Adequate

Rating: 7/10 (17 August 2012)

At the end of the third movie in the Jason Bourne trilogy, the whole Treadstone/Blackbriar organisation was crumbling around the ears of those behind it (or so we thought). While this was happening, it turns out that various other programmes were under way. One of these involves an operative called Aaron Cross (Jeremy Renner) who finds himself caught in the knee-jerk reaction to close down all programmes and get rid of those involved in them. He narrowly survives an attempt to kill him, as does one of his doctors, Marta Shearing (Rachel Weisz) and, together, they go on the run in pursuit of his much needed medication.
This movie has come in for some criticism, but I was quite happy with it for the most part. Cross has an inherent weakness compared to Bourne: it was reasonable to take Bourne as someone who had attained his abilities through training and conditioning, whereas Cross takes tablets which give him superpowers. The medication also put him in a Flowers For Algernon position whereby he will regress to musclebound idiot if he doesn't maintain his regime, but this potentially strong plot element isn't really concentrated on.
Having said that, the narrative powers along well enough, the action sequences are all well staged, Renner impresses, Weisz snivels adequately, and there are enough unanswered questions left to fuel a sequel.