A Disappointment to all Bourne Fans

Rating: 5/10 (11 August 2012)

I write with absolutely no joy to speak of when I post my first review for this site. Title: The Bourne Legacy. Result: heartbreak. And not in the good way. It would be easy to say that action movies aren't really my cup of tea but, seeing as I am an avid fan of the previous Bourne movies, I came into the theatre with anticipation as I realized that Jeremy Renner was, as it turned out, not playing Jason but rather a new character, Aaron Cross. I was intrigued and, foolishly it seemed, hooked. The first thing you need to know about this film is that there is no story of speak of: any hint of a plot had been sufficiently deleted once this script hit the editing room, it appears. What the trailer makes this movie out to be is nothing at all what it managed to deliver: boring, confusing, and stupid doesn't even begin to cover it. I hope my words (though I doubt the director will be reading this) cut the man who thought he could film a chase scene to the bone. Not only does this director (and, I suppose, the writers are to blame as well)accomplish the most dragged out scenes in Hollywood history but also he has gone on the cheap: yes, ladies and gentleman, it seems that other Bourne-related locations (Paris, Berlin, Tangiers, Zurich) have been sacrificed for the wilds of Alaska (oh, wow, groundbreaking) and Manila, the Phillipienes (I mean no disrespect to the natives of the Phillipienes but you do NOT have a Bourne movie in a place nobody has heard of). The movie is about two hours too long and, with the exception of Renner, Norton, and Weisz, I didn't care if their characters lived or died. A sliver of light to this other wise dark review is that Renner's performance pleased me greatly: not only does he have an uncanny resemblance to Matt Damon's Bourne but he projects a personality that makes somewhat sense with his character's trials: instead of Matt Damon's introverted, almost-mute, and angry Jason Bourne, Renner's Aaron Cross was funny, charming,socially easy going and emulated the same physical grace as Jason Bourne. It was only a shame that Renner's talent as an actor is otherwise shadowed by this disgracefully written and cheap attempt at continuing the Bourne trilogy. All I can say is this: Next time, the followup to the Bourne-universe had better knock peoples' socks off because, the way I'm seeing it, this film murdered one of my favourite franchises. And even Jeremy Renner is not enough to make me forgive so easily.