Sunday, August 12, 2012

REVIEW - Bourne Legacy

I'm a big fan of the earlier Bourne films, but if they'd all been like this one, my view would almost certainly be different.

That's not to say this one was bad. It just wasn't a great film. It rattled along at a decent pace, but never seemed to break out into a real nail-biter.

There was plenty of frenetic activity, but it all seemed a little pointless. That was, until half way through the film, when Jeremy Renner - who plays Aaron Cross, Bourne's replacement from now on - said that "they" - presumably the CIA - were now trying to eliminate everything and everyone who had anything to do with Treadstone, the not-too-secret operation that permeated the earlier films.

Anyhow, back to the activities. They were all very Bourne-esque - an adjective that evokes much hand to hand combat armed only with a deadly newspaper. 

But Jenner ain't no Matt Damon - at least he hasn't warmed on me yet. He'll have plenty of opportunity to do that in future, seeing as the ending so clearly set the story up for Bourne, The Next Chapter. Although quite how long they can go on using Robert Ludlum to "inspire" their writers, and the Bourne name to sell tickets, remains to be seen.

And a final word about Stacy Keach and Abert Finney. They should both be replaced by computer animations that look and sound like they used to, 20 years ago. Right now, their real selves are too bloated and wheezy to appear live, in any movie, let alone an action one.

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