The Bourne Legacy (2012) Review

The Bourne Legacy (2012), Tony Gilroy
3/5

The fourth film in the Bourne saga, I was dubious to say the least about this latest instalment  Which is why I held off until now to see it, and watched it on Blu-ray rather than at the cinema. Perhaps it was that my expectations were so low or perhaps it was the talented cast, but this was actually quite a solid action film. I feel it was a return to the quality of The Bourne Identity (2002). While this film could have been a commercial remake of The Bourne Identity (and it somewhat is) it actually achieved something a bit more than just a rehashing of the first film. Jeremy Renner (The Hurt Locker) as Aaron Cross, although seemingly type cast, gives a convincing performance although his character isn't fleshed out all that much. Rachel Weisz (The Fountain, The Brother's Bloom) is great as biochemist secret spy researcher Dr. Marta Shearing. Also, Edward Norton is great as Eric Byer and his acting definitely brings what may have been a bureaucratic cardboard cut-out up a notch. But what is most surprising about this action flick, is the tightness of the writing, with nary an expositional scene, instead using more cut scenes and visuals to explain plot elements rather than the usual action movie style arduous expositional dumbed down dialogue. Perhaps this is due to the fact that Tony Gilroy both wrote and directed this film, yet he only wrote the previous films. Credit for the tightness of story must also go to co-writer and brother Dan Gilroy and also to editor John Gilroy, making this production quite the family affair. The editing is excellent, cutting between scenes for the most dramatic effect, tying elements together to explain plot elements and also to plant convincing red herrings. The action is fast paced, although the camera movements can at times be disorienting  Also to pleasant surprise the cinematography for action sequences and chase scenes is handled well with no obvious stunt-man shots (unlike Salt). The plot is rather simplistic of course and some of the 'science' elements are particularly unrealistic. I'm no biochemist, but the stuff about using viruses to genetically enhance humans was either poorly explained or just fantastical (I'd argue the latter). That aside, the great performances,  editing and sharp writing make this an enjoyable action film.

***Contains some SPOILERS***

Also, the character of Dr. Marta Shearing was quite good, somewhat mimicking the journey of Marie (Franka Potente) in The Bourne Identity (2002). Marta represents two aspects of the feminine triptych, particularly early on in the second act as the "hysterical woman" which is quickly stifled and to the writers credit, her character is intelligent and resourceful, and not merely a female object to be saved by the hero. The second aspect she portrays is the "mother" or "caregiver" as she treats Aaron later in the film which also fits in with her role as a Doctor. Thus transforming her from the highly clinical researcher from the beginning, transitioning through the "hysterical woman" and then becoming the maternal figure. Strangely the film ends with the two together, merely smiling and there is not that much sexual tension between them throughout the film, although they play off each other well. So perhaps this film has managed to challenge the action genre just a tiny bit, and instead of fulfilling the full female role triptych by also conveying Marta as sex object, their "relationship" is never consummated and instead could be read somewhat as a kind of buddy cop/ hero and side-kick narrative. However, Marta's character is somewhat under-utilized  reverting instead to the traditional two female roles (as noted above) and the film itself even addresses her lack of usefulness where Aaron yells at Marta in the car stating basically she is useless to him and confronting her as a bureaucratic clinical cog in the government machine. The film was also surprisingly not comedic and resisted most temptations for the cheesy action one-liners, although there were a couple nice one-liner moments during the action. Some parts are flat out ridiculous of course, but the slightly enhanced "agents" worked pretty well, sitting somewhere between The Matrix or superhero style and real life, it comes off mostly convincing. Overall this film was a surprisingly good action film and if you can set aside some minor aspects and suspend your disbelief it is probably the best mainstream action film I've seen in a while and was much better than Skyfall (2012) or Salt (2010).