Ileana’s Movie Review: The Bourne Legacy

Starring: Jeremy Renner, Rachel Weisz, Edward Norton

Summary: When The Bourne Ultimatum came out five years ago it looked like Jason Bourne’s story was pretty well wrapped up, so where could they go from there? The answer was to open up the Bourne universe to reveal not only other agents but other top-secret programs as well. Although Matt Damon isn’t in this film, it is because of his actions that the top government handlers have decided to erase all their tracks and shut down all their top-secret projects. Leading the charge is Eric Byer (Edward Norton), the man who oversees all of the programs and decides who lives and who is expendable.

One of the programs is called Outcome, which uses chemical enhancements on its agents to make them more efficient for their assignments. Aaron Cross (Jeremy Renner) is an Outcome agent known only as #5. When they try to kill him, Cross decides to seek out answers from a scientist named Marta (Rachel Weisz). She used to monitor his health during the assignments and is also a target for elimination. Together they go on the run while they figure out what is really going on.

This movie takes place during the same time frame as The Bourne Ultimatum. It shows how others are affected by the actions of Jason Bourne. While Jeremy Renner does a fine job with the character, the story leaves a lot of questions unanswered since it basically just sets up for another trilogy. I have high hopes for at least one more sequel and in an ideal world Aaron Cross and Jason Bourne would team up to bring down the corrupt government officials. Hey, it could happen.

Trivia: Rachel Weisz has been quoted as saying that the motorcycle stunt in Manila with Jeremy Renner was one of the most terrifying stunts she’s ever done “…I didn't have to act. It just was terrifying".

Rated: PG-13 – For violence and action sequences.

Grade: B