The Bourne Legacy Continues the Series, But Does It Hold Up? My short answer is, Yes.
I’m a fan of the Matt Damon starred Bourne Identity movies, I’ll admit that outright. They were all fun and interesting to watch, I own them all, and have seen each one at least two or three times. So yeah, I was skeptical when I found out that while Jason Bourne is still alive in the Bourne Legacy movie, he’s a no show. That’s where Aaron Cross (Jeremy Renner) the “Bourne 2.0″ or a next generation version of super spy project(s) where Treadstone was basically a Beta Program. The govt has moved on to bigger and better things it appears. Of course, it bites them in the ass. I can only really classify the change in characters in that it’s kind of like when James Bond gets a new actor, there is a new guy in looks, but everything feels the same. In Bourne Legacy, they just replaced the actor AND character that brought the movies to a 4th installment.
I don’t want to give away too much of the story, but I will say that Jeremy Renner injects a little bit of comedy and bad boy feel into the series, he’s a spy that doesn’t give a shit, and just talks whenever it comes to his head, and makes some great smart ass remarks. Yes, he’s a bad ass soldier, crazy smart and all of the things you would expect from a project that started with a group that included Bourne. The movie is essentially one long chase, where in the first probably half hour or so you get a bunch of city hopping trying to establish the story. You’ll see some of the bad guys from the previous Bourne movies that make you smile and then you have the addition of Edward Norton. He is worth it enough on his own to see this movie if you’re even a remote fan of the series. He’s damn ruthless, Hell, one of his lines when they’re trying to chase down what the hell is going on when Renner starts screwing with their plans is “Anybody who talked to anybody about anything at any time.” His character isn’t overly a dick, he’s just damn serious about his job, which seems to be the gatekeeper to all of these projects connected to Treadstone and Jason Bourne. Norton commands a legion of technology and people that when I asked my quest that I took to the movie that has knowledge of government…stuff (I honestly have to toe the line for his job security) he said that it wasn’t that far off.
You can’t have a Bourne movie without a car/motorcycle chase of some sort, I was really impressed with it and would place it into the top 5 chase scenes I’ve ever watched. It’s a little bit blurry and snapping all over the place at the start of the chase, but once it settles it, it’s just damn good. Then there is Dr. Martha Shearing (Rachel Weisz), a scientist who’s in on a…enhancement program. No, not THAT kind, you know, super soldier stuff. Her character was kind of dull at the start, but she gets better and less “Just shove her out and let her die”. Which is good, because I hated her in The Mummy movies.
In the end, Bourne Legacy is highly watchable, not too long that you’re checking your watch, and introduces a new action star in a series that shows no signs of ending. Seriously, the ending to this movie should have ended with a big “Stay Tuned!” splash across the screen. If you liked the first Bourne Trilogy, you’ll like this movie, if you’ve never watched it before, watch the 3rd Bourne movie and then see Bourne Legacy.
