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The Bourne Supremacy has to be one of the bigger hits (and surprises) of 2004. In it's opening weekend, the movie earned a handsome $52.5 million and went on to gross $176 million in total domestic box office. (By comparison the original, The Bourne Identity, earned $27 million opening weekend, going on to earn $121 million by the end of its run.) Besides being loved audiences, the movie was also acclaimed by critics. Put it all together and you've got yourself a winner!

In The Bourne Supremacy, Matt Damon returns as Jason Bourne, the bad-ass super assassin. When we left Bourne in the original, he'd kicked some CIA ass, warned them to stay away, and moved on with his life with Marie (Franka Potente). When we catch up with him this time, he's still with Marie - but things just aren't right. Bourne continues to have flashbacks to his previous life - a life he's mostly forgotten thanks to a bout of amnesia. The flashbacks haunt him - and so does his past when trouble comes looking for him. There's been an assassination - and Bourne is framed for the job. And when a hitman botches a job on him - Bourne goes after the CIA team that's looking for him - headed by Pamela Landy (Joan Allen). Landy is joined by Ward Abbott (Brian Cox) and Nicky (Julia Stiles) both returning from the original. As the cat and mouse game continues, it becomes clear to both sides that we've got a frame job - and as we get closer to finding out who's responsible, we also get closer to the truth about Bourne's past.

After following the success of this movie, I was really looking forward to checking it out for the first time on DVD. And to be completely honest, I had mixed feelings about what I saw. It's a decent movie, but there were a couple of plot details that really didn't mix with me. Foremost, the whole story hinges on Bourne being framed. The CIA finds his fingerprint - so it must be him. But, if Bourne is supposed to be this perfect killing machine, is the CIA really stupid enough to think that he'd leave an incredibly obvious fingerprint at the scene of the crime?! Gimme a break. Otherwise, there were some great action sequences and the movie was superbly acted (I particularly enjoyed the performance of Joan Allen).

For the DVD release of The Bourne Supremacy, Universal has put together a nice DVD loaded with supplemental material. First, an audio commentary by director Paul Greengrass. It's not the most exciting commentary you'll ever listen to, but Greengrass does provide a lot of interesting material that gives insight into a lot of the filmmaking decisions he made in addition to providing info about the film's technical aspects as well as the story and the characters. A lot of information - it just might've been better if it had been more upbeat.

Also available are five deleted scenes taking up about seven minutes of disc space - with no commentary. These scenes pretty much just fill in a couple of blanks and provide some back-story for a couple of characters. Nothing really too special here - but still worth a look.

The remaining features pretty much add up to one long featurette. They include the following...

Matching Identities: Casting is just that. We hear from Greengrass and a couple of the film's producers as well as some of the cast about the characters and how nicely cast the movie was - which is true. It's a big part of the movie's success. One thing though - Julia Stiles. We're told about how it's great to have her back and what an important part of the story she is, but really, she wasn't. What gives?

Keeping It Real looks at the style of the movie and how it was shot - how they avoided falling into a lot of the cliches we've come to expect from spy thrillers. We also hear from the cast and filmmakers about what director Paul Greengrass brought to the film and its success.

In Blowing Things Up, we go behind-the-scenes on one of the film's better effects - where they blow up an entire house. We see how the effects crew prepare for and execute the stunt.

On the Move with Jason Bourne is a feature looking at the film's locations. It's funny to hear everybody complain about how cold it is - whether in Berlin or in Moscow. Welcome to my world...

Bourne to be Wild: Fight Training focuses on the fight scene between Jason Bourne and fellow assassin Jarda (Marton Csokas). We hear from the cast and crew with input from fight choreographer Jeff Imada.

Crash Cam: Racing Through the Streets of Moscow looks at what is arguably one of the better car chases in the last few years - at lease since the original Bourne. We hear about what makes this car chase special - that they filmed from within the car to make it look that much more real. Nicely done.

In The Go-Mobile Revs Up the Action we get a behind-the-scenes look at the "Go-Mobile" which is a new technology used for filming car chases which allows filmmakers to get that much more manueverability out of their cameras when shooting an action sequence involving a vehicle. It's an interesting study.

Anatomy of a Scene: The Explosive Bridge Chase Scene looks specifically at how the filmmakers pulled off yet another great action piece in the movie.

Finally, Scoring with John Powell focuses on the music used in the movie. Pretty self-explanatory.

As with every Universal DVD, we also get a Cast and Filmmakers section giving a look at short bios and resumes of those involved with the movie.

Overall, while bits of the movie made me scratch my head, I have to recommend The Bourne Supremacy. More movies should be made like this. It's well-cast and well-made with a smart story that doesn't underestimate its audience. You're not gonna find that every day. So the question remains. If The Bourne Supremacy was better than the original, are they gonna make a third? And if so, what are they gonna do to top these two?