The Bourne Legacy

Director: Tony Gilroy
Writers: Tony Gilroy and Dan Gilroy
Actors: Jeremy Renner, Rachel Weisz, & Edward Norton
[Can a shiny new cast reopen a legendary series?]

Rated PG-13 {for teens and up}

It did not take long for the film adaptions of Robert Ludlum's Bourne series, made up of The Bourne Identity (book-1980 film-2002), The Bourne Supremacy (book-1886, film-2004), and The Bourne Ultimatum (book-2007 film-1890), to establish themselves as this generation's standard for action/adventure movies about spies. Tragically, Ludlum did not get to see this trilogy make the jump to cinema since he passed away a year before the first movie's release.

Not long after Ludlum's death and the release of the first Bourne movie, Eric Van Lustbader began writing novels that have continued Jason Bourne's story. He has written six books so far, The Bourne Legacy (book-2004 film-2012), The Bourne Betrayal (book-2007), The Bourne Sanction (book-2008), The Bourne Deception (book-2009), The Bourne Objective (book-2010), The Bourne Dominion (book-2011), and The Bourne Imperative (book-2012), which has been well received considering the fact that they are a continuation of another author's work.

Now enter the new The Bourne Legacy film, which attempts to reopen the series with the title of Lustbader's first novel, but with a new main character and completely different story. Does this movie deliver that goods we have come to expect from the Bourne series or does it crash and burn like many an after-thought sequel? Let's find out!

WHAT I LIKED

Rachel Weisz. I am, of course, biased, as I am of the persuasion that The Mummy (1999) and The Mummy Returns (2001) would not be worth watching without her.

The wolves. Now I am not claiming that these wolves are cooler than White Fang (1991) or scarier than the wolves in Fire and Ice (1983), but they are worth mentioning.

Fire and Ice (1983)

WHAT I DID NOT LIKE

I try to not engage in movie hating mid movie, especially when my wife is present because she does not appreciate such behavior. However, this movie was so bad that about three-fourths of the way through the movie my wife began tearing this movie a new one. This started with the POLICE LINE DO NOT CROSS Barricade Tape in Manila, Philippines. While it is true that both Filipino and English are the official languages of the Phillipines, one would think that the police would use tape with the native language.

Aaron Cross has a creepy fixation with doing mean things to wolves.

Aaron consistently refers to his two medications as "chems". What is this, Fallout (video game-1997)? While the term "chems" is legitimate slang for synthetic medication, I have a difficult time believing that this secret government agency with names for everything refuses to refer to blue and green pills as anything different than "chems", "blues", and "greens".

One of the best things about Jason Bourne in this series is the fact that while he is capable of amazing feats of skill and yet he is still bound to the normal restraints of being human. These restraints are cast off with little to no mention in The Bourne Legacy. The agents are now super-powered or at least capable of climbing things like The Amazing Spider-Man (2012), jumping ridiculous distances, falling from bone-shattering heights, and shooting air support like they are in a round of Call of Duty: Modern Warefare 3 (video game-2011).

If one was to take Jason Bourne and make him chattier / whinier then you would have Aaron Cross. Also, Aaron doesn't seem to snap between friend and killer like Jason does either, which is one of the main reasons Jason is so intriguing. All-around Aaron is a weaker character.

The story of The Bourne Legacy was not good. It was so schizophrenic that I was unable to tie most of it together. This does not bode well for a plot-driven movie like this one.

This movie was far too comfortable with some people, agencies, and events being unexplained until later in the movie or at all. Who is this guy played by Edward Norton? I watched the movie and I have no idea. What does his agency do other than pester other agencies? I watched the movie and I have no idea. What do his assistants actually do other than talk smack? I watched the movie and I have no idea. Why was this movie even made? I watched the movie and I have no idea. The most annoying delayed information was when Aaron talks about his life before the blue pill. He talks about his low IQ as if he just likes being smarter, as opposed to having previous brain trauma, as you find out later.

No one likes a one-upper and this movie is exactly that. You thought Treadstone and Blackbriar were scary? Outcome is scarier! You thought Jason Bourne was awesome? All the new agents have super powers! You thought those agents were cool? We have even cooler ones! Not only is one-upping annoying, it does not make sense considering just how powerful these people and programs are.

LARX was the lamest super-powered bad guy ever. Galactus, in Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer (2007) was scarier and he was just a space cloud. All LARX did in the few minutes he was on the screen was chase them and not very effectively. New Goblin's paintball mask was more useful in Spider-man 3 (2007).

In an attempt to make viewers feel better about how poorly this movie connects itself to the previous three films, The Bourne Legacy zooms out while playing "Extreme Ways" by Moby, the same song used to end The Bourne Ultimatum (2007). This left a bitter taste in my mouth.

This movie gives inspirational credit to Robert Ludlum but not Eric Van Lustbader, even though they stole his book's title.

FINAL THOUGHTS

It was painfully obvious that this movie project was started and abandoned by those already working on the series, only to be picked up by those wanting a piece of the action. I give The Bourne Legacy a D- for being that annoying sequel that everyone wants to ignore.

WHEN SHOULD YOU SEE IT?

I would recommend that you not see it. If you are fan of the Bourne series and enjoy movie plots that make sense, then brace yourself for the inevitable disappointment and confusion you will feel when watching this film. I won't say that I completely regret seeing "The Bourne Redundancy", Paul Greengrass' nickname for the film, but it will not be on my watch again list anytime soon.


SCORE

Personal Rating: 5 of 10 (D-)

Plot: 3 of 10 (an unnecessarily complex plot that explains itself too late or not at all)

How does this TS review compare to major reviews?
IMDB 7.!/10
Rotten Tomatoes C-55%/A-58%

CONTENT

Violence: 7 of 10 (While the action is not as fierce as previous Bourne films it still has quite a bit of: shooting, stabbing, punching, bashing, breaking, snapping, crashing, wrecking, exploding, etc.)

Language/Profanity: 4 of 10 (occasional use of: "ass", variants of "shit", and "bitch")

Sexuality/Sensuality: 2 of 10 (Aaron Cross is shirtless a few times)

Spiritual Aspects: 1 of 10 (the names Jesus and Christ are used a expletives)

Drugs/Alcohol: 1 of 10 (nothing worth mentioning)