TME Movie Review: The Bourne Legacy 2012
By Katie Hinckley
Released: August 10th 2012
Runtime: 135 minutes
MPAA: PG-13
Director: Tony Gilroy
Stars:Jeremy Renner, Rachel Weisz and Edward Norton
Rating: 4/5 In summary, I thoroughly enjoyed the newest Bourne movie. As with all the others, Tony Gilroy did an excellent job directing and writing this movie. I’m really glad he teamed up with Robert Elswit again, because his direction of photography is phenomenal [see also: Salt, Michael Clayton, and Ghost Protocol]. Renner and Weisz have an excellent chemistry that definitely freshen up the Bourne franchise.
I’m going to warn you now, I love action movies. The Bourne series was one of the first action movies to really pull me in. With the whole story of government cover ups, espionage, chase scenes, epic fights; also, Matt Damon wasn’t too shabby to look at for two hours either.
Going into this movie I was excited to see what Tony Gilroy and Robert Elswit could do with this extension of the Bourne series. Granted, its a spin-off, so I had reservations. I was worried they would try too hard to make it exactly like the previous Bourne films to squelch out more money on the franchise, like most of Hollywood’s spin offs, sequels, and prequels.
It is a Bourne movie after all, so as expected from the awesomeness that is Gilroy and Elswit be ready for epic chase scenes, brutal fight choreography, and a plot that will always keep you on your toes. Also fitting to the Bourne series, the plot develops with over lapping time lines from all the characters, and flash backs are very relevant as usual. Some of the same faces from the previous movies crop up, but for the most part this movie is independent of old faces. This movie is some back story from the older movies, but do not confuse that with it being a prequel. It is nothing of the sort. It provides more information on where Jason Bourne came from, and enlightens you on the whole program known as “Treadstone”.
The main thing I love about this particular movie is the main character, Aaron Cross, played by none other than the continually impressive Jeremy Renner. Jason Bourne was an exception in the Treadstone program as having morality, or “inconsistencies”. Aaron Cross has sarcasm, charisma, and a never-ending string of questions that leads him to evade the impossibly far-reaching power of his superiors. Not only is he a hard-hitting fighting machine with an insane intellect and knack for MacGyver-esque resourcefulness, but the boy has insane chemistry with the leading female that always seems to balance out the Bourne plots. Played by Rachel Weisz, Dr. Shearing is a ridiculously smart woman thrown into a world of confusion and is eventually teamed up with Aaron Cross to help him, and herself, from being killed. The science sounded legitimate which I enjoy, Weisz does a very good job at being Dr. Smartypants, with a dash of “badassery” on the side.
I’m not even kidding, I wrote down “chemistry” twice whilst watching the movie.
About the Author
