As for the movies themselves, what this experiment did show the dramatic improvement of the Blu Ray versions, the picture was much crisper, the colors richer and more saturated and certainly less noise in the picture, also the sounds was much better, more full and dynamic, too bad that the technology rendered the discs unwatchable.
The irony is that I had "upgraded" from an HDDVD when that format lost out and I had this movie on HD, there were NO problems, same outstanding picture and the player had none of the issues that I attribute to Blu Ray. For whatever reason I believe that Blu Ray is simply not ready yet, too many glitches, I don't want to have to constantly monitor my firmware to watch a movie! That same kind of updating madness is what got me to migrate from a Windows PC to a Mac!

The bottom line is this, the movies are fantastic! Honestly one of my favorite trilogies and WHEN the disc is working the picture and sound really are phenomenal, the problem is in the "when", it is frustrating and unacceptable to deal with these glitches, yes, the movies are being returned to Amazon and a formal letter of complaint is being registered with Universal Home Entertainment. My advice to you, skip these for now or at the very least try to hunt down the regular Blu Ray versions, not these dual discs and save yourself the frustration.

Universal decided to put flippers back on the market rather than pack in a DVD copy into a 2 disc case. Ooooh. Bad move. No more disc art, defective discs everywhere (rampant reports of Bourne Identity freezing for 15 seconds during a car chase are already surfacing). Universal executives, if you are watching....PLEASE STOP THE FLIPPERS. THEY WERE BAD IN DVD DAYS. THEY ARE BAD NOW. Pack in the DVD with the blu ray in the future, your end-of-year bonus check and family will thank you

This review isn't for the movie but rather the Blu-ray release. This release contains a double sided disk. I highly recommend that you avoid this release. Double Sided disks under any circumstances are very bad and they are easily scratched.

Who are you? Where do you come from? Where are you going? The Bourne Ultimatum can be summed up neatly under the following headings: fast paced, action packed, non-stop, thoughtful, and above all: efficient. The key reason why this film works so well is because the film itself is just as sharp as the main character: Jason Bourne. The Bourne Ultimatum is the third installment in the Borne Trilogy. The Bourne Trilogy is a series of novels by Robert Ludlum, which have been adapted to film in a series that include the following three films: The Bourne Identity (2002), The Bourne Supremacy (2004), and The Bourne Ultimatum (2007). This series of high tech thrillers redefined action movies for the 21st century. On the acting stage the Bourne Trilogy is driven by none other then Matt Damon playing Jason Bourne. On the surface this is essentially the story of a man trying to figure out his identity. To accomplish this task Bourne will have to conduct a world wide battle with the forces that created him: the CIA. The intriguing element here is that there is always something else going on. The audience is never completely filled in and always learning something new. The great thing about this entry in the series is that it never really stops from beginning to end. The story is constantly unraveling and you never really know what is going to happen next. Also the story arc is always changing and never sticks to formula. The Bourne Ultimatum is the only film in the trilogy to have been nominated for any Academy Award, winning all three of its nominations for Best Film Editing, Best Sound Mixing, and Best Sound Editing at the 80th Academy Awards. The Bourne Ultimatum and the trilogy in general totally pushed the envelope for action adventure espionage films.

I received the above 2 videos, DVD's quickly and as advertised. The price and whole process was fast abd easy. I recommend this as a way to purchase your own DVD's from AMAZON. Very pleased.

Awesome movie and this multi BR and DVD pack brings it to both formats, so I have copy for the house and one for the car/travelling.

I have a PS3 with current firmware. I have numerous bluray discs and have rented numerous others. This is the first disc that I got that would not play. It is also the first flipper disc. Do not buy this disc. It may not work for you. Find one that is not a "flipper".