I was disappointed when the expected news that Matt Damon would not be returning to the Jason Bourne film franchise was confirmed. I know it had to happen sooner or later, but it was still bad news once it came out. Since then, I have accepted my disappointment and accepted the fact that Damon would not return to do The Bourne Legacy. Now I am ready to leave the team of Matt Damon and Paul Greengrass and I am ready to accept the new team of Jeremy Renner and Tony Gilroy. Those two guys are talented and I’m sure they can make a Bourne movie just as well as those other guys, right?

Although Jason Bourne is not in action, Jason Bourne’s legacy continues. That doesn’t sit well with the former colonel. Eric Byer (Edward Norton). He wants to get rid of everything related to Bourne and Treadstone. Byer decides that his best option is to end what he calls “the disease” before it spreads to other areas of the government. To complete his objective, he believes he will have to eliminate anyone associated with the show and that includes assassinating field agents like Aaron Cross (Jeremy Renner).

Cross realizes this and runs off to escape the danger that awaits him. Along the way, he meets Dr. Marta Shearing (Rachel Weisz), a scientist on the show who also has a price on her head. Agent Cross and Dr. Shearing are now on the run and must travel the world to save their lives and get some answers. But they have to move with extreme caution, because if they fail, they will meet the same end of the many who have crossed the path with the invisible forces that pursue them.

The Bourne Legacy is a continuation of the story we saw in The Bourne Ultimatum. While it continues parts of the true story of that movie to some extent, it branches off into the other parts that coincide with the time span of that previous movie. This movie begins with Aaron Cross training in the icy climate of the Alaskan wilderness. This is also the place where people like Jason Bourne (Matt Damon) had also trained over the years for this same show.

Once Cross’s existence in the world is established, the movie goes on and tries to reconnect the dots while adding a few new ones in the process. The audience finds out what’s going on now with the likes of Pamela Landy (Joan Allen), Noah Vosen (David Strathaim), and a few others who stayed behind to clean up the mess at The Bourne Ultimatum, but they also introduce us to some other agents. of the government who want this mess to be cleaned up in their own way. This group of agents is led by Eric Byer and they do not agree to finish the job in court and, unlike some of their predecessors who took this on, they have a much more detailed understanding of what is really going on.

The creators of this film wanted to make the main antagonist feel superior to who they were in previous Bourne films. They wanted to do it, but that’s not what happens. I had a hard time taking Edward Norton seriously in this role. He seems like a nice guy and he doesn’t have any kind of foundation in his voice. When Ted Conklin (Chris Cooper), Pamela Landy, and Noah Vosen were chasing Bourne in the previous three Bourne films, he could fully believe in their characters. They were stern, strong, in control, and forceful when necessary. Norton tried to do that, but it just didn’t fit the role and I don’t think anyone could convince me otherwise.

He’s not the only problem when I talk about acting. Norton is an accomplished actor and I would never question his ability. I’d say the same about Renner and Weisz. So it’s weird for me to criticize them in a way, but I have to be honest and admit that they didn’t bring any powerful performances to the table and they clearly lack chemistry. Renner and Weisz had decent performances, but I was expecting more than decent. The love story (if you want to call it that) turned out inauthentic, because this and these two have no chemistry with each other.

Regardless, I don’t think Renner or Weisz were cut out for their roles. Although he was a good actor with range, Renner did not have the style or charisma that I think is important for roles like this. He certainly couldn’t match Damon’s portrayal as Bourne in any of those categories and that’s certainly remarkable. He should be playing characters like the ones we’ve seen in movies like The Town and maybe 28 Weeks Later. He’s not cut out for roles that ask him to be a violent and deadly super spy.

When it comes to Weisz, I see her as being wrongly chosen. Unlike Renner, who I think has a role that might have been too expansive for him, I think Weisz has a role that was too restrictive for her. While Renner’s role should have been for an established actor, Weisz’s role should have been for a lesser-known and slightly younger actress who could have brought some kind of freshness to a movie. In fact, I think The Bourne Legacy holds her back a bit and she can’t boast of what she can do when it comes to acting.

