That's the most succinct review The Bourne Identity you're ever going to get. However, since I know you're here for a little more elaboration, I'll do you the courtesy of writing out one that's a little more proper.

Matt Damon plays Jason Bourne, a man discovered by a European fishing crew floating in the ocean. Riddled with bullet wounds and a small device that projects the number of a Swiss bank account, the man knows nothing of his past. Soon he finds his way back to Switzerland, and accesses the account, finding a safety deposit box with a passport identifying him as Jason Bourne. He also discovers about a dozen other passports, all with his picture, all with different names. In addition, there's a gun and a giant wad of cash. A scuffle with local law enforcement informs him that he's also got some really funky latent fighting skills he didn't know about. Now on the run, he hires Marie (Franka Potente) to drive him to the Paris address listed on his passport. Meanwhile, a CIA program known as Treadstone is monitoring Bourne, as it turns out he was one of their operatives and they want him back.

It's not unfair to say that Matt Damon was not known for action movies prior to The Bourne Identity. But that's exactly why he was perfect for the role. Bourne is not meant to be John Rambo or even Snake Plissken. He's meant to appear unassuming, making his fighting skills all the more surprising and impressive. The other reason Damon was such a good choice was because the film focuses on Bourne as a character, not as a vehicle for non-stop action. Tony Gilroy's screenplay imbues Bourne with many human qualities, and his amnesia means he has to come to grips with his old identity while creating a brand new one. Damon, who had already proven his acting chops in Good Will Hunting, is more than up to the task. He portrays Bourne as well-meaning and almost innocent, but burdened with the knowledge that he must have been a hired killer prior to his loss of memory.

Franka Potente is also excellent as Marie, the woman who just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. She is even more of an emotional anchor for the audience than Bourne, because she is caught in all the same situations, but without Bourne's remarkable survival skills. And when she witnesses Bourne take down an opponent armed with nothing but a ball point pen, her stunned reaction was probably the same as the audiences' when seeing it for the first time. She's also looking gorgeous, and her romance with Bourne never feels forced or like a Hollywood convention.

The villains in the film are as memorable as the heroes. Chris Cooper plays Bourne's immediate superior, and while Cooper has played bad men before, none of them seem as thoroughly amoral as Conklin. Brian Cox plays Conklin's boss in a role that would be greatly expanded in the film's sequel, The Bourne Supremacy. Clive Owen also has a short but memorable turn as another Treadstone agent assigned to taking Bourne down. While good actors would be brought in for the later pictures, the Bourne series never had as interestingly varied of a cast after this.

The final piece of the puzzle is director Doug Liman, known best for the indie-ish Swingers and Go. Liman seems as unlikely of an action director as Damon was an action actor, which is perhaps why they work together so well. Liman keeps things simple but compelling, focusing on Bourne's emotional state. The action is shown plainly, without any cinematic pyrotechnics, the exact opposite of the style Paul Greengrass would employ in the two sequels. And while I think Supremacy is actually the best film of the three, there's no denying that Liman's approach makes the hand to hand fights seem the most impressive, because you can clearly see every move Bourne is making. Liman also excels at making this movie a thriller with some action, instead of an action movie pretending to be a thriller.

The HD DVD:

The Image:
Universal presents The Bourne Identity in its original aspect ratio of 2.35:1, in a VC-1 encoded 1080p transfer. This is a mid-level transfer, with only slight improvements over the DVD. Of course, it's sharper and more detailed, and certainly looks better than quite a few of the recent Universal catalogue releases. But considering that the film isn't all that old, I thought it could have looked better. At times the image looks slightly faded, and while the film is meant to look muted, I don't think this was intentional. Also, I noticed extremely slight edge enhancement and a few scuffs on the print. Not perfect, but by far not the worst I've seen.

The Audio:
Universal offers a Dolby Digital Plus 5.1 mix which fares far better than the picture. Liman and his editor were meticulous about the sound, creating many and layering them in specific ways, and it all pays off here. To echo an earlier quote, the sound here rocks the shit! An incredibly aggressive and dynamic sound mix awaits all who view this disc, with fantastic surround use, thumping bass, and an excellent sense of immersion. The quiet scenes sound as good as the action ones, although appropriately subdued. Excellently done.

