Underwhelming But Entertaining

Rating: 7/10 (30 August 2012)

After seeing the first preview for this film a few months ago, I was an immediate skeptic. It looked like a carbon-copy of the other three Bourne movies with a different lead actor and updated special effects. Essentially, that is exactly what this film is.
The movie opens by introducing Aaron Cross, who's on some type of mission for a certain "program" in the middle of Alaska, miles away from civilization. The film doesn't waste time proving his resourcefulness or physical prowess, since it's basically implied by the title. Just as in the previous Bourne movies, he quickly finds himself on the run from an agency who, for a reason unbeknownst to him, wants him dead. As I said previously, this movie is very similar to the previous three.
Here's the good news. Jeremy Renner is a really good actor. He works magic with little to no help from the script, constantly turning what should've been a bland and uninteresting scene into an exciting and thoughtful one. Rachel Weisz is equally impressive here, demonstrating a side of her that I'd never seen before, which left me pleasantly surprised. Edward Norton does a reasonably good job as the villain behind it all, but his character is really too one-sided to provide him with a chance to shine here, so I'll reserve comment until after the next film(s) which will surely follow.
All in all, I enjoyed the film far more than I expected to. The story is nothing special, but it does make sense in the universe of Robert Ludlum's novels, the acting is great, and ultimately saves the movie, and the action sequences are very enjoyable and visually entertaining without holding back the storytelling. It's not a bad movie, but it's certainly not great either, it's just okay.
RATING: 6.5/10