How do you continue a franchise that only recently concluded in perfectly satisfying fashion? That was the problem facing the makers of the Bourne trilogy – a hat-trick of films that achieved the twin feats of impressing critics and audiences alike, grossing nearly $1bn at the global box office in the process.
Their solution to further reap those Bourne bucks is a reboot of sorts, but one which runs in parallel to the original story, revealing that Jason wasn’t the only super-spy on the C.I.A.’s books, and that Operation Treadstone was one of many such programs being run by the U.S. government.
The film kicks off with an image familiar to fans of The Bourne Identity – that of a motionless body floating in water. But where first time around it was the injured and amnesiac Jason Bourne cast adrift, this time the man is Aaron Cross, and he has entered the icy Alaskan waters very much by choice.
Proceedings commence with Cross alone in the wilderness, retrieving canisters from the freezing waters, popping a variety of mysterious pills, leaping across treacherous ravines and somewhat ridiculously doing battle with a pack of wolves (which hot-on-the-heels of The Grey, could become the cinematic equivalent of jumping the shark).
Meanwhile back in Washington, the Bourne situation is blowing up, and we are introduced to the guy behind the guy behind the guy in the shape of Edward Norton’s Eric Byer. Director of the National Research Assay Group, Byer has built several of these programs from the ground up, with Cross a member of one of the jewels in his crown: Outcome, wherein agents are trained for use in isolated, high-risk, long-term intelligence assignments.
These men and women are stationed deep undercover all over the world, but with Bourne’s activities in Supremacy and Ultimatum infecting other programs and threatening to expose their illegal methods to the world, Byer takes drastic action. Cross is quickly forced on the run, embarking on a spot of globe-trotting with only his smarts, lightning quick reactions, and expertise with weapons and hand-to-hand combat for comfort.
So far, so Bourne trilogy, but unlike those films, Cross’s memory is fully intact. The mystery is therefore not psychological but rather physical, as Aaron endeavours to discover what Outcome has done to both his mind and body as he flees the program’s clutches.
Trouble is our hero investigating the side effects of green and blue pills is far less interesting than a protagonist trying to unlock his memory and rediscover his humanity.
And good as he is, Jeremy Renner is no Matt Damon. He’s never less-than-convincing as Aaron Cross, nailing the action and delivering intensity in spades. But he doesn’t quite have that movie star charisma that makes Damon so damn watchable and had you rooting for Bourne in spite of the terrible things he had done.
Renner’s best scenes are with Rachael Weisz’s Dr. Marta Shearing, whose work in behavioural design may shed some light on his predicament. This knowledge puts her own life in jeopardy however, and the pair are soon forced to collaborate to save both their skins.
Yet while they make an engaging duo, the twosome also share several somewhat clumsy scenes in which Shearing has to explain some pretty complicated science to Cross, and as a by-product the audience. And The Bourne Legacy is full of such sequences, with shady Agency men regularly popping up to recap what happened in the previous films and indulge in exposition-heavy conversations to explain the complicated political machinations of this one.
It’s a clear case of too much talk and not enough action, as Byers spends scene-after-scene barking orders from his crisis suite when all we want to see is Cross getting stuck into the bad guys.
That may be the result of trilogy screenwriter Tony Gilroy – who has previously helmed the dialogue-heavy Michael Clayton and Duplicity – stepping into the director’s chair for this instalment.
However when the action does rear it’s high-octane head, Gilroy handles it with aplomb, never quite scaling the muscular, shaky-cam highs of predecessor Paul Greengrass, but nevertheless nailing several scenes.
Stand-outs include an impressive sequence in which Cross scales a building in a single, unbroken shot, and a truly jaw-dropping motorcycle chase (which owes more than a passing debt to Terminator 2) in Manila.
And while a pulsating rooftop chase is a little too reminiscent of Supremacy, Gilroy does deliver a truly stunning movie moment in a laboratory that is more horrific than anything that the series has delivered thus far.
But aside from odd moments like this, The Bourne Legacy is very much more of the same, only less compelling and entertaining than what’s come before.
The film does endeavour to expand the mythology of the series, but in building out rather than pushing forward, it fails to fully engage as an absorbing story in its own right.
If this had been the first film in a series – and could therefore be taken entirely on its own terms – The Bourne Legacy is an entertaining if at times uninvolving action picture, featuring sharper dialogue and better performances than most movies of the genre.
But the film constantly reminds us that we are in both Jason Bourne’s universe and his timeline, with Cross following in his footsteps metaphorically and at times quite literally.
It all makes for a frustrating viewing experience when you know that those films are superior to this one in every way, shape and form. The result is the fourth best entry in a series of four, and one that leaves you wishing the filmmakers had simply left Bourne’s legacy alone.
Chris Tilly is the Entertainment Editor for IGN and regrets his time in Operation Treadstone. His idle chat can be found on both Twitter and MyIGN.
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