I have always been surprised at how Universal has never given the Bourne films a 2-disc special edition DVD release. Outside of that "Explosive Extended Edition" of The Bourne Identity, which wasn't "explosive" and was hardly "extended" there hasn't been anything all that special about any of the releases. Well, for you special feature junkies you will be happy to know that despite the fact it is only a single disc release, The Bourne Ultimatum is packed with goodies, and nearly all of them are worth a once over. Oh, and the movie is the best of the trilogy; I guess that is important to mention as well.

Director Paul Greengrass has taken hold of a film series started by Doug Liman and turned it into something truly special. With The Bourne Ultimatum he ties up all loose ends while offering that gritty style of action filmmaking he first introduced us to with The Bourne Supremacy. While the films don't ever really offer a whole lot that is new in terms of story, the way Greengrass designs the action sequences and tells the story is so unique it gives audiences a completely different look at the action genre that has otherwise been done to death. Cliché is not a word in the Paul Greengrass bag of filmmaking techniques as this DVD gives you an inside look at what his bag actually holds.

First off is the audio commentary, a first in the Bourne series unless you count the picture-in-picture feature on the HD DVD, which I don't. Greengrass details his entire thought process in approaching The Bourne Ultimatum. He says how he didn't want the movie to suffer from "big movie-itis" (I think that is what he called it) and how he intentionally used locations that were impossible to bring in large film crews in an effort to keep that raw and gritty feel. Several times during the commentary you will hear him say, "If you are making an action film you have to have a _________." The difference between Greengrass' approach to these scenes you "have to have" and other directors is that he looks for a new and unique way to do it, and not just for a way to make a big explosion or a way to use lots of guns.

This actually leads into the "Man on the Move" feature detailing the production as it moved from Berlin, to Paris, to London, to Madrid and into Tangier. Inside this feature you will get a look at how they mapped out each action sequence in each location to take advantage of the location. Such as using cars in New York and scooter and foot chases in Tangier, etc.

Tangier is really the location that offers up the best action scene of the film in which Bourne has it out with the CIA's asset known as Desh, not to mention they were filming there during Ramadan which added an interesting little diversion. The sequence begins with Bourne following Desh on scooter and moves into a motorcycle chase, to a foot chase, to a rooftop chase until Bourne goes crashing through a window and gets into a hand-to-hand brawl with the operative. The scene itself takes up 15 minutes of movie time and is absolutely intense. The screen captures throughout this review actually detail one of the jumps in the scene in which Bourne is scene jumping from a rooftop through a small kitchen window.

A special feature called "Rooftop Pursuit" shows how a stuntman actually jumped off a building with a camera following another stuntman in order to catch the shot of Bourne flying through the window. As you can see in the images in this article the jump was actually flipped horizontally and CGI shutters and glass were added to it for effect. A special feature called "Planning the Punches" is a cool look at the fight that occurs just after Bourne jumps through the window and how it was choreographed. All very interesting.

For New York there are two features, one detailing the massive car chase in which Bourne commandeers a police car and another short feature showing Matt Damon in driving school.

The only other feature on the disc is a collection of deleted scenes that runs about 15 minutes primarily focusing on small moments of dialogue expanding on a few scenes.

This is an impressive DVD capping off a fantastic trilogy and certainly the best treatment a Bourne film has gotten thus far. The Bourne series feels like the little film that could even though it is a massive box-office success and one that everyone has come to love. I am just happy that Universal is giving this one a nice HD DVD release with several HD DVD exclusive features as well as all the good stuff this DVD has to offer.