Can you imagine Bond without James Bond? Or Batman without Batman?

Rating: 5/10 (10 September 2012)

Can you imagine Bond without James Bond? Or Batman without Batman? How about The Bourne Legacy without Jason Bourne? How about The Bourne Legacy without the quality, impact, intelligence or lasting impression of the original Bourne trilogy? How can it be Bourne without Bourne? How can it lack so much when the writer/director, Tony Gilmore, wrote the previous three Bournes? Let's start with the tagline: There was never just one. We already know that. Well, those of us who watched the trilogy, witnessed numerous Operation Treadstone agents attempt to kill Jason Bourne in Identity and then the uncovering of Blackbriar in Ultimatum. Didn't Gilmore read his work as preparation before milking the cash cow once again? Robert Ludlum must be rotating wildly in his grave.
The Bourne Legacy apparently expands Ludlum's universe and portrays the debacle that is Operation Outcome, following the exploits of Aaron Cross (Jeremy Renner) while the CIA is doing its utmost to bump off Bourne and sweep the increasing pile of doo-doo under the rug. One of the big cheeses decides everyone in Operation Outcome should die (déjà vu, anyone?) and so Cross goes on the run, picks up scientist babe Dr. Marta Shearing (Rachel Weisz), who has just survived a massacre in the laboratory, and proceeds to kill lots of bad people with fists, feet, kitchen utensils and, probably, rolled up magazines.
It's pretty much what you watched across the real Bourne films but with substantially less clarity. The Bourne Legacy is a noisy, messy, cluttered film that resembles the almost-flawless trilogy and mimics it frequently (the opening scene sees Cross floating in water, stationary, before swimming down to the depths – it doesn't make sense but get used to it) without saying anything new or creating its own identity.
Post-film, I couldn't even remember the name of the protagonist and had to check IMDb to find out who the Bourne-copy was. While images of the original three films are still strong in my mind, I can only recall a general blur of chases, fights and explosions from The Bourne Legacy and don't really care.
The cast are adequate, there are numerous role reprisals and some (Paddy Considine most obviously) will have been paid again without having to set foot on set. Renner is a rising star and deservedly so and Weisz is always watchable whether giving us award-winning sincerity (The Constant Gardener) or visual bubblegum (The Mummy). But that isn't enough.
The Bourne Legacy is fun, it is disposable and it filled a couple of hours one Sunday night, but no matter how exciting it is, no matter how good an actor Renner and Weisz are, this isn't Bourne.
When The Bourne Identity crashed onto our screens in 2002, reviewers went wild declaring 'It out Bonds Bond'. Then came Casino Royale and there was no more talk about it. Nobody is making those claims about The Bourne Legacy. Maybe they've already seen the trailer for Skyfall.
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