If this gets more into virology, say an epidemic, I can't wait for a sequel.

Rating: 8/10 (18 March 2013)

******* SPOILERS *******
I really enjoyed the Bourne Legacy. First I LOVED the cinematography and the gorgeous views in Alaska and the Phillipines and its waterways. I appreciated there was a lot less hand-held cam shaking than the first Bourne film. And even if this was an action movie I thought some of the non-action was great.
I thought Legacy should have started out fresh with a new name, and without even mentioning Jason Bourne. The film stood on its own merits.
I won't give it an organic qualification -- "a film that senses or feels (or doesn't sense or feel) ..blah blah." But as an action film -- fistfights, firefights, chases, it got the job done. The bike chase went on a bit too long though. As an IMDb reviewer here said, once the fighting gets going, you're thinking, "Matt who?"
The premise of a Supersecret Project Superhuman fighter force program gone awry, and the government needing to terminate everybody once involved in it -- the warriors, the scientists, the administrators -- satisfied my Yet Another Government Conspiracy fix (in real life I'm not that paranoid).
The opening scenes were splendid shots of unadulterated snow peaks. To me, action is jumping from one peak to another, at 2,000 feet, just to help Cross arrive at the destination two days early.
I thoroughly enjoyed the technical talk though I think some of the chemistry may have been mumbo-jumbo. A better explanation of "viraling out" (which caught so many viewers' interest) was needed. I sense there's some truth in the whole gene delivery and targeting cells with a vector unload process Shearing explained to Cross. At any rate this movie got me curious enough to look up some things on virology, genetics, and radio communications on drones.
I thought the way Cross tricked the drone team was cool -- covering the tracking device implanted in his thigh with metal eating utensils. And later cutting the tracker out of his own thigh and sticking it down the throat of the 400 lb wolf he neatly manhandled. But I think a search & destroy combat drone would have a bunch of different radio and sensing devices to not be fooled by a simple piece of aluminum. Maybe this worked as chaff in WWI but I don't think UAV science is so eminently primitive. Even if it only had radar that trick probably would have been pretty obvious and could have looked like the "Echo" signal the drone team called Cross' transponder. My guess: these drones can sense every form of electromagnetic radiation so anything short of shooting it down (as he did) or with your own ray gun wouldn't do a thing. One of my favorite lines was, "I think he (Cross) shot it down with a high powered rifle."
I enjoyed the conversations during the lulls. When Cross met with the other "participant" in the cabin, the chat revealed a very defensive soldier who was about to be murdered by his government. And the part about his "fallen in love," wasn't that believable but charming anyway. I also enjoyed the Command Center team, with the drone talk.
Another conversation Cross had with Dr. Shearing after they escaped the hit team at the burning house was pretty good. But here too I wonder about the credibility of Shearing's "Neuremberg" defense of following orders and not being ethically accountable for the program's consequences because of her ignorance from the "blind" quality of the tests and her naive faith that she was somehow helping her country. That such a a highly accomplished virology doctor and researcher hasn't had that little internal moral debate yet is just too much to swallow. But that scene did get pretty good -- with Cross saying, "What? You're the doctor and you have no Plan B?"
I thought Cross' and Shearing's flight was made that much more interesting with the tracking team closing in on them, narrowing a 17-hour lead down to actually catching up to them in the Manila factory.
I thought the ending was lame. The message hollered through the whole movie by the principals is that our government is evil and will kill you and every person you ever knew should you be on its hit list. So that they'd endanger a trusting family man and his young child by helping them escape on a boat means Cross & Schearing are evil too -- or they just forgot. Anyway, this super-traceable route of escape from the all-seeing US intel group with all the cameras in the world at its disposal, is a natural setup for a sequel.
Acting was good. Renner has a more focused aura than Matt Damon and his pugnacious-looking face make him seem more like an Ordinary Joe. Weisz was super and in some shots she looks plain, so that made her rely more on her acting, which she did splendidly. We were spared the sappy love scenes. Though I liked his acting I couldn't quite see Edward Norton in the role of ex-Air Force Colonel. The Dr. Foite going crazy and shooting everyone in the lab was chilling. I can't believe actor Zelijko Ivanek in many roles, yet he always comes through for me.
Wouldn't mind seeing a sequel. Yeah, bring in Matt if you must, but they should have developed the viral aspect -- a horrifying and scary notion that has kept defense types awake at night for years and years -- and leveraged the concept that sickness and a bio or viral attack is as frightening as anything.
Instead they cheapened the film with the introduction of another Terminator -- without any of Arnold's charm. When all the cool talk about unloading vectors and radio PIDs boils down to an unfeeling, fighting robot, that's when a movie loses a big part of its appeal to me.