Trailing behind in action and story, The Bourne Legacy is a Bourne film without the Bourne…
Short nitty-gritty plot description from IMDb is as follows: An expansion of the universe from Robert Ludlum’s novels, centered on a
new hero whose stakes have been triggered by the events of the previous
three films.
The Bourne Legacy takes place during the events of The Bourne Ultimatium and constantly reminds you, that yes, this is a Bourne movie. Jeremy Renner does a fine job as Aaron Cross, another in a line of super skilled agents. I have no problems with him taking over for Matt Damon and continuing this franchise, I just hope that next time the action and story is beefed up a little. The movie is 2 hours 15 minutes long and there are plenty of scenes that will drag and the action seems to have taken a back seat, with only a few fight scenes and an extended chase scene near the end of the film (an ending which comes up far too quickly and unexpectedly). However, shaky cam makes it’s return, so you don’t need to worry about what the hell is happening in a fight or chase scene. I thought with a new director we were past this, but I guess I was being naive. Some more back story on Aaron Cross was needed, as we only get bits and pieces throughout the film (which causes some occasional jarring scene transitions). I suppose if the future holds another Bourne movie, we can look forward to that.
The acting from everyone is perfectly acceptable in the film. I was a little disappointed that Edward Norton’s role wasn’t as prominent as I originally thought it was going to be. I enjoy his acting and I would’ve preferred to see more of him as the smarmy and cold, Col. Eric Byer. Also, I wish a few more characters from the previous films showed up. We do get a few characters here and there, but it was never enough.
Composer James Newton Howard manages to come up with an original soundtrack, but still incorporates a few mixes of John Powell’s original Bourne themes. I would’ve liked Powell to come back and compose the music, as I really enjoyed his work on the previous films, but Howard does a serviceable job and provides enough tension in the appropriate places. Also, you can rest easy and know that “Extreme Ways” makes a return.
The Bourne Legacy isn’t a bad film, in fact it’s far from it. The acting is top notch, the few action scenes we get are exciting (if you can make out what’s happening) and the story, even though convoluted, messy and feet dragging was still interesting some of the time. The biggest thing working against it, is that when compared with the previous Bourne films, it pales in every way. However, if you can look past that and think of this movie as a starting point for another trilogy of Bourne films, you might find yourself having a good time. As for me, I’ll be going into the next film with some slight trepidation.
Rating:
