Movie Review: “The Bourne Legacy”

   I am an ardent fan of the cinematic arts. Although I have certain genre preferences, I don’t let that stifle my curiosity and close myself to different flavors of entertainment. That said...I am a huge fan of science fiction, super hero and action movies! Please visit my other blog The Boxed Office for reviews, exclusively, on these types of movies.

The Cast: 

Jeremy Renner, Edward Norton, Rachel Weisz

   Jeremy Renner was enjoyable as Hawkeye in the Avengers and gave a decent performance in this film. The subject matter of the film didn’t give him much range to explore as an actor, but he can’t be blamed for the script. Edward Norton is a very good actor, but what can he really do if all his role calls for is to sit in a room and order the deaths of science projects? Rachel Weisz probably had the most to do in performance delivery as a doctor that is thrust into the middle of a project meltdown with no clue how the all the moving parts work. She delivered in her role...but it was nothing that hasn’t been seen before.

The Plot:

   This film runs concurrently with The Bourne Ultimatum. I can’t wait to view both on BlueRay and compare the events to see if they got it right.

   While Jason Bourne is exposing Operation Blackbriar and the Treadstone Project in The Bourne Ultimatum, Eric Byer (Edward Norton) is ordering the elimination of all members of Operation Outcome...from agents to scientist.

   One such agent is Aaron Cross (Jeremy Renner) and scientist Marta Shearing (Rachel Weisz). Because of Cross’s genetically modified enhancements, he is able to avoid the first attempt on his life and evade subsequent attempts as the film progresses. In his efforts to stay alive, and enhanced, he seeks out Dr. Shearing, saving her life from a second assassination attempt after she survives the first that leaves all her colleagues dead.

   Cross takes Shearing on a wild ride in an attempt to remain what he has become, while trying to stay one step ahead of all the resources the United States government is bringing against them to eliminate any trace that the program existed.

The Verdict: 

   I’m a fan of all the previous “Bourne” films and thought this one would be more of the same, but with a different agent to focus on. I was right about that, but wrong in my thoughts that it would carry the same delivery as the other films before it.

   Renner does not deliver as much as Damon does, but this has everything to do with the script and very little to do with his acting ability. The film seemed rushed as I never got the chance to really know the characters...but very slow in the fact that it spent a lot of time explaining the circumstances surrounding the motivations of the antagonists. It could have done more with less explanation, and more action. The action that was in it was good, but very brief and too heavy on the suspense aspect. I don’t need to see a chase last for twenty minutes...it gets boring after ten.

   If you are a fan of the Bourne films, then you’ll want to see this just to further flesh out the entire story of everything associated with Jason Bourne. I found value in the movie from this aspect only, but was disappointed in that it was one long chase movie that delivered few answers to questions I wasn’t asking, and focused on people I didn’t care about. It could have been a better film, but only served up two and a half, out of five, cinnamon sticks in my cup of tea.