The Bourne Legacy is the fourth installment in the film franchise previously starred by Matt Damon. The movie takes off after Matt Damon declines to take on a fourth film the CIA decides to dispose of their black ops programs and all its agents in the wake of Jason Bourne's dismemberment. Jeremy Renner plays Jason Bourne Aaron Cross, a spy agent running for his life because he knows too much. There was a lot of talking and explanations on the first part, and the name Jason Bourne is repeatedly mentioned to remind us that we are watching a Bourne film. Then a doctor gets crazy and kills everyone except Rachel Weisz' character Marta Shearing. I initially taught the killer intentionally left her alive for good reason other than to let her reunite with Aaron Cross whom she got acquainted with during medical tests. Apparently, it doesn't matter because the incident was never crucial to the whole story.
Aaron Cross then saves Martha when she's being chased dead because he wanted to know where his enhancement drugs are. That lead them to the Philippines where most of the action scenes were shot. On a granular level the scenes were a spectacle, but it was dizzying trying to follow down all the camera shifts and turns from one frame to the next. I actually taught the creativity was wasted because of the fast phase.
Jeremy Renner is a good actor, and he can do some serious stunts. But one thing I hated about his character is he was so inclined to run away instead of fighting everyone that gets his way. Sure he landed some punches to random agents, guards and policemen, but there was no real combat action where he was seriously challenged. Instead of fighting he chose to run away. To treat Rachel Weisz a grand vacation in Palawan.
Is this a Bourne movie? No. A spy-agent movie perhaps, but not Bourne. If they hadn't referenced it to the previous franchise I wouldn't have made the connection. Will there be a next Bourne movie? Depends on people's reception for this one. The story is open-ended leaving us scratching our heads, but there are so many possibilities they can explore, assuming of course that people want to see it. Is this movie worthy enough to watch? If you just want to see the Philippines in a hollywood movie, this is probably the longest exposure you can get.
Just don't expect to see Jason Bourne in it.
