Movie Review #39 The Bourne Legacy (2012)

- The box office showed there would never be just one

I loved the first three Bourne films, though I felt as each one went by the next was certainly a little weaker, but then maybe I just love Franka Potente too much for my own good? Well we're back for the fourth film, after Matt Damon said he was done with the series, especially with Paul Greengrass not taking the helm for this one, and with a couple of years in limbo one would assume after some crazy rewrites we have The Bourne Legacy. The story takes place mostly during the timing of The Bourne Ultimatum but by the end of it it is after the fact so it is, in fact, a sequel not a concurrent movie or a prequel. This may be important to some people as without this knowledge and understanding of the previous three movies the first hour of this movie is going to be pretty messy for those of you new to the series.

The movie's introduction to the new “Bourne” Aaron Cross (played by Jeremy Renner) is pretty standard fare for those who have any knowledge of the series but then pretty quickly you realize that he is also quite a bit better. Science is thrown out the window for this series from now on and you had better get use to it. Genetically altered super soldiers are the way of this movie and they tie in ever so remotely to the first three movies. So minutely that they don't impact the other movies in the slightest. But anyway! Aaron has a run in with some wolves early on and I have to admit the wolves seemed quite a bit more realistic and generally more what I thought of wolves compared to the super stalking wolves of The Grey (2012). We see Aaron is on a daily dose of medications and it's pretty important he takes them. We also get introduced to the female companion of the movie Marta Shearing (played by Rachel Weisz) and from this point on the basic principles of the movie follow The Bourne Identity really closely. Misunderstanding between elite agent and unknowing female. Awkward glances, complete and utter trust, and complete obedience and almost sort of a romantic getaway.

I was waiting for the long chase sequence and a lengthy room wide close quarters combat (cqc) to come into play, I mean it is one of the reasons you checked out this movie, right? But the cqc never really occurred. Sure there was some, but it was never the same “Wow he did all that with just that?” like it was with Jason Bourne. The chase sequence was unfortunately too late in the movie and with a tagged on antagonist who had as much barring on the end result of the movie as I did. There is a serious problem when sneaking, hiding espionage and action flicks merge. The action-oriented people are let down with a pathetic bad guy chasing the hero because the suits and well-minded individuals can't possibly give chase to these well-built superheroes. The espionage fans don't really want to see their well thought out story summed up with a motorcycle sequence around town and the hero declared a winner because he isn't dead. While I'm on the topic of the “espionage” side of the story, I should also note that Edward Norton is featured in this movie as Eric Byer a retired Col. Of the USAF and is completely underused and his role could have been given to just about anyone. I like Norton, and never thought I'd be underwhelmed by his presence in a movie but I was exactly that. Most of the support cast was just that. The espionage side of the story really felt lacking because of it. It's a tiny line these stories have to cross to make both sides happy and Legacy didn't really cut it a good side of either.

How did you find me?

This is a very strange sequel cross remake of the first. It has many of the exact same ideals from the first but with the knowledge of all three prior movies. I enjoyed the movies before it and that helped me firstly understand a lot of the jargon they get on with about Jason Bourne within the movie and it gave me a better sense of the movie. If you have seen the previous movies in the series, you'll likely be saddened that this movie did take a dip in the story department. If you skipped them and were able to ignore all the references to Jason Bourne I think this movie may be more approachable as a dumb action flick for the masses and your enjoyment will be masked by ignorance of the full story.

I give it 5/10

PS: Nobody watched The Avengers for Jeremy Renner but he's a good action star in my books, and I hope he has a successful career.