The Bourne Legacy
Published December 16, 2012
Film info
- Title The Bourne Legacy
- Director Tony Gilroy
- Year 2012
- Run time 2hrs 15m
- Genres Thriller, Action
- Tagline There was never just one
The Bourne Legacy expands the Bourne universe created by Robert Ludlum with an original story that introduces us to a new hero whose life-or-death stakes have been triggered by the events of the first three films.
Live Blog
| Time | Comment |
|---|---|
| 1:10 | There’s nothing like a guy jumping out of an Alaskan lake to make you feel chilly. |
| 3:21 | “You were given a Ferrari, and you people treated it like a lawnmower.” |
| 12:22 | Daddy Warbucks again! |
| 15:34 | I hope he’s not beating Bourne’s record. He can be as good but not better than. |
| 18:22 | He talks a lot more than Bourne. |
| 21:29 | I like the response to “you ask too many questions” to be another question. |
| 33:52 | Bourne would have got that in one. Okay, I’ll stop now. |
| 37:56 | It’s not enough that there’s a drone after him, we also need some wolves! |
| 50:13 | We’re jumping around in time quite a lot now! |
| 58:07 | She is probably stepping beyond her employment agreement at this point! |
| 1:00:10 | Of all the things we’ve seen so far, it’s being hit by the corner of a table that promotes the most wincing from us. |
| 1:02:52 | He went a bit too Spiderman there. |
| 1:08:55 | If he says “I am not a number…” I will laugh. |
| 1:15:51 | A crisis suite! |
| 1:18:20 | If we’re talking genetic engineering, then the next film can be about zombies. |
| 1:30:44 | I’d forgotten the scary bits where they track you down in three seconds flat. |
| 1:35:34 | “He’s alive, they’re there. How doesn’t really matter.” |
| 1:41:27 | Minimised empathy in a Bourne-style human is not a good idea. |
| 1:59:44 | Longest chase scene ever? I was completely caught up. |
| 2:03:11 | Rogue mention! |
Conclusions
I’m sure you’re all aware of my obsession with Bourne/Matt Damon, and hearing they were going to continue the franchise without the main character was a bit of a concern to me. I’m also slightly confused because they’ve lined up Renner to take on the Mission Impossible franchise as well. Too many! Anyway, always happy to give a Bourne a go!
Overall, I really liked it but I had three distinct issues with it:
1. I can't quite put my finger on what or why, but I feel like the "guy is enhanced, goes rogue and needs to find drugs to keep surviving" storyline has been done before. All the stuff surrounding it - the bike chase, the scene in the crumbling house, that was all great, but the underlying plot felt a bit old to me.
2. I couldn't work out if the pair were meant to be falling for each other romantically, and regardless of my usual distaste for shoe-horned romance sub-plots, it really didn't wash that these two would ever feel anything more than fond of each other. They didn't have the right kind of chemistry.
3. This breed of Bourne-a-like seemed just