"Bourne" Again?

I've only seen the "Bourne" movies about once or twice apiece, and long ago enough that I figured I could go into "The Bourne Legacy" and pretend that I was watching a totally unrelated action thriller. No such luck. "Legacy" is absolutely determined to establish that it is part of the "Bourne" series, from the familiar opening shot of our hero floating prone in the water, to closing out with Moby's "Extreme Ways." You might also find the plot, which involves a supersoldier on the run from his handlers with a sympathetic female ally in tow to be pretty familiar. It's not that "Legacy" doesn't introduce its own variations, some of which are very entertaining, but the heavy reliance on the formula is so noticeable, it's hard to enjoy the film purely on its own merits.

The events of "Bourne Legacy" take place about simultaneously with "Bourne Ultimatum," the previous Bourne film, and it helps to be familiar with how that one played out. In addition to numerous references, Joan Allen, David Strathairn, Albert Finney, and Scott Glenn all turn in cameos as characters who appeared earlier in the series. However, they stay out of the way of the new baddies played by Edward Norton and Stacy Keach. When the Treadstone Project that created Bourne appears to be in danger of exposure, the CIA brings in Col. Eric Byer (Norton) and Adm. Mark Turso (Keach) to do damage control. This includes scuttling Operation Outcome, referred to as "The Program," where supersoldiers like Jason Bourne have been created through maintaining a specific drug regimen. One of the participants is Aaron Cross (Jeremy Renner), who narrowly escapes termination when the cover-up operations begin. Running low on the medication that keeps him physically and mentally enhanced, he seeks out one of the scientists who does research for the Program, Dr. Marta Shearing (Rachel Weisz).

I really like Jeremy Renner, in many ways more than I liked Matt Damon in this series. He comes across as more ordinary, more relatable. One element I'm glad the filmmakers didn't try to repeat was the amnesia angle. Aaron Cross knows exactly who he is from the beginning, and though there we don't get too much of his backstory, there's enough for Renner to make Cross memorable and compelling on his own terms. He's not Jason Bourne and never trying to be, though he borrows a few moves. Similarly, Rachel Weisz does wonders with a shallow character who has to spout a lot of terrible technobabble and keep getting plucked out of harm's way at the last second. Dr. Shearing easily could have been a disaster with the wrong actress, but Weisz ensures she's a believable human being, or at least mostly plausible. The pair have decent chemistry together, and I found myself genuinely rooting for their survival through the murky cat-and-mouse games of the first half of "Legacy."

And then the pace picked up, and then we were back in a Bourne movie. Remember Bourne movies? The shakeycam chase scenes through picturesque foreign cities? The lightning-fast hand-to-hand combat? The bad guys shouting at each other over the phone and looking really intently at computer screens? Or what about the scary foreign agent that the CIA sends after our heroes? Last time it was Karl Urban as the Russian badass in "The Bourne Supremacy." This time we get Louis Ozawa Changchien deployed out of Singapore, who I don't think even has any lines, but he's really good at looking mean and intimidating. It makes sense that the director of "Supremacy," Tony Gilroy, is back for this installment. Meanwhile, Edward Norton's stuck in his call center being all villainous from afar. He and Aaron Cross don't actually come face-to-face except in one flashback, which means - you guessed it - they're setting up for more sequels.

I was sorely tempted to make some snarky remarks about how "Legacy" is really a stealth reboot of the "Bourne" series, because that's really what it is when you get away from all the marketing copy. On the other hand, it's not a bad one. It's a passable action movie that introduces a couple of strong characters who I would be willing to come back to the theater to see again. There were some nice details, like seeing the analysts and techies marshaling different resources to conduct the manhunt, and people on the phone constantly being put on hold, which I really appreciated seeing. The fun of "Bourne" was always in the smart moments of realism mixed in with the escapist fantasy.

"Legacy" has set up the franchise to go to more interesting places, and I hope Aaron Cross gets to diverge a bit more from the formula the next time out. Or else, I wouldn’t get too attached to the lovely Dr. Shearing.
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