Blu-ray

With the Jason Bourne situation threatening to unearth all manner of dirty secrets about the US military complex, the decision is taken to (literally) kill off another, similar, black ops program. But wouldn't you know it, one of targets survives, and now the sinister government goons have yet another rogue agent on their hands.

Put like that, The Bourne Legacy sounds like a fairly unimaginative re-run of the Matt Damon Bourne… movies. But co-writer/director Tony Gilroy (who also co-wrote the previous films) gives the material enough new twists and tweaks to make it a surprisingly fresh and fun experience.

Unlike Jason Bourne, Jeremy Renner's super soldier Aaron Cross positively relishes his genetically-enhanced abilities and the plot hinges on his desire to make them permanent. Meanwhile, as a director Tony Gilroy demonstrates a deft hand at slowly building tension and mostly resists the temptation to simply ape the style Paul Greengrass established in …Supremacy and …Ultimatum – at least that's the case until the more action-packed finale, which feels like a lesser copy of what Greengrass did in his films.

And if the end of the film isn't exactly conclusive, there is at least enough here to suggest that further big screen adventures for Aaron Cross could be worth the effort.

Picture: You don't need enhanced abilities to see that Universal has delivered another first rate hi-def AVC 1080p encode with this Blu-ray release of The Bourne Legacy. Framed at the original 2.40:1 ratio, the visuals stand up to the closest scrutiny on the biggest screen, packing every inch of the frame with intricate detail and fine textures, finished off with a fine patina of grain that maintains a truly cinematic aesthetic in the video.

Colours can be a bit muted at times, with the palette often veering towards steely blues and greens, but the way that the long-shots in Chapter 2 deftly pick out Aaron's red coat against the grey and white mountains show how good the saturation can be when it needs to be.
Picture rating: 4.5/5

Audio: As good as the Blu-ray picture quality may be, it's trumped by the disc's audio. Unusually, there are two English DTS-HD Master Audio options on offer – the original 5.1 mix or a newly created 7.1 track. Both pack some impressive weight in their bass response and make excellent use of the entire speaker array to create a truly 360-degree soundfield. Admittedly, the use of four discrete surround channels in the discrete mix makes rear panning effects a little smoother in the 7.1 remix, but the native 5.1 track is so effective that you really won't feeling like you're missing out.
Audio rating: 5/5

Extras: The bulk of the bonus features on the Blu-ray is made up of  short production featurettes. These cover a variety of topics from how the producers approached making a Bourne… sequel without Jason Bourne, to location shooting and the filming of the climactic motorbike chase. For more in-depth info about the making of the film, you need to check out the disc's audio commentary. Finally there's a trio of deleted scenes, also with an optional commentary.
Extras rating: 3/5

We say: A solid hi-def debut for the pretender to Jason Bourne's action-adventure crown

Universal Picturess, All-region BD, £25 Approx, On sale now
HCC VERDICT: 3.5/5