Throwback Thursday Review: 'The Bourne Legacy'

Sorry for the delayed review but I was very busy due to a multitude of things. This week I'm reviewing The Bourne Legacy to tie into the release of Jason Bourne, although from what I've heard Jason Bourne isn't connected to this installment whatsoever and rather serves as a sequel to The Bourne Ultimatum. Within the next week you can expect reviews of Nerve and Jason Bourne in addition to my Throwback Thursday Review of The Dark Knight and my full in depth non-spoiler review of Suicide Squad. The following week I will review the older incarnation of Pete's Dragon to tie in with Disney's new live action reboot and the subsequent week will begin my series of Throwback Thursday Reviews of the Harry Potter films where I will be rereading the books prior to watching each installment every two weeks till Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them is released this November. 

'The Bourne Legacy' Review

The Bourne Legacy is a weird fit in the Bourne franchise because it clearly wants to play in the same sandbox as the Bourne Trilogy, but it can't really play with the same toys, Matt Damon's Bourne and director Paul Greengrass' vision. The Bourne Legacy wanted to spinoff from the Bourne Trilogy (The Bourne Identity, The Bourne Supremacy, and The Bourne Ultimatum) and setup Jeremy Renner as a the new leading man, and in doing so forcibly ties itself to the Bourne Trilogy in every way possible by plastering Jason Bourne's face on news reports, speaking his name just about every ten minutes and even going as far as to recruit many of the same actors from Ultimatum to make brief cameos to hammer home that this film is set concurrently. 

The points aforementioned are what restrict Legacy from it's full potential. I feel as though it were initially pitched as a new action franchise but that didn't bode over well so they decided to try to force it into the Bourne franchise with mixed results. Tony Gilroy, writer behind Identity, Supremacy, Ultimatum, and Legacy, steps up to direct and his vision was very murky. The screenplay formulated by Tony Gilroy and his brother Dan Gilroy is more convoluted than the Bourne Trilogy as government officials are extremely vague when discussing anything regarding this new super soldier program leading me to believe that they were simply holding it off for a big reveal.

However, this wasn't the case as there are a multitude of plot points left unaddressed and normally this wouldn't bother me but I know this installment isn't receiving a sequel (Jason Bourne doesn't qualify) and the story was so muddled that I had virtually no idea what the significance of anything occurring onscreen was and how these events really impacted the characters so an explanation behind some of those vague government programs would have been appreciated.

While Legacy's storytelling is mediocre, the action is a cut-above yet feels all too reminiscent of the vigorous action showcased in previous installments. My issue with Legacy's action is that no action set piece dared to try anything new and it feels as though it's ripping off it's own franchise. Sure, each previous Bourne film included visceral hand to hand combat scenes and exhilarating car chases but at least the Bourne Trilogy managed to inject freshness into them, making the action feel unique and differentiating from what has come before. The cinematography hinders Legacy even more thanks to an overdose of shaky-cam, and not to good effect, detracting from the action onscreen while making it difficult to watch.

Last but not least, the performances in this film range from clearly in-this-for-the-paycheck-to-perfectly fine. 2010-2012 was a weird period where quite a few blockbuster action franchises were poising Jeremy Renner to lead them, but each one just decided it wasn't going to work and moved forward either without him or instead utilizing him in a supporting capacity. Jeremy Renner makes for a great black ops agent in Aaron Cross thanks to his peak physicality and fierce intensity but he's no Bourne.

Damon's Bourne proved to be a much more compelling character as an highly skilled amnesiac whereas Renner's Cross is simply exceptional because he took some pills. Now on that note, I'm sure comparisons will be drawn to patriotic super soldier Captain America but I think the difference between the two is character. Captain America has a golden heart while Cross doesn't really seem to care about much aside from himself. Rachel Weisz plays Cross' damsel in distress Dr. Marta Shearing, who Cross must save NUMEROUS times and she's quite fine in the role but not a particularly amusing love interest.

Edward Norton is an actor that I admire and have the upmost respect for as he has turned in plenty of fascinating roles for abstract characters, but he's solely in this film for the paycheck. Norton does relatively little in the two hour fifteen minute runtime, isolated in a black ops operation center and while the previous Bourne films included similar antagonists, those characters verbally sparred with Bourne making for an interesting dynamic. Norton's Eric Byer only interests with Cross once or twice though and neither time was remotely interesting. Also I was quite pleased to observe an appearance from Oscar Isaac, now of Star Wars: The Force Awakens fame.

In conclusion, The Bourne Legacy is an entertaining action flick, but fails to deliver on the quality audiences have come to expect from a Bourne film with muddled story telling, derivative action sequences, and sub-par performances. Here's to hoping Paul Greengrass and Matt Damon can course-correct with Jason Bourne.

Film Assessment: D