The Bourne Legacy

Disappointing as both a Bourne sequel and as Tony Gilroy’s followup to the brilliant Duplicity, The Bourne Legacy, which occurs contemporaneously to The Bourne Ultimatum, details the chaos that ensues after the CIA decides to wipe out every trace of a supersoldier program in light of Jason Bourne’s extremely public antics – with the film subsequently following one such supersoldier (Jeremy Renner’s Aaron Cross) as he teams up with a research scientist (Rachel Weisz’s Marta Shearing) and sets out to procure more of the medicine that keeps him functioning. It’s interesting to note that The Bourne Legacy, which ultimately feels more like a reboot than a sequel, strikes all the wrong notes virtually from the get-go, as filmmaker Tony Gilroy proves hopelessly unable to either infuse the confusing storyline with any momentum or transform the film’s central figure into a wholeheartedly compelling protagonist – with, in terms of the latter, Renner’s competent yet charmless performance preventing one from sympathizing with (or even caring about) his character’s ongoing exploits. (It doesn’t help, either, that Gilroy spends an inordinate amount of time focused on Cross’ tedious activities in and around a wintry locale.) Far more problematic is the surprisingly tedious nature of the film’s narrative, as Gilroy places an aggressive emphasis on Cross’ efforts at finding more pills (or “chems,” as they’re tediously referred to) – with the inherently less-than-compelling nature of such elements exacerbated by a screenplay that’s often oppressively talky (ie the first proper action sequence doesn’t arrive until the halfway mark!) There is, as a result, little doubt that The Bourne Legacy is littered with lulls that become increasingly pronounced as it trudges along, and although Gilroy has included a handful of semi-compelling interludes (eg Cross and Shearing must escape from a busy pharmaceutical factory), the movie, for the most part, remains far too convoluted and too uninspired to make anything resembling an overtly positive impact. (Gilroy’s decision to eschew an expected showdown between Cross and a fellow supersoldier is, in the end, emblematic of the filmmaker’s misguided sensibilities.)

** out of ****