The Bourne Legacy Review.

Thoughts: As you would know from my reviews of the other Bourne movies, I am a fan of the trilogy. After the many mixed reviews, my expectations for The Bourne Legacy were lowered. However, the movie actually delivered a solid entry in the Bourne franchise.
The story takes place during the events of The Bourne Ultimatum and the story heavily relies on knowledge of the previous Bourne movies. If you have not seen those movies, you will be completely lost. Also if you are not a fan of the other movies, this will not change your opinion of the franchise.
Although The Bourne Legacy is a very good movie, it still suffers from loosing Matt Damon's strong performance and character. Hopefully, Renner and Damon could team up for a possible sequel. Fortunately, The Bourne Legacy did not try to force a romantic sub-plot into the story as the trailer suggests which, would have only slowed down the movie.


Directed by: Tony Gilroy
Genre: Thriller, Spy, Action
Release Date: August 10, 2012
Running Time: 135 minutes
MMPA rating: August 10, 2012


The Good: Solid starting point, Ties into the previous Bourne movie well,

The Bad:




Plot: The following plot summary is copied from Wikipedia.com.
Aaron Cross (Jeremy Renner) is a member of Operation Outcome, one of the Department of Defense's black ops programs. which provides its agents with green pills that enhance physical abilities and blue pills that enhance mental abilities. He is deployed to Alaska for a training assignment, during which he pretends to lose his supply of pills in order to get more, and meets another Outcome operative, Number Three (Oscar Isaac). Number Three and Cross, codenamed "Number Five", lodge up in a cabin, but a blizzard prevents them from returning to civilization.
Meanwhile, Jason Bourne exposes Operation Blackbriar and the Treadstone Project, leading to CIA Deputy Director Pamela Landy (Joan Allen) and Operation Blackbriar supervisor Noah Vosen (David Strathairn) being investigated by the FBI. Upon learning of this, CIA Director Ezra Kramer (Scott Glenn), also under investigation, calls Eric Byer (Edward Norton), a retired USAF Colonel responsible for overseeing the CIA's clandestine operations, for help.
Watch the movie to see what happens next.



Plot: 8.2/10- The story sets of the character Aaron Cross, while simultaneously tying some of the loose ends left by The Bourne Ultimatum. The concept worked, although it could have been slightly better and there are still some unanswered questions.





Action: 8.0/10- While the action is framed and choreographed well, it is sporadic throughout the movie. There does not seem to be quite enough action, it also lacked an impressive one-on-one hand-to-hand fight. During one point of the movie, there was an opportunity for an awesome action scene but it never turned into what you wanted.



Acting: 8.1/10- Jeremy Renner gave a fine performance, but he is no match for Matt Damon in the lead role. Rachel Weisz's performance was solid and her character was fortunately used as a plot device and not a forced romantic sub-plot. Edward Norton was a little under used, but still effective. The other performances in the movie were mostly forgettable.



Special effects: N/A-



Soundtrack: 8.3/10- James Newton Howard's score was great and complimented the film well. Every time Jason Bourne was reference, the classic Bourne theme was used brilliantly.


Comedy: N/A- A few humorous lines.



Would I Watch This Again: Although I will not be buying the Blu-Ray/DVD, I will re-watch the movie.


Should You Watch in Theaters: In terms of "Must See on the Big Screen" content, there is very little. If you are a fan of the series and have recently watched them you should enjoy the movie. Just know that it is not as good as the other movies, it really just expands upon the Bourne story. If you are a Bourne fan and really want to see what happens next, I would recommend the matinee price.


Overall: 8.3/10- Overall, The Bourne Legacy is an underrated, solid entry in the Bourne franchise, yet it never comes close to matching the original Bourne movies.


Closing comments: If you are a Bourne fan you should enjoy The Bourne Legacy, however if you did not like the other Bourne movies Legacy will not change your opinion. Also I really hope that the movie will get a sequel.


Recommended for: Spy movie fans, Matt Damon fans, Action movie fans, Suspense movie fans, Thriller movie fans,

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