Though it's rough around the edges, and not as strong as the previous films, Bourne’s legacy is

definitely alive and continuing, offering a fresh start on the A-grade action-thriller franchise.

The Bourne Legacy has really tough shoes to fill. The Bourne trilogy was a strong,

intelligent and thrilling action-franchise that proved that the action genre is capable of offering

mature, dark and realistic content that is simultaneously exciting and fun. Matt Damon was the

star of the films as much as directors Doug Liman and Paul Greengrass were for their thrilling

directions. Also, the ending of The Bourne Ultimatum sent a message that it’s probably all over

for Bourne, by having him find out who he is and expose his torment that led to his agency

masterminds’ arrests. Without Matt Damon returning, many, many fans were disappointed,

angry and too stubborn to consider a Bourne Legacy.

Director/series’ screenwriter Tony Gilroy publicly announced that Legacy would

continue the franchise in a different direction to tell a much broader story, because there was

never just one special agent. If you watched Ultimatum, you’d recall Nicky Parsons uttering to

Bourne “They had to break down agents before they can use them… They said you were the first

one.” In Legacy¸ Jeremy Renner plays one of the others: Aaron Cross, a legally-dead and

scientifically-enhanced CIA agent who leads the way in this installment. While it’s rough around

the edges, mainly in some scripting weaknesses, Renner’s solid but improvable performance and

inevitable comparisons to the original trilogy making it seem worse, The Bourne Legacy is still a

deep, lush, and exciting action-thriller worth seeing this summer and an important next chapter

for the franchise.

The films opens during the events of Ultimatum, specifically where journalist Simon

Ross caught the CIA’s attention for his knowledge on Treadstone and Bourne. Throughout the

first half, the CIA is dealing with Bourne in the background while a new problem surfaces:

Operation Outcome, a project conducted by scientists studying the drugs its agents use to

enhance their mental and physical abilities, is at risk of being exposed due to Jason Bourne

exposing Operation Blackbriar and Treadstone. Edward Norton plays Eric Byer, a retired USAF

colonel that oversees Outcome. Byer goes after every agent linked to Outcome, including Cross,

to tie up loose ends and save the agency’s hide. But Cross finds a way to survive, and the CIA

must track him down and kill him before he causes trouble like Bourne did. Rachel Weisz plays

Marta Shearing, one of the scientists from Outcome, who also has to run from her agency for the

same reasons.

The pairing of Marta and Cross is one of the best and most important aspects of the film

because this is only the beginning. We had Bourne and Marie run together for a while in the

original trilogy, until she was killed in the second film. Now we have Marta and Cross, who

together form a strong and growing partnership that has a lot of potential in this new trilogy.

Their chemistry is good so far, but it shows a lot of potential for something. Weisz is

exceptional, as is Edward Norton as Byer, both showing off their veteran status as actors by

really portraying every emotion their roles require so strongly and naturally. In future sequels,

Byer and Marta are going to be very strong characters with interesting character arcs even for

their slightly-clichéd roles. Renner cannot have the same glory, though, because his performance

is a mixed bag. I saw plenty of his Hurt Locker character’s mannerisms during the first half.

Here, he’s expected to be more charismatic for a skilled professional and most likely somewhat

broken down as the CIA’s line of work would do to anyone. He doesn’t engage us here as much

as other actors have done with other strong action films, one of them (I hate to compare) being

Matt Damon’s tough and determined Bourne in the original trilogy. However, Renner did do

solid work in the second half, offering a new and more relatable personality for a genre that

usually has stiff and clichéd ones. And screenwriter Gilroy’s writing wasn’t always the strongest

when Cross tried making small talk.

Renner also excels as good as Damon did during action scenes. He did his own stunts,

and many of the fight sequences will make you cringe. My audience did. He reminds you that he

is a badass, professional killer, and the sequences are so raw and hard-hitting that they’re a blast

to watch. There aren’t many action sequences in the film, and for a 2 hour 15 minute film, it

sounds disappointing. The truth is, this film has enough action sequences to satisfy its audience,

and as I said before, a deeper and interesting parallel story is being introduced here and needs its

time. The film doesn’t rush its necessary new information, so the running time is actually pretty

fast and the action is mostly paced nicely between sequences of talking and ass-kicking. I really

liked the Alaskan sequence in the first third of the film where Cross is being pursued by a UAV

drone sent by Byer. It’s not an extraordinary scene, but it’s focused on the thrill and filmed with

visual flair. The visuals overall are lush and should make you consider a Blu-Ray purchase in

four months. The sound of Aaron Cross punching and gunshots being fired are also top-notch

and cringe-worthy.

For all these strengths, I have to agree with the critics on some gripes. First, there are

sequences where talking could have been simplified a bit to even the pacing around the middle of

the film. We understand there is a big story unraveling, but a few less and more stronger words

could have done the job better. Editing transitions aren’t always perfect between talking and

motion sequences, resulting in a more B-grade pacing in the narrative than the A-grade pacing

we experienced during the original trilogy’s run. Ultimatum won the Oscar for Best Editing in

’07, an action film of all movies. Also, the ending will be abrupt for some, but it does open many

new possibilities for the franchise. It marks the beginning of a tough adventure for Marta and

Cross and judging by Gilroy’s directing, the Bourne story should continue with strength and

skill.

Overall, Legacy is a good but imperfect action-thriller, the strengths being its visuals,

acting and action scenes. It suffers from having high expectations and some minor narrative

deficiencies, but Gilroy has plenty to learn from in order to create an outstanding sequel.