It has the action of the original trilogy, but lacks the soul.

Rating: 5/10 (17 October 2012)

I'll admit I'm a HUGE fan of the original trilogy, so this review maybe a bit biased (hey, at least I'm honest about it). I'm indifferent with Renner as Bourne, didn't love him, didn't hate him. His performance just didn't resonate with me. However, he did a great job with fight scenes (and this movie has plenty of solid, well choreographed action shots). But at times the action was just too much and over the top. *Slight Spoiler*: (There's a bike chase scene that was just so implausible it had me laughing. I was just waiting for the other agent chasing him to say "I'll be back" or "have you seen this boy?" ala Terminator. I never felt that way watching the original Bourne films; they never seemed so outlandish).
The film seems less interested in telling you who this agent is and more interested in him kicking ass. Nothing wrong with that per say, but I thought what separated the original Bourne films from other vanilla action movies and the pre-Daniel Craig Bond movies and was that you actually cared about Damon's character; who he was, what happened to him and his quest for the truth. Yes, Damon's Bourne kicked ass, but the character also had some depth. In my opinion this Bourne seems less human; I never really connected to his character or his story and the film suffers greatly because of it.
I found Weisz's character to be a bit annoying and she dragged on too much about the science behind the program. And there was very little chemistry between them, if any. Really, a forgettable performance by both actors who are usually pretty good. All in all an OK time at the movies, but definitely below the bar set by the original trilogy. I wish Hollywood would just leave a good thing alone sometimes. The Bourne Trilogy was unique and special, can't we just leave it at that?
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