The Bourne Legacy
Released by Universal Pictures, Out Now
Cert: 12A
Director: Tony Gilroy, Writers: Tony Gilroy & Dan Gilroy (Screenplay) Tony Gilroy (Story) based on Robert Ludlum’s Jason Bourne Novels
Cast: Jeremy Renner, Edward Norton, Rachel Weisz, Stacy Keach, Scott Glenn & Dennis Boutsikaris
Plot Summary
Following the revelations of the Bourne Ultimatum a new breed of agent, Aaron Cross must fight for survival as the agencies he once worked for fight to destroy any evidence of their experiments and his existence.
Review
The Bourne Legacy – the title of this movie really is a bit of a loaded gun. It suggests the Matt Damon starring trilogy started by Doug Liman and perfected by Paul Greengrass and wants to build upon the work started in a commercially and critically successful franchise whilst creating a new hero and journey for him to travel.
The film begins in Alaska where we first meet our new hero Aaron Cross. It’s a great place to start his journey as he is immediately placed in a state of isolation – cut off from the world, his medication and must rely on himself to survive. No metaphor could describe this better than when he has to literally keep the wolves at bay.
Legacy follows directly on from the events in The Bourne Ultimatum and deepens the already murky waters of the agencies deploying cognitive programming and DNA manipulation to develop the perfect sleeper agents. As Eric Byer, Edward Norton sums up his role in a flash back exchange with Cross when he coldly tells him that they are ‘morally indefensible but absolutely necessary’
It comes as no surprise when Norton pulls the plug on the various clandestine projects, only that it takes so long for it to happen. In fact it takes a long time for anything exciting to really happen in this movie, with Tony Gilroy content giving so much screen time to the machinations of the various departments highlighting how little action actually takes place.
When the action does eventually arrive, Renner shows exactly why he was cast in the role of Aaron Cross. He brings a calm efficiency to the fight scenes, able to sell the punches and throws with an economy of movement hinting at the character’s superior physiology and intelligence. Renner has impressed in action movies recently particularly in Marvel’s Avengers Assemble and more pertinent to this role – in Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol.
In Legacy, the violence is not as ferocious as in the previous Bourne films (which is not necessary a negative) as Cross always appears to be in control when in a physical confrontation again hinting at the progression of the programme and the abilities of the participants.
The supporting actors all give good performances, however Stacy Keach as Mark Turso and Danny Boutsikaris as Terrence Ward, a senior figure in the film who appears to have more intelligence clearance than actual intelligence both stand out in a cast full of recognisable faces.
Rachel Weisz as Dr. Marta Shearing is solid as would be expected, but is short changed by a script that requires her to do little more than scream or provide our hero with exposition. Director Tony Gilroy tries to push the chemistry between the two towards the end of the film but the notion of romance falls decidedly flat.
There are some notable highlights in this movie. I n Renner the franchise has a naturally charismatic actor who can sell realistic action. Early scenes of Renner surviving in the wilderness making death defying leaps across ravines hint at abilities rarely developed. As with all Bourne movies there is the obligatory scene where our hero fashions a weapon from a household item in this case inventing a clever new use for a fire extinguisher.
The most memorable scene is the final motorcycle chase, which is genuinely thrilling. Weaving in and out of the Midday Manila traffic, Cross and Shearing dodge buses, cars and police cycles whilst evading the clutches of an agent superior to even our hero. This scene is smart in its use of the location and traffic making the most out of the opportunities for peril that such a busy road system offers. The scene only disappoints when the realism slips as the super agent begins to leap from bike to bike snapping like an agent in The Matrix.
A major gripe about the introduction of an agent even better than Cross is incongruous, if Byer was pulling the plug on all the previous programmes – why was this one allowed to continue? Stacy Keach’s bemusement mirrors the viewers’ when he asks why he did not know about this programme, ‘consider yourself informed’ comes the response and the viewer is treated with as much contempt as Keach.
In entwining itself so closely to the closing storyline of the previous films, The Bourne Legacy really does invite too many comparisons to the original trilogy and most do not favour Legacy. Renner acquits himself well I his role as Cross, however the character has nowhere near as powerful or developed an arc as Bourne.
Cross appears motivated solely by his desire to remain what he has become through the programme. He feverishly asks everyone he meets about ‘chems’ or ‘meds’ like a superhero junky. Bourne however, was discovering who he was as well as who he is now and making a choice about who he wants to be which provided a story that resonated far more.
The notion of memory (in particular the lost memories of former agents or spies) has featured in many films from the Bourne trilogy through to Total Recall and more recently the Liam Neeson thriller The Unknown. Each of these movies attempts to explore what the recovering of a memory of being an abhorrent individual would actually have on the new personality and provide a much more satisfying dramatic arc. That’s not to say that Legacy should have followed suit, just that Cross’ motivations could have been developed further.
Where the film really suffers in comparison to the original movies is that whereas the Jason Bourne movies were game changers, innovative, intelligent action movies with hints of political intrigue and double crossing shadow figures – the new Bourne Legacy offers little that hasn’t been done before or better. The effect the original Bourne films had on Bond was huge, yet their influence on this film seems minimal.
The Bourne Legacy isn’t a bad movie, it just fails to deliver the level of excitement or action that the title suggests. If this is the Legacy of the Bourne Franchise, give me its past any day.
6 out of 10 Kevin Williams
