trophywife's Movie Review of The Bourne Legacy

'The Bourne Legacy' Movie Review
trophywife - wrote on 08/17/12

In case you were wondering, it’s never a good idea to go from seeing a movie like Step Up Revolution----which I reviewed last week, and which required very little brain function-----to seeing a movie that, even when you are at the top of your game, is tough to follow. No one’s ever accused me of being a genius, but for the first 45 minutes of The Bourne Legacy, I was starting to worry that my I.Q. was significantly lower than previously assumed.

THE GOOD: Opening with a scene of a body floating in water, The Bourne Legacy is not really as much of a continuation of the Bourne franchise as it is an extension of it. Instead of Matt Damon as Jason Bourne, we have Jeremy Renner as Aaron Cross, a member of the black op program “Operation Outcome”. These agents have been given blue and green pills----“chems”----to enhance their physical and mental capabilities. It’s never clear just how many test subjects the government has involved in these experiments, but when a full scale investigation into the programs begins, the CIA director and others decide to terminate the undercover agents and cover their collective butts. When Aaron Cross---agent #5--- realizes he’s the target of termination, he enlists the help of Dr. Marta Shearing (Rachel Weisz) as well as comes to her aid, since she is also on the list to be silenced.

Aside from the fact that it took me awhile to understand what was happening, the movie is fast paced and intelligent, and draws you in, despite the fact that Jason Bourne is nowhere to be found, with the exception of a brief mention and photograph. It made perfect sense to me that if the government was going to mess around with genetic enhancement, there would have to be more than just one test subject----and may I just add that I think it’s a BRILLIANT idea to enhance Jeremy Renner’s already amazing genes. Ahem.

THE BAD: As mentioned earlier, the movie leaves you floundering a bit at the beginning, searching to get your bearings with what is happening, intertwined with a lot of secretive governmental code words. For 30 minutes into the movie, I believe my furrowed brow and mouth hanging ajar was a good indicator that I was relatively lost.

THE UGLY: Although there’s some undeniably gruesome scenes in the film----including one where Aaron Cross has to perform surgery on himself to remove a tracking device from his body----the most difficult thing to watch was a very cold and brutal workplace shooting that left me feeling a little nauseated. Given the recent events, the scene will probably strike a nerve in a lot of people that no one could have foreseen during filming.

If you are a fan of the previous ‘Bourne’ movies, as I am, you may be less than impressed with The Bourne Legacy, especially if you are someone who prefers your action hero to resemble Matt Damon. But if, like me, you appreciate the idea of a “parallel” storyline, as well as a new face to fight the opposition, then this movie will leave you hoping for more stories---and more Jeremy Renner.

The Trophy Wife gives this movie 4 trophies.

The Bourne Legacy has a running time of 2hrs and 15 minutes and is rated PG13 for violence and action sequences.