Far Better Than Expected!!!

Rating: 9/10 (5 April 2013)

The Bourne Legacy - Since his Oscar nomination for The Hurt Locker, actor Jeremy Renner has somehow morphed into Hollywood's new go-to action hero. While I would love to see him do something with a little more meat like that again, I grudgingly have to admit that I am beginning to really LIKE him as an action hero. His characters are smart and interesting and he never looks like he's TRYING to come across as tough or capable. With the parade of blustering buffoons that the genre has tried to push on America for decades, he (along with Daniel Craig) really stands apart as a subtler, more human alternative. And it's working. He contributed to granting Mission Impossible a far better relaunch than I had ever expected in Ghost Protocol and now he's done the same thing leading the cast of the newest entry in the Bourne franchise.
Part of what makes Legacy work is that Renner is not playing Jason Bourne. He is a NEW character set in the WORLD of the Bourne films. Photos of the fugitive Bourne make it quite clear that IF Bourne appears with Aaron Cross (the new character) in a future film, the intent is still for Matt Damon to play that role. In this way, Renner is not forced to try and out-Bourne Damon. Instead, his performance is allowed to stand on its own merit, and it stands quite well.
He gets able assistance from a stronger ensemble of talented actors than you usually get in an action thriller. Rachel Weisz, Edward Norton, Scott Glenn, Corey Stoll, Zeljko Ivanek, Albert Finney and David Straitharn all added to my enjoyment of the film. Oscar Isaac is particularly engaging in a small role. I've been hungry to see more from this actor ever since(continued at www.TheMovieFrog.com)