Poor followup to what should've been a phenomenal new entry

Rating: 5/10 (23 April 2013)

A movie that had my hear pumping, but at the same time bored me to tears. Jeremy Renner's performance was bold and likable, and the new world of deeper intrigue is great, yet is poorly presented.
The plot itself is fairly interesting, yet yields little excitement. The plot shifts from an incredible opening scene to way too much talking, yet finishes strong. It's the kind of movie that is lazily executed yet you still want to see the end result, which I guess (?) is a good thing. The musical score is still chilling and incredibly memorable, something I am glad they did not change from the original trilogy.
All in all this felt like a missed opportunity. It has some bold and brutal action, both well choreographed and fun to watch, yet it is not nearly as heart-racing as the originals. The world could be so much more intriguing in this semi-sequel, yet they opted out for something that was ho-hum in comparison. In the end, I am glad I saw it. It added enough to the backstory to stay interesting, and answered some burning questions. But still, with all of the source material and incredible world that Gilroy and Ludlum have created on the big screen before, I expected much much more.