The Bourne Legacy

There is a funny little scene at the beginning of The Bourne Legacy. A top secret CIA team headed by ominous shadow man Eric Byer (Edward Norton) is gathered around a table looking over some agent profiles, when one member suddenly comes across Jason Bourne’s file, much to Byer’s annoyance. “You must be in the wrong meeting” deadpans Byer, before moving onto a different set of case studies.

That’s one giant hint Tony Gilroy is dropping in the audience’ lap. It’s almost as if the Bourne trilogy’s screenwriter is telling us to move on from what’s come before and embrace this new reality that runs parallel to the events of Paul Greengrass’ Ultimatum, making this effectively a “sidequel”, rather than a reboot or a spin-off. Out goes Matt Damon’s amnesiac rogue agent and in comes Aaron Cross (Jeremy Renner), a diminutive superspy powered by a set of blue and green pills.

Aside from the switch in leading men, the tone and style remain the same. Globetrotting still plays a big part (although this time the action steers well clear of our familiar European shores), improbable chases take place in believable scenarios and the plot is peppered with shaky-cam close-ups of men in suits talking tactics in rooms full of monitors. Even Moby’s Extreme Ways clocks in at the end credits mark.

And yet somehow, The Bourne Legacy doesn’t really live up to its pedigree. It’s not so much a disappointing film, but a curiously ineffective one.

Part of the reason could be down to new spy on the block, Aaron Cross. While Jeremy Renner may arguably be a more gifted actor than Matt Damon, he is definitely a less charismatic one. It sure doesn’t help that Cross is virtually the same character Renner’s already played in Mission Impossible 4 and The Avengers – both released in the past 12 months – not to mention that his fixation with getting his hands on a bunch of pills will alienate anyone who isn’t a) a junkie or b) a protein-popping fitness freak.

The other con is Gilroy’s direction. Michael Clayton may have been a hit with the critics, but here the erstwhile screenwriter seems to have adopted all of Greengrass’ tips and tricks to cover up his insecurity as an action filmmaker. The end result lacks of originality. And while we’re at it, he could have given Norton something more to do, other than stand around in what is a forgettable bureaucratic role.

Having said that, Legacy does boast a couple of action sequences that are on par with the very best the original trilogy had to offer – one particular scene, in which Aaron Cross runs to the rescue of Rachel Weisz’s perennially distressed scientist in an isolated mansion, is loaded with the same suspense and kinetic energy so often conjured in the previous films.

But as of now however, this franchise is hardly Bourne again.

2/5