British Actress Blog

The Bourne Legacy (2012)

Score: 6/10

Director: Tony Gilroy

Stars: Rachel Weisz, Jeremy Renner, Edward Norton, Oscar Isaac.

The Bourne Legacy

Rachel Weisz

Synopsis: An expansion of the universe created by Robert Ludlum’s novels, centered on a new hero whose stakes have been triggered by the events of the previous films.

Review: A deep cover agent is out in the wilderness on a sub secret medical trial. A British reporter is writing an article about the secretive Treadstone and Black Briar operations, pointing at those who are responsible for the op. This movie takes place during the events of the Bourne Ultimatum (2007).

Dr. Shearing

Rachel Weisz

Rachel Weisz does a solid job as always. She is very convincing especially during a certain scene where she is afraid for her life inside a laboratory. Jeremy Renner is basically just Hawkeye in this movie. It seems like Hawkeye already has his own stand alone Marvel movie. Edward Norton’s performance is very, very serious. Too serious. His acting pace is way faster than everyone else’s. If you’re a fan of the Bourne movies, than his performance may come off as embarrassing and funny. I hate to say this but I think he is miss cast in this movie. Oscar Isaac is of course one of the best male actors in Hollywood today. He does great work in films such as Ex Machina (2014) and X-Men: Apocalypse (2016). I’m usually always satisfied with his performance. He does a convincing job in this film.

Hawkeye?

Jeremy Renner

Its strange how this film feels like a knock off of its own franchise. I think the movie follows the Bourne movie ‘formula’ way too close. Its an action packed film but it does not have much depth. The movie gives you a simple conspiracy of some kind about a super soldier serum, yeah ironic I know. The bad guys in this Bourne franchise seem like they are purely psychotic. They are standard typical villains with no real depth. The character Ward Abbott ( Brian Cox) in the Bourne Supremacy (2004) says ‘I am a patriot, I served my country’, there we finally have some kind of motivation for what it is that these villainous characters have for what it is that they do. But we really do have shallow characters here in this film. This movie lacks the charm of the Matt Damon films.

Rachel Weisz

Doing Stuff...

The cinematography decent for what it is. You feel as though you have seen this movie before. The camera work is just like the other Bourne films. I’m not sure if that’s a good thing. The musical score is a little bit typical for a generic run of the mill spy thriller. So I’m reminded of the Mark Wahlberg film Shooter (2007), you have a popular actor playing some super spy. Not uncommon for Hollywood to do something like that. In both movies the main protagonist has a partner, both men are in the middle of nowhere, some kind of flying weapon ( drone or a helicopter ) starts shooting at them both, the partner is killed, the main character pulls out a sniper rifle, and shoots down the flying weapon. Typical, so extremely typical. it’s the whole ‘agent of burned by the agency that they work for‘ narrative, again. Pure Hollywood. Like people would sign up for this kind of work if they were really going to get burned in real life. Why the same kinds of stories over and over again? The problem with these kind of films is that they are extremely predicable and highly unrealistic. Plot armor all the way. Spy movies are always more fun on screen with a good looking Hollywood actor with intense skills like Vin Diesel’s xXx (2002). Like that’s the kind of spy that would blend in. Spy movies with ‘realistic’ stories line are actually really boring. I bet a whole lot of people was expecting some kind of surprised cameo from Matt Damon, sorry folks. Denied! This movie is middle of the road.

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