The Bourne Legacy: Good Acting, Good Final Chase, but Missing a Reason for Existence

Whew! I've been busy the last couple of weeks. So much so that I have had little time or energy to sit down and write this review. In fact, I saw The Bourne Legacy before the start of the madness that is the first two weeks of the school semester. However, the intervening time between viewing and this piece of writing has not diminished how I feel about the movie. In short, the film has some good parts, but the whole left me rather unfulfilled, wondering why the film needed to be made in the first place.

Legacy's story actually starts near the beginning of The Bourne Ultimatum's timeline, when poor Simon Ross is assassinated for looking too deep into the Treadstone/Blackbriar projects. Integrating Legacy's plot with the previous installment is one of the best attributes because there's a sense of unity between the two projects.

In the middle of all that drama and intrigue is Aaron Cross (played by Jeremy Renner), who is navigating his way through a snowy, mountainous terrain. That is, until he meets up with another CIA operative like himself. Apparently, everyone within the program has been taking medications that have increased their mental and physical capabilities. Jason Bourne is a curious anomaly because he has somehow weaned himself off of the "chems" and still managed to outsmart the entire CIA.

Cross is different; he needs the "chems" much more than Bourne does, and most of the film follows his progress as he searches for the people that make the pills. His endeavor is made even more difficult. As it happens, because of Bourne's antics, the "higher ups" at the CIA (namely Retired Col. Eric Bayer, USAF, played by Edward Norton) have decided to scrap the entire program, which means killing everyone connected with it, including field operatives and the doctors who developed and administered the medications.

This unfortunate development also affects the life of Dr. Marta Shearing (played by Rachel Weisz). Due to the complications mentioned above, she has to flee her home and enlist the protection of Mr. Cross. The rest of the film is basically one long chase. There's lots of running, lots of vehicles speeding and crashing, a moderate amount of gunfire, and lots of hand-to-hand combat.

As a whole, the film just didn't work for me. I left feeling, well, "blah." See, the previous night, I had watched Ultimatum to immerse myself in the world of Jason Bourne. The direction of the Bourne films is famous for its fast editing style and tight direction. Legacy seems to move away from this style in the beginning, opting for longer shots and wide vistas. Normally, as someone who gets nauseous with the "queasy cam" style, this would seem to be an improvement; however, Tony Gilroy (director) doesn't create much tension with the composition of his shots.

Indeed, there wasn't much tension at all throughout the entire movie, which means I spent much of the film bored. The only highlights came from the performances of Renner, Weisz, and Norton, but even their acting skills could not save the story. Characters are not introduced in such a way for us to care about them. Even the final chase sequence lacked tension because we had no idea who was chasing Cross and Shearing. Why should I care about them surviving if I haven't seen the assassin in action? Cross shows himself to be more than capable of handling himself and dispatching various law enforcement officers and assassins, so why couldn't he turn around, face the bastard, and get rid of that guy just as quickly? (I'll tell you why, because the film just had to end with a spectacular chase. That's why.)


These questions keep popping up when I think about Legacy, and I hope any future installments will have more story and character development. Renner, Weisz, and Norton are all gifted actors. I just wish they had been given something more to work with. The Bourne Supremacy still remains my favorite of the series.

*On a side note. Why did Cross have to kill people who were simply doing their jobs? Bourne tried not to kill people, simply knocking them out. Some may not have found Cross' actions disturbing, but I found them a serious flaw in a character who was supposed to be the hero. Not very heroic in my eyes.