Being misinterpreted is basically the same problem that Renner, Weisz, and Norton face. That’s one of the differences between this Bourne movie and the previous ones. Those movies had actors that fit the bill, and with the exception of Damon, none of those other guys had household names compared to these guys. For example, Franka Potente had a role that fit in with some of the things that she had done before and she was a slightly new face that the American public had not seen much yet. Similar things can be said of actors like Brian Cox and David Straithaim when they were cast.

The average to decent performance of the misunderstood actors hurts the movie in many ways. The biggest and most obvious way it hurts is because there isn’t much action to talk about in The Bourne Legacy. You heard me right, there’s not much action to talk about. There are very few fighting and shooting and whether in vehicles or on foot, there are very few chases. I couldn’t believe the lack of activity in front of my eyes.

Apparently someone decided it was better to rely primarily on talking, some flashbacks and attempts at drama rather than cleverly performed high-octane action for some reason. I don’t mind those things coming into play, but people come to Bourne movies to see the bad guys getting beaten up and the main character using intelligence and intuition to find his way out of dire circumstances when countless officers and cops are out there. they are on his trail. We get a small amount of that, but it’s not close enough and only decent at best. How can you even think of putting out a Bourne franchise movie with action done in this style?

You might think a smart movie with more substance awaits you due to the fact that there’s more talk and drama with less action, but The Bourne Legacy is less smart and less dramatic than you might think it should be. Older versions of Bourne are smart in the way they handle everything. Directors Doug Liman and Paul Greengrass were able to tell an attention-grabbing story with a main character who didn’t speak much and didn’t really show any emotion or personality. It shows the attention to detail that is important in the movie and this latest movie missed a lot of that.

If I don’t compare The Bourne Legacy to the other films in the Bourne franchise and allow it to stand on its own, I’d say this movie is an average movie at best with solid acting and some action scenes that are decent. at certain points. On the other hand, if I compare it with the three films that preceded it, I would say that it looks much worse and that it is not comparable at all. It’s hard for me to say, because I love all things Bourne and I honestly wanted this to succeed with or without Matt Damon. Instead we get a watered down action movie that needed more action and a much better script.

I originally hoped that the creators of this movie wouldn’t copy the Bourne trilogy entirely. I left there wishing they had stolen more than they did. Trying to link Matt Damon’s Jason Bourne to the film by showing a photo of his face every now and then or showing his name in certain places is not going to build the continuity that the creators seek. A smart action movie with style and substance would have built that continuity and I would have been excited to sit for over two hours again just to watch it on more than one occasion.

The Bourne Legacy recalls the time when someone thought it smart to make a Halloween movie without Michael Myers in it. It was a terrible idea and universal boos are still heard to this day. The Bourne legacy might not be as bad as Halloween 3 was, but it certainly doesn’t live up to the previous three Bourne films starring Jason Bourne as the main lead. The Bourne Legacy never felt like a Bourne movie, and it didn’t really feel like it, either. They only shared the names and that’s it.

The Bourne Legacy is not helped by The Bourne Legacy. There’s a lot to live up to with the first three films in this franchise that have been so well received and that should be enough pressure for people to want to succeed. There was just no reason to fail so badly unless they didn’t know what they were doing and I think that’s unlikely. Hopefully the next one sees the return of Jason Bourne as we dive deeper into the stories that await him. If that doesn’t happen, I’ll pray and hope they put out a better top-down movie than this one.

Score: 2/5

Rating: PG-13

Director: Tony Gilroy

Cast:
Jeremy renner
Rachel Weisz
Edward Norton
Stacy Keach
Scott glenn
Oscar Isaac
Joan Allen
David strathairn
Corey johnson
Louis Ozawa Changchien

Movie length: 125 minutes

Release Date: August 10, 2012

Distributor: Universal Pictures