Great reboot of the Bourne trilogy

Rating: 9/10 (14 August 2013)

I don't get the hate this movie is getting, I mean a 6.7? This movie was excellent. It had great pacing, not quite like Bourne Ultimatum but then again that film was going almost non-stop. For me the little over two hour running time went by in an instant. In Legacy there's more time for reflection and developing the characters. Director Tony Gilroy was also responsible for the screenplays of the original Bourne movies so he's been with the film series from the beginning. And it shows. The plot is very plausible, interesting and complicated in a good way. This is a more cerebral action movie than usual so you really have to pay attention as some of the dialogue is very technical. I loved it though. The movie takes place in parallel with Bourne Ultimatum which was a smart idea. I enjoyed the background story and conspiracy angle this movie had, it was very intriguing. It was also nice to see that there were some real limitations on the capabilities of the CIA search team, it made the movie feel very real and grounded.
Jeremy Renner is charming and menacing as the new Bourne lead Aaron Cross, I really bought him as a professional spy and assassin. Rachel Weisz's character Dr. Marta Shearing was very well done. She acted in a realistic and very human way, being scared and bold when it was necessary. Edward Norton does a solid job as colonel Eric Byer who is tasked with cleaning up the mess Bourne left behind him. Matt Damon is only seen in a photograph but the casting is very strong even without him.
There's fewer action scenes (which are very good yet again) and longer stretches of exposition and talking than in the original trilogy. I appreciated that there wasn't too much shaky cam which is common in these sort of fast paced action films. The visual style felt very clean and effective. I loved how ton of stuff was implied by little actions and mannerisms. For example, when Aaron Cross starts to count down from 100 he does it in Russian which implies that he was meant to be a spy in Russia (he speaks other languages too but that's what he went to as his first choice). There's really a huge amount of tension during the entire film. I especially loved the cabin scene in the beginning and the intense lab scene. The music or lack thereof was also instrumental in building the tension, great job there by James Newton Howard. The ending fitted well with the tone of the movie and hopefully they'll continue making this series.
All in all, this is an excellent espionage thriller with a great plot, smart action and strong performances. You should really give this movie a chance, especially if you're on a Bourne marathon like I was.