Bourne Legacy

(2012)
What a pickle; you have a great franchise with three terrific films and you want to keep that money train rolling, but your charismatic lead actor isnt really interested in doing these films until they get stale. But, you know, all that money. So you do what they do on direct-to-DVD; you use the same title, or one very similar, and you get someone who sort of resembles the lead actor, and you tell a story thats pretty similar, and you sort of hope people wont notice, or care, that the star who anchored the story all this time isnt present. And so we have Bourne Legacy, which boasts much of the behind-the-camera talent of the first three films, and an impressive cast of its own: Jeremy Renner as the Bourne stand-in, Aaron Cross; Rachel Weisz as Marta Shearing, the doctor trying to help him; Ed Norton as Colonel Eric Byer, the man trying to catch Cross; and you have a few of the big names pop up from the first three films (cameos by Joan Allen, Albert Finney, and David Strathairn). The story, well, weve sort of seen before; Cross is another Bourne-type, from a similar program where drugs are used to bolster the soldiers rather than brainwashing and hellish training. Much like Bourne, Cross is a little better than your average human, with the added twist that, as the story opens, the agency is killing all of his fellow super-soldiers because, well, Jason Bourne is running around doing what he did in the second and third movies and everyone in Washingtons intelligence community is pooping themselves. When Cross runs out of pills, he goes after Marta, who is also conveniently the only one from her project (creating the meds for the Bourne-wannabes) still alive, and the two form an uneasy partnership based on the truth that they need each other to survive. From there its the usual Bourne formula of we run, they follow, featuring a really terrific chase through the crowded streets and dingy rooftops of Manila that strongly recalls the chase/fight between Bourne and Desh in the last Bourne movie. The cast are all terribly enjoyable Renner is more than capable of aping Matt Damon here, though Cross gets a little more humor and humanity than Bourne did, and Ed Norton is far more skilled than his role demands, which is mostly scowling and exposition. Weisz, also a skilled actress, is really very appealing here, her Marta understandably afraid through all the skullduggery, but theres something about her that engages our sympathy almost from the get-go. This is a perfectly enjoyable action film with a smart backstory and a strong concept. What hobbles it from being a great film all on its own is that it settles for being a high profile Bourne fanfic. We hear about Jason Bourne and we see the results of his actions from the last few movies, but we never see Damon in the flesh, and whats worse, the fact that Bourne is out there tearing a hole in the intelligence community steals more than a little thunder from Cross, who frankly is engaging. The story moves at a brisk pace, and were given more than enough interesting backstory and pseudo-scientific gobbledygook to prop it up all on its own, but every time Cross gains a little momentum, someone has to go and mention Jason Bourne and remind us that this film aims no higher than to be a red-headed step-child of

the main trilogy. Which is a shame; you couldnt have made this movie without the obvious Bourne inspiration, but it probably would have succeeded better had it not been so keenly content to nestle in the shadow of its predecessors. I love the Bourne films, and Damon is the heart and soul of them, and to do one without him seems sort of silly. But this film surprised me; its very well done and hugely enjoyable. Just, you know, pretend you havent seen the other really great ones and youll enjoy this outing much, much more. February 24, 2013