We have a real treat for you today. Not only has Universal Orlando Resort reopened their three parks, they are actually debuting new attractions as well! That’s right, The Bourne Stuntacular (It replaced Terminator 2 3-D: Battle Across Time, RIP, old friend) has entered soft opening, or what Universal calls “Technical Rehearsals.” For those of you who aren’t familiar with what that is, we basically got a preview of the show today before it has a grand opening in the near future. They have to fine-tune some things, and having a live audience helps them do just that. So come along with us, will you, as we brave the Florida heat to bring you a review of something BRAND NEW… The Bourne Stuntacular.
A word of warning, this article contains major spoilers for the show. We have divided it up into sections. The first section with the photos only contains photos from BEFORE the show starts. We will warn you when we start talking about the details of what the show is about. You’ll be able to scroll past that part and see our review at the very end. There are no photos of the actual show in this article as Universal didn’t allow them, so no worries there. But let’s get going, shall we?
On Hollywood Boulevard
Make a right as soon as you enter the park onto Hollywood Blvd. and you’ll be right there at the new attraction! The Bourne Stuntacular . . .
Inside the Building
The Queue and Preshow
If you’d like to watch the video, I took a quick clip of it here:
After the video, we moved on to the next portion of the queue.
The Main Theatre
Now for the real spoilers.
I repeat, this is where we describe what happens during the show.
If you don’t want to know what the show is about, then stop reading, scroll all the way down until you see a photo of a delicious beverage, and re-join us there.
You’re still reading this…
Okay, here we go…
The New Bourne Stuntacular Show
As the show begins, we find out that Bourne is still on the run, fighting for money to survive, but still being tracked, and they’ve traced him to Tangier. (That’s in Morocco for those of you that are geographically challenged.. I’m only joking, if they hadn’t shown the country on the screen, I may not have known myself) The giant display screen serves as a sort of moving backdrop for the action on stage. Only a couple of live actors are actually fighting on stage at any given time, but thanks to the high quality of the display, it appears a massive crowd is watching the fight for money.
Of course, Loc (the corrupt CIA agent) is still looking for him, he orders them to try to secure him, and violence ensues. Andrea Dickson (a good CIA agent) is trying to protect him. This is when things get really interesting. Moving set pieces synchronized to the movement of the video and creative use of treadmills make the entire experience surreal. What do we mean by that?
This was very similar to how they filmed The Mandalorian (You should look that up if you haven’t seen how they did it, it’s pretty amazing) and combining it with synchronized props a la The American Adventure. And then make it a stunt show. What a combination. And the movement wasn’t just from right to left, props and actors also went up and down, even over the audience at times. There was climbing, gunshots, and lots of fun effects.
Then Bourne disappears by blending into the crowd (as he does) and the show moves to the next time they can find Bourne, this time he appears in Washington DC, in Loc’s house. The set-piece for Loc’s mansion uses some amazing techniques on the stage, similar to moving through the screen in T2 3-D. After breaking out of the house and destroying a beautiful fountain (and yes, of course we got sprayed with water when the fountain broke, this is Universal after all!) he needs a getaway car.
This is where vehicles are introduced, and the stunt show becomes a high-speed car chase stunt show. We. Were. Not. Expecting. This! The vehicles used in the show are really well done, and the synchronization with the music is perfect. During a car chase, we move to the outskirts of the district, eventually crashing and escaping into a warehouse facility. Using some amazing technical tricks, there is even an elevator that exists in front of the screen in this warehouse. Eventually, he gets attached to a crane in the warehouse and starts swinging over the audience. That scene ends up with a hand to hand combat fight, and then the lights go out. End scene.
Then we found out that Loc is going to Dubai, and then somehow Bourne shows up in Dubai, so we go to Dubai as well. A high rise building appears out of nowhere on the stage, and we find Bourne fighting someone on a balcony, complete with a pool. (Because in Dubai, why not have a pool on your balcony?)
A helicopter flies in, and we actually feel the wind of the chopper, in probably the most realistic wind effect we have felt in a theme park. Bourne grabs on to the helicopter and hangs on to a cable suspended from the bottom, and this becomes sort of like Soarin’ over Dubai. We fly over a deepwater oil rig in the Persian gulf and we have real flames on the stage as we fly over. (Don’t worry, we also fly close to the water, so of course, we get wet again) The chopper eventually ends up near a quarry and we find Bourne drops down from the chopper and now him and Loc are in opposing cars in a sort of car chase, where Loc blows Bourne’s tire and Bourne’s car flies off a cliff. Somehow Bourne escapes, as he does. And that’s it! It’s a high-energy show. . . “Stuntacular” is an apt moniker.
The show clocked in around 20 minutes, plus the preshow (which was about 7 minutes total). And that’s it! Now to reflect on what we saw and have a drink.
Reviews are easier to write with a nice cold drink in hand. And for those of you that skipped the show description, welcome back!
So . . . that’s what happened in the show, but what did I think of it? . . .
Our Review of the Bourne Stuntacular
The show is good, the creative team tried some absolutely amazing things that we have never seen before in a theme park show. We do question the relevancy of the Bourne films. It seems to me that Terminator has a much larger following. That said, we know that unlike T2, Universal owns the Bourne series, so there’s no royalties to pay to James Cameron and friends here.
The bottom line is that this stunt show is excellent and so fresh and unique that we would recommend everyone to see this show. But, for me, the show doesn’t quite fill the void left by the departure of T2 3-D: Battle Across Time. Of course, this show is quite different. I’m not the biggest fan of the Bourne series, so maybe I’m just biased because I grew up with the Terminator films. But that doesn’t matter. This new show is great, and we appreciated what we saw, and I think you’ll appreciate it too, even if you don’t know the Bourne films.
The stunt work is awesome. The technical skill necessary to pull off the stunts in this show is ridiculously complex. These stunt actors make it look easy. We were blown away by some of the synchronization among these performers and their video counterparts. Wow, just wow. It’s also important to note that most of the cast were wearing masks while doing these stunts. (Some were distanced alone the entire time, so they did not need masks)
So what could be better? Well, some of the locations they traveled to looked fake, some cities more than others. There are some weird production choices they’re making on these backgrounds, the same choices they have been making for other Universal attractions like The Fast and the Furious attractions and even Disaster before that. There’s something just “off” about the video meshing with the actors in some scenes. It may be lighting, it may be the focus, it may be something entirely different. But honestly, considering the caliber of what they actually did with the video, we will give them a pass on this. This is a really great addition to the park.
Make Future Magic
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Let Us Know Your Thoughts!
Thanks so much for reading, and be sure to share this post if you liked it, it REALLY helps us out. Don’t forget to like the video. Are you more of a Bourne fan or a Terminator fan? And are you looking forward to seeing the new Stuntacular at Universal? We would LOVE to hear your thoughts in the comments below.
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