A rebooting that works rather well

Rating: Null/10 (19 August 2012)

Who would have thought that the Bourne franchise could survive without director Paul Greengrass, actor Matt Damon, and even the Jason Bourne character himself? That it does, and does so rather successfully, is primarily down to Tony Gilroy. He wrote the screenplay for the three previous Bourne movies - "Identity" (2002), "Supremacy" (2004) and "Ultimatum" (2007) - and, five years after we might have thought that the conspiracy had run its course, he's back as both writer and director (for good measure, he also conceived the story).
OK, it may not have the originality of the earlier works and the final chase sequence (a full 15 minutes) is too long, but I found the plot more intelligible and, in a film with no downtime, the tension and the action are sustained for the full two and a quarter hours, all the way from Alaska to Manila.
As the great tag line explains" "There was never just one". In the fall-out from the conclusion of "The Bourne Ultimatum", the Defense Department is forced to freeze all its covert black ops programs which involves dispensing with the services of some exceptional assets, but one agent - Outcom 3 or Aaron Cross - wants to stay alive which, to start with, requires him to find a way of coping without his steady supply of ability-enhancing green and blue meds. The rebooting of the franchise works so well because of the casting of Jeremy Renner, an actor of real presence and physicality, as the rogue agent. After more than a decade of solid work, Renner achieved 'overnight' success in his breakthrough movie "The Hurt Locker" and he is now set to be a major action star.
Cross needs to team up with neurophysicist Dr Marta Shearing who is played by Rachel Weisz, an accomplished actress who can pull off a role which is a lot more than the usual girl along for the ride. Cross's nemesis is Retired Colonel Eric Byer, portrayed chillingly by the ever-able Edward Norton. Even the smaller roles are filled by strong actors and, throughout it all, we have an insistent score by James Newton Howard.
The critics have been rather dismissive of "The Bourne Legacy", but audiences are enjoying it - and I certainly did.