A few weeks back, my husband had the opportunity to attend a screening of Universal Pictures The Bourne Legacy – here’s his review of the film:
The Bourne Legacy is a good movie, and good addition to the Bourne franchise. It can best be reviewed by breaking the movie down into…The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly. WARNING: The Ugly contains spoilers.
Tony and Dan Gilroy do a great job of working the story seamlessly into the previous Bourne trilogy of movies; fitting the story into the events of the third movie. Jeremy Renner and Ed Norton are amazing in their roles and really stand out in an amazing cast. Renner, in particular, is very believable as Aaron Cross and pulls off the roll with ease.
The Bad
Tony Gilroy directing was just…bad. In one of the opening scenes of the film, two people are talking in a small office. The camera, for some inexplicable reason, “helicopters” around them as they are talking, producing a motion sick feeling that will leaving you needing Dramamine. The rest of the movie is okay directorally until the climatic car chase at the end. This scene looks and feels like it was directed by my 4yo, with my 92yo grandfather working the camera. There is a lot of fast action, but the camera always seems to be zoomed in on a random car bumper, or unaware passenger.
The Ugly
I really liked the movie, and the storyline of a failed government project that is trying to swept under the carpet is riveting. However, toward the middle of the movie you realize that Aaron Cross doesn’t know he’s being hunted down, in fact all he is looking for is more “chems” (the government supplied drugs that make you stronger and faster). The movie proceeds with Aaron trying to save the life of a doctor in order to obtain more drugs, not realizing he is the one being hunted. Then the bomb drops…figuratively. It is revealed that Aaron is only looking for the “smart” drug because his iq test results on his entrance exams were pumped up by his recruiter, thus making him, in his pre-drug state, 12 iq points below normal…and he doesn’t want to go back to that. So basically the moral of Aaron’s crisis is, it’s not good to be…well…not smart. I felt not smart after realizing that was the guiding force behind the plot; he didn’t know he was trying to stay alive, he just didn’t want to be dumb.
All together, the movie was a great addition to the Bourne franchise and very fun to watch…it just won’t make you smarter. – J.F. DiMarzio
The Bourne Legacy opened in theatres August 10