Average Rating: 5.9/10
Reviews Counted: 208
Fresh: 116 | Rotten: 92
It isn't quite as compelling as the earlier trilogy, but The Bourne Legacy proves the franchise has stories left to tell -- and benefits from Jeremy Renner's magnetic work in the starring role.
Average Rating: 6.5/10
Critic Reviews: 38
Fresh: 21 | Rotten: 17
It isn't quite as compelling as the earlier trilogy, but The Bourne Legacy proves the franchise has stories left to tell -- and benefits from Jeremy Renner's magnetic work in the starring role.
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The narrative architect behind the Bourne film series, Tony Gilroy, takes the helm in the next chapter of the hugely popular espionage franchise that has earned almost $1 billion at the global box office: The Bourne Legacy. The writer/director expands the Bourne universe created by Robert Ludlum with an original story that introduces us to a new hero (Jeremy Renner) whose life-or-death stakes have been triggered by the events of the first three films. For The Bourne Legacy, Renner joins fellow
Aug 10, 2012 Wide
Dec 11, 2012
$113.2M
Universal Pictures
All Critics (208) | Top Critics (38) | Fresh (118) | Rotten (92) | DVD (3)
Perhaps the most interesting question arising from The Bourne Legacy is just how long the filmmakers hope to trade on the Bourne name without any, you know, Bourne.
Renner and Weisz work well together as two hunted souls who initially need each other for utilitarian reasons.
Gilroy's a fine writer - he also penned Michael Clayton - but without the discipline of an action veteran like Greengrass to rein him in, he indulges his weakness to over-explain things.
It's twists and turns and nothing else. And fast and furious as it may be, if this is the best this once-smart series has to offer, this is no legacy.
The Bourne Legacy is one of Alfred Hitchcock's "refrigerator movies," in that it succeeds pretty well "in the moment" but starts to fall apart when considered in retrospect.
The movie's last hour or so squanders these rich narrative possibilities in an incoherently plotted, generically action-packed anticlimax.
Tony Gilroy's involving and smart installment of the Bourne series comes to Blu-ray armed with a superb A/V transfer and a solid packing of extras from Universal.
If you can get past the distinct feeling that this is the Bourne B-team at work - Matt Damon and director Paul Greengrass are nowhere to be found - you'll probably be able to enjoy this frenetic spy thriller for the guilty-pleasure romp that it is.
Semi-successful revamp uses Bourne's name
It couldn't ever hope to match the Paul Greengrass/Matt Damon movies for sheer punch and propulsion, but it's as close to replicating them as you could expect, and marks another excellent entry into the Bourneography.
Nicely overlaps the previous films while carving a name of its own
'The Bourne Legacy' is by no means a bad film. Unfortunately, it just has trouble living up to the real world Jason Bourne 'legacy.'
There's a lot to like about The Bourne Legacy, but it's hard not to feel a little worried that the rich complexity of Ludlum's past work might be lost in the transition-and that's a legacy that really needs to be upheld.
... all middle with no beginning -- and, of course, no end, so the franchise can go on.
"The Bourne Legacy" may not be the thriller the first three films managed to be. But, it's well written and very entertaining. Renner has become one of my favorite action stars.
The Bourne Legacy is the strangest sequel to come out of the Hollywood studio system in a long, long time. It's a product of shallow studio greed and staggering creative ineptitude.
Though the weakest of the series, "The Bourne Legacy" is not a throw-away action film. It's one of the best thrillers of the year and a sure bet on the future success of the "Bourne" franchise.
If you can survive the first hour's complexities - you'll need to focus hard on the narrative to keep up - a pay-off, of sorts, awaits.
Renner and Weisz make an entertaining action-movie odd couple, the terse man of action and the chatty scientist who learns fast how to react when the shooting starts.
(Renner) has the required intensity and physicality to make his character-a highly-trained, genetically enhanced undercover agent-completely believable.
It's not Renner's fault the script is a heap of dung.
It's watchable, but doesn't have enough sense of character or purpose to make us care about anything that happens
It's a mostly unnecessary addition to the smart, exciting "Bourne" trilogy.
Jeremy Renner steps into this reboot of the "Bourne" franchise and the series doesn't miss a beat.
The Bourne Legacy exists only as a failed attempt to squeeze more juice out of a once-reputable franchise, which is hardly a legacy worth leaving.
If this is the legacy of the Bourne franchise, we're better off just forgetting all about it.
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