"The Bourne Legacy" successfully gives action enthusiasts just what they need, but nothing more

Rating: 6/10 (7 January 2013)

What do you do when the original director and actor of a successful franchise you're building backs out of the upcoming sequel that's already planned? It's really quite simple. You either replace the lead actor and continue on or you somehow shift the focus of the movie onto another character. How hard can it be to find a director to replace another when the series is already a guaranteed payday?
Universal Pictures made good decisions all the way around with "The Bourne Legacy." Instead of concentrating on the character of Jason Bourne, they altered the center of attention to other agents affected by the Blackbriar and Treadstone programs. Enter Aaron Cross, played by newly established action star Jeremy Renner ("Avengers").
Instead of just replacing Paul Greengrass with some other random director, they chose to go with someone very familiar with the series. Tony Gilroy co-wrote all the other "Bourne" films and stepped in to helm and pen the latest entry. He did an acceptable job balancing these two enormous jobs.
I love a great action movie. I also love a good spy thriller. It makes perfect sense that a movie like "The Bourne Legacy" would appeal to me. For the most part it did. However, somewhere along the line a feeling of tedium set in. It didn't stick with me throughout the film. It just came and went. Sometimes I think I've seen too many of these types of movies and the excitement has worn off.
One thing I really enjoyed about the film was the sense of realism director Gilroy captured. He doesn't lean on a crutch of CGI like so many of these action films do these days. It reminds me of the newer James Bond films. When you see Daniel Craig and Jeremy Renner jump onto the ledge of a building or cliff and slam into it, you know it hurt. You don't look at the scene and go, "They used a miniature for that or digitally enhanced it."
"The Bourne Legacy" does get bogged down at times with plot-pushing dialogue, but you can't really fault filmmakers for wanting to give the audience something with substance. Although it's a great outlet for people to see Jeremy Renner in a very physical action role again, I don't think this will be remembered as one of the better entries in the series either now or in the future.
http://contributor.yahoo.com/user/849014/eric_shirey.html