“A Bourne movie without Jason Bourne? That’s weird.”
Such was everyone’s reaction to the trailers preceding this weekend’s newly released action blockbuster, The Bourne Legacy. The "how" of continuing a franchise without its titular star or director was a head-scratcher for sure.
The "why" is somewhat more obvious; the original star and director, Matt Damon and Paul Greengrass, did not feel as though any more stories about Bourne could be told, an excuse I find to be baseless considering that there are ten Bourne novels in print (three by Robert Ludlum, seven by Eric Van Lustbader).
Of course, the Bourne name has incredible marketing value, so it is not a property that Universal Pictures was willing to lay to rest. One option of course would be to remake the entire series with a new actor to play Jason Bourne. But it has only been ten years since the first film (although the recency of the original films didn’t stop The Amazing Spider-Man from finding moderate success).
Luckily, Tony Gilroy, a writer for the original Bourne trilogy and the director of The Bourne Legacy, came up with an interesting solution: Create a story which is catalyzed by, connected to, and occurs concurrently with the events which happened in the first three films. This allows a new actor to inherit the spotlight from Damon, a new story to be told, and perhaps provides enough originality to inspire Greengrass and Damon to return in a future film.
Such was everyone’s reaction to the trailers preceding this weekend’s newly released action blockbuster, The Bourne Legacy. The "how" of continuing a franchise without its titular star or director was a head-scratcher for sure.
The "why" is somewhat more obvious; the original star and director, Matt Damon and Paul Greengrass, did not feel as though any more stories about Bourne could be told, an excuse I find to be baseless considering that there are ten Bourne novels in print (three by Robert Ludlum, seven by Eric Van Lustbader).
Of course, the Bourne name has incredible marketing value, so it is not a property that Universal Pictures was willing to lay to rest. One option of course would be to remake the entire series with a new actor to play Jason Bourne. But it has only been ten years since the first film (although the recency of the original films didn’t stop The Amazing Spider-Man from finding moderate success).
Luckily, Tony Gilroy, a writer for the original Bourne trilogy and the director of The Bourne Legacy, came up with an interesting solution: Create a story which is catalyzed by, connected to, and occurs concurrently with the events which happened in the first three films. This allows a new actor to inherit the spotlight from Damon, a new story to be told, and perhaps provides enough originality to inspire Greengrass and Damon to return in a future film.
This new idea features Aaron Cross, an agent in the Outcome Program, a successor to the Treadstone and Blackbriar Projects of the previous films. The film revisits moments from those films, depicting how the circumstances surrounding Jason Bourne lead to the decision to shut down Outcome, which means eliminating all participants and witnesses. Cross and Dr. Marta Shearing, one of the scientists working to genetically enhance program spies like Cross, both escape their intended murders and must now work together to survive.
The star willing to step into Damon’s shoes is rising hero Jeremy Renner (Mission Impossible 4, The Avengers), as Aaron Cross. Renner brings a wider range to his Bourne protagonist compared to Damon’s constant one-eyebrow-raised look of confusion and continues to solidify his status as a true action star in The Bourne Legacy. Rachel Weisz (The Mummy) creates believable reactions as her scientist (and future Cross love interest?) character is forced into overwhelming circumstances. What I applaud most is not only that her character seems real, but also that she is essential to the plot and never degraded by being taken advantage of for sex appeal. Together, Renner and Weisz have decent chemistry and Renner excels in the moments of action as well.
The star willing to step into Damon’s shoes is rising hero Jeremy Renner (Mission Impossible 4, The Avengers), as Aaron Cross. Renner brings a wider range to his Bourne protagonist compared to Damon’s constant one-eyebrow-raised look of confusion and continues to solidify his status as a true action star in The Bourne Legacy. Rachel Weisz (The Mummy) creates believable reactions as her scientist (and future Cross love interest?) character is forced into overwhelming circumstances. What I applaud most is not only that her character seems real, but also that she is essential to the plot and never degraded by being taken advantage of for sex appeal. Together, Renner and Weisz have decent chemistry and Renner excels in the moments of action as well.
Perhaps this is partially because Gilroy does not as extensively utilize close-up, shaky-cam shots during that action that characterized Greengrass’s style. Gilroy is also more adept at creating and encouraging instances of character growth. However, it is easy to see that as a writer Gilroy has a tendency to let such moments drag on a bit too long, sacrificing momentum in the process.
Simply put, the action scenes in The Bourne Legacy were well executed, but too few and far in-between. In fact, there are probably more chase scenes in the film than shoot-outs or fist-fights, including an exhausting climax motorcycle chase that goes on for almost twice as long as it needed to.
And for all the story and character development, the film simply ends without a satisfactory conclusion. Renner never comes into direct conflict with Edward Norton’s (Fight Club) antagonist and, while the film has expanded the Bourne universe, The Bourne Legacy does nothing to advance the series forward. Yes, it is quite the interesting tale which unfolds during the events of the other Bourne movies, but in the end it never makes a strong enough connection to prove to audiences that it is a worthy addition to the franchise. We never get an answer to the question, “This thing happened, and yes it is interesting, but why does it matter?”
Overall, The Bourne Legacy is engaging, and at times exciting, but all with an undefined purpose. The Cross story is an interesting sideshow, but still fails to compare to the main event of Bourne. A sequel with Renner and Damon, if made, would likely be much more exciting.
The Final Word: Wait to rent it.
The ensemble was chosen perfectly, and even though there is no Matt Damon, we still get plenty of great spots from Renner and his performance as Aaron Cross. I look forward to seeing what Gilroy does with this character in the future, but for now, I’m just glad he made it work. Good review Ethan.
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