Bourne with pain

Rating: 3/10 (23 December 2012)

In the midst of the turmoil caused by rogue agent Jason Bourne the whole secret intelligence community in the United States is thrown into turmoil. In an attempt to minimise blow-back various shady CIA directors (or whatever other secretive entities they represent) attempt to clean house. Including the updated version of the Blackbriar and Treadstone programmes - Opration Outcome. Enhanced by a mix of drugs and training, which creates super-soldier black ops Aaron Cross (Jeremy Renner) and his like are the next generation, one however that has been signed off for disposal due to the Bourne misgivings. Managing to survive the initial attack Cross is now on course for vengeance, but simultaneously must access the drug mix, else he is destined to change back into the semi-imbecilic farm-boy he was prior to the programme. He therefore seeks the aid of geneticist Dr. Marta Shearing (Rachel Weisz), who administered him the drugs in an earlier phase of Outcome.
"Bourne Legacy" took a shot at replicating the appeal of the original trilogy, arguably the best spy action movie franchise ever. Losing Matt Damon was sure to hit hard, but sincerest attempts were made to reinstate vigour with a new front man with a strikingly similar visage: Jeremy Renner. Nonetheless Renner lacks the same magnetic and boyish charm of Damon, making him a more distant hero, thus less instantaneously accessible. Despite best attempts to pump up the support cast with Edward Norton, Albert Finney or Rachel Weisz (all gifted with clichéd one-dimensional characters), the protagonist typecast is key. And Jeremy Renner feels like a sub-par clone of the original. Unfortunately script is additionally at fault, as one of the key appeals of the franchise was Jason Bourne's ability to stoically wriggle out of the most complex oppression.
The intricate real-time getaways fronted by Matt Damon made any plot holes or substandard dialogue secondary, thus making the Bourne trilogy classic irrespective of script frailties. Alex Cross lacks the same sort of calm presence under fire, while the escapes lack the same ingenious collected complexity. Stitching it all together "Bourne Legacy" turns out to be a substandard action flick without the unrelenting charm it supposes to re-imagine. Bourne fans basically expect more of the same, but the Gilroy brothers seem incapable of delivering anything outside of standard explosive fare, despite obvious attempts to rehash everything the Paul Greengrass managed so perfectly.