Cat Says:
With so many movies coming out this past year I had to let a few slip through my fingers and wait for DVD. The Bourne Legacy was one of those. I finally got to watch it today and, honestly, I'm kicking myself for waiting. There were so many really great scenes that would have been even better on the big screen.
So lets address the elephant in the room here. Where is Matt Damon? Where is Jason Bourne? Last we saw he was floating in the river after being shot off of a New York building. We see him start to swim away and it lets us know he's still alive. So where is he for this film? He's there. This film is set concurrently to the end of the last Bourne film. It picks up where Bourne meets the journalist in London. It really needs the viewer to remember that film so as you see the CIA, and other teams, start to respond to all that is going on you can follow the timeline that is happening to the other Treadstone members as well as Jason Bourne.
Now. This film. Aaron Cross is part of Treadstone. He's out in the middle of nowhere when the walls of Treadstone start to come crumbling down so he has no idea what is going on. He is Bourne 2.0. Part of a group of agents that have been medically modified and have to take meds to sustain the benefits of these modifications. The problem is that Cross is running out of meds so he heads back in from the field. He meets up with another agent he thinks is a handler so he can get the meds he needs. Then "they" try to kill both agents and Cross is now on the run. Still needing meds he runs for the doctor who has always done his check ups hoping she can help him. But her life is crumbling down around her ears as well and before you know it Cross is helping the doctor and the doctor is helping Cross and both of them are on the run.
How they outwit the bad guys, who resort to sicking Bourne 3.0 on Cross, and find their way to freedom is what is so much fun in this film. Jeremy Renner, who plays Aaron Cross, is, as he proved in MI:4, quite capable as an action star. With Rachel Weisz, who plays Dr.Marta Shearing, they make for a wonderful team. Her confusion and efforts to cope come across as genuine. His fast thinking on his feet is what we have come to expect from a Bourne character. Edward Norton, as one of the chasing bad guys, is hardly used and a missed opportunity in this film but maybe they are holding back his character for the next movie in this series. The film ends pretty much where the last Bourne ended with Jason Bourne escaping NYC and Cross and the Doctor escaping their pursuers, if only for a short time. We'll find out where this leads us.
The entire point of this film is to show that there are lots of other stories that were triggered by the downfall of Jason Bourne within the Treadstone community and now in this enhanced version of Treadstone. Plenty of different angles to explore here. I decided to go check out the feedback on this film and found that while it did as well as the first Bourne film it didn't do as well as the last one so people considered it a flop. That is a mistake. If you loved the first three films then give this one a shot. It opens up and answers some of the questions the last movie left unanswered. I give it a solid 8 out of 10. I'm hopeful they will pull Damon back in for one more, even if it's just a small part of the Cross story.
No comments:
Post a Comment