The Bourne Legacy

I really do love the Bourne movies. They're a great representation of serious and realistic action films, and I enjoy the hell out of them. The original Bourne films with Matt Damon are visceral, engaging, and smart. And you know what? I was open to Jeremy Renner being a new character in the same universe, because realistically there had to be other secret agents besides Bourne who weren't sent after him. So when the trailers had Ed Norton saying Bourne was but the beginning, I allowed myself to get psyched. I'm not sure that was wise. Taking place during the second half of The Bourne Ultimatum, The Bourne Legacy follows Aaron Cross (Jeremy Renner), another agent of Outcome. After surviving an attempt by Eric Byer (Edward Norton) to eliminate loose ends in wake of the Bourne scandal, Aaron finds that he is running out of the CIA drug that allows him to function as an enhanced individual. Unwilling to face withdrawal systems, Aaron seeks out his program physician (Rachel Weisz) for help after saving her from being taken out as well. The good doctor suggests they go to the main lab and try to cure Aaron's addiction, and the pair starts a race against time. Ok, that isn't exactly the plot. I admit, I paraphrased a bit, but for good reason. The real plot makes much, much less sense. Maybe it's because I haven't seen Bourne Ultimatum in a while, but that shouldn't be a reason for me getting lost in the narrative like five times. Considering how long it's been since the original trilogy came out, I feel like Legacy should've been an easy refresher. Remember, the Damon films, especially Ultimatum, are pretty complex. But even if I remembered the original ones perfectly, the whole pill thing still wouldn't make a lick of sense. Jeremy Renner is a good actor. He was the best part of The Hurt Locker, I dug him in Ghost Protocol, and he's Hawkeye. But he's not given much to work with here. The action scenes, while awesome, are few, far between, and short. So when Renner has to single handedly bring the story forward through the convoluted dialog, he doesn't do so well. I'd love to see more of Aaron Cross, he's an interesting character, but Legacy falls on its face developing him. And as gorgeous as Rachel Weisz is, her character is really boring in this movie. Bourne Legacy is not a bad movie, no matter how awful I've been making it sound. It's just not really good, per se. It's the perfect example of "not bad," or "could be better." Hopefully, there will be another film that improves on Legacy's mistakes, because while I miss Matt Damon, Jeremy Renner could be great if only they give him the right script. In the end The Bourne Legacy is a fine first effort at a totally new kind of Bourne movie. It isn't fantastic or horrible, it's honestly just ok.