The Supplements:
Sadly, most of the supplements here are either promotional, lacking in substance, or recycled elsewhere. There are a few good pieces, but the bulk of material here is not what it's cracked up to be, and none of it is in HD.

• U-Control: The Bourne Supremacy was one of the first HD DVDs to feature a next-gen unique feature in the form of an exclusive picture-in-picture commentary by the cast and crew. Since then, Universal has "refined" their interactive features into U-Control, which is almost the same thing, except now you have to manually click on the icon for the feature you wish to see. The first feature available is a PiP commentary with very little new information. It also doesn't appear all that often, leaving a lot of empty space where you're just watching the movie. The other is called "The Treadstone Files," which shows a host of trivial information about a certain character or subject. Cute, but a throwaway.
• Commentary by Doug Liman: Now this is more like it. Ported from the original DVD, this commentary is interesting, insightful, and very listenable. This should be your first stop after the movie.
• The Ludlum Identity: A look at author Robert Ludlum, who wrote the original Bourne novels. Vintage interviews with Ludlum, combined with new interviews with friends and contemporaries, give a portrait of the man and the author.
• The Ludlum Supremacy: A look specifically at the Bourne novels Ludlum wrote, the character's popularity, and how he related to the author. At the end is a mention of a new series of Bourne books by Eric Van Lustbader, a friend of Ludlum's, although not mentioned is the critical panning the books received upon their release.
• The Ludlum Ultimatum: This featurette details how the current Bourne series got its start, Liman's encounters with Ludlum, and ends with a plug for, you guessed it, The Bourne Ultimatum.
• Alternate Opening and Closing Scenes: A different opening and a different ending, both inferior the ones used in the final cut, with an introduction by Producer Frank Marshall, Screenwriter Tony Gilroy, and Brian Cox.
• Deleted Scenes: The best of the bunch is a scene where Marie questions Bourne about his motives, but all of them were trimmed with good reason.
• Farmhouse Extended Scene: I thought this was going to be more of the fight between Clive Owen's character and Bourne, but it's just a minute of dialogue between Marie, Bourne, and Marie's brother. Useless.
• The Birth of The Bourne Identity: A making of which is more fluff than anything.
• The Bourne Mastermind - Robert Ludlum: Essentially a condensed version of the other Ludlum feature found on the disc, this contains virtually nothing new.
• Access Granted - An Interview with Screenwriter Tony Gilroy: Tony Gilroy, writer of all three films, discusses what he did to bring the first to the screen, and also mentions the changes he made from the novel.
• From Identity to Supremacy - Jason & Marie: Supposedly a discussion of how the character relationships grow from Identity to Supremacy, in reality this is just an ad for the second film.
• The Bourne Diagnosis A UCLA psychologist looks at the mental state of the characters in the film. Shockingly, he reveals that amnesia is a real phenomenon, and was not in fact created just for the movie!
• Cloak & Dagger - Covert Ops: A CIA representative talks about the CIA and then discusses how realistic the portrayal of the organization is in the movie.
• The Speed of Sound: Probably the best extra after Liman's commentary, this looks at the sound mix created for the car chase, and then gives the audience a chance to hear the separate sound elements.
• Inside a Fight Sequence: The film's fights are showcased, with some interviews from Damon and Liman discussing how they want the action to appear.
• "Extreme Ways" Music Video by Moby: The song that has ended all three Bourne films had a music video, and this is it.
• Theatrical Trailer.

The Conclusion:
The Bourne Identity still stands as a great spy thriller, and is very rewatchable. The picture on this HD DVD is only a minor improvement over the DVD, but the sound is outstanding and is alone worth an upgrade. The extras are more fluff than meat, but even so, this disc comes Recommended.

Daniel Hirshleifer is the High Definition Editor for DVD Talk.