Synopsis:
While “The Bourne Legacy” continues the story of the Bourne trilogy, the movie also simultaneously departs from its predecessors. The film is an action-thriller directed by Tony Gilroy. In the first three Bourne films, Jason Bourne is the main character and shares movie time with only a few select co-stars. During this fourth installment, Jason Bourne only plays a background part for the main story. Though his character is mentioned, he is not a main player or really a player at all. Instead, the story follows two new characters: Aaron Cross (Jeremy Renner) and Dr. Marta Shearing (Rachel Weisz). Aaron Cross is an assassin for another government program which was created as a result of Treadstone. In fact, many programs were created due to Treadstone in order to advance human genetics. During the course of the film, Jason Bourne is suspected in an assassination. In the likelihood of an investigation, the head of this new government program decides to terminate the current assassin program in order to hide any connection to the fugitive Jason Bourne. Each assassin is reliant on a blue and green pill distributed by the program. Without these medications, the assassins will revert back to their previous physical and mental states (before they entered the program). The blue and green pills are replaced with an orange pill which kills those who take the new pill. Aaron survives the attempt made on his life and decides to fight back. Desperate to find more medication, Aaron Cross meets up with Dr. Marta. Marta is a genetic scientist who survives a shoot out at the laboratory. As the sole survivor, the program decides Dr. Marta is too much of a risk to keep alive and decides to terminate her as well. After saving her life, the two team up to fight against those trying to kill them.
Review:
The movie is not ground breaking. The movie is not “original” when it comes to plot or story line. 
However, I did enjoy watching the film. I loved the action and adventure aspects of the film. I loved the idea of two hunted underdogs uniting in order to defeat the system attempting to take their lives — a system they originally trusted and believed in.
I believe Jeremy Renner and Rachel Weisz both performed excellently, especially when considering the script they were given to work with. With all that being said, the movie was not my absolute favorite in the Bourne series. The idea of Treadstone not being the only government assassination program is both a good and believable idea; however, I did not completely understand how killing off every assassin within this program would serve to “hide tracks.” Strong and capable men and woman dropping down dead all over the place would, in my opinion, draw attention. I don’t know. Maybe it’s just me. The potential for serious dialogue in many climatic scenes was drowned out by unnecessary “action” moments. The car chase was way too long! No new twists or turns or surprises in the chase. All the moments were standard and expected. The chase did not serve to further the plot or story and only hindered the ending. Truly, the ending seemed anti-climatic.
I took my parents to the movie because I knew it would be their kind of film. If you go into the movie expecting a typical Bourne plot, you won’t be disappointed. I thought the acting was fairly good and the movie held my interest a majority of the time. I liked the film. Still, I can’t say it was the best film I’ve ever seen, or the best Bourne movie out of the four movies, or the best Jeremy Renner film I’ve ever seen. Overall, it was an okay movie. I give the film 5.5/10 stars. I would watch the movie again with my parents, but it definitely didn’t make my top ten…or twenty films.
Good review. I agree, definitely your typical Bourne movie. And Mr. Renner did a great job with what he had, but as you said it’s not the best movie I’ve seen him in. Thanks for the review!