They call them flipper, flipper, flipper of the sea.. With Universal’s new Flipper disc, the Blu-ray format has finally come up to par with its old rival HD-DVD – almost 2 years later. For the last year Studios have been experimenting with way to satisfy people who have both Blu-ray and DVD players. Some see the solution being Digital Copy, others like Disney have embraced the give us the movie on “every” format option with 3 Disc Combo Packages (Blu-ray, DVD, and Digital Copy), now we have the Flipper disc. It’s a simple concept put the Blu-ray and DVD versions on one disc that you can “flip” over. This saves in packaging costs and saves space in my DVD/Blu-ray binders. Instead of having 3 discs to keep up with, I now only have one. I prefer this method to the combo packs.
Universal Home Video has chosen the right showcase films for there “new” packaging – The Bourne films. I’ll admit, I’ve never been a fan of the series, Director Paul Greengrass’ herky, jerky camera movements during the action scenes give me a giant headache. I have to say this one gorgeous 1080p transfer; it’s an almost reference quality picture, but the blacks are really black. The base on this mix is pretty thumping and this is using my 2.1 Sony Soundbar.
The packaging is pretty plain – it’s a single disc (it’s a flipper) with no marketing materials on the inside and no cover images on the disc themselves, I generally hate that. I like to clearly see what a movie is before pulling it out of my binder. I’ve always appreciated Universal Home Video’s simple, but functional menu navigation. It nicely overlays the options in a transparent fashion and doesn’t detract from the picture.
Blu-ray Specs
- Picture – 1080p High Definition Widescreen 2.35:1
- Anamorphic Widescreen 2.35:1
- English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
- French, Spanish DTS 5.1
- English Dolby Digital 2.1
- Dolby Digital 5.1 in English, French and Spanish
- Subtitles – English, French and Spanish
Extras
- For a single disc, this thing packs a ton of extras.
- My Scenes – Lets you bookmark your favorite scenes for later playback
- U-Control – Universal’s version of Picture N Picture. Very nice
- Audio Commentary from Paul Greengrass
- Deleted Scenes (11 Minutes) (SD) – These look hideous – grainy, fuzzy
- Matching Identities: Casting (5 Min) (SD)
- Keeping it Real (5 Min) (SD)
- Blowing Things Up (4 min) (SD)
- On the Move with Jason Bourne (4 Min) (SD) – Location filming
- Bourne to Be Wild: Fight Training (4 Min) (SD)
- Crash Cam: Racing Through the Streets of Moscow (6 Min) (SD)
- The Go-Mobile Revs up the Action (7 Min) (SD) – This is really cool shows how they created the Car Chases with this neat little custom rig they created.
- Anatomy of a Scene: The Explosive Bridge Chase Scene (4 Min) (SD)
- Scoring with John Powell (4 Min) (SD)
- The Bourne Mastermind Pt 2 (4 Min) (SD) – And interview with Robert Ludlum
- The Bourne Diagnosis Pt 2 (5 Min) (SD) – A psychological look at Bourne
Commentary
I like the Bourne films well enough, but as I said in the beginning the action sequences give me a headache. The picture and audio on this disc are top notch, everything falls apart a bit on the Extra features. Extras like U-Control, My Scenes, Full Length Commentary track and that these are the first flipper disc almost makes up for the fact that all of the featurettes on this disc look hideous – they are grainy, fuzzy, and barely watchable – just a real half assed job here. I wouldn’t say these Bourne discs are a must buy, if you are a fan of the series and don’t already own the Blu-rays, there’s no reason not to buy this set. All three Bourne films are now available as Flipper disc.
Grades
- Movie – B-
- Video Quality (of the main movie) – A-
- Audio – A
- Extras – B
- Presentation/Packaging – A
Final Overall Grade – B
EM Review by
Michelle Alexandria
Originally posted 01.19.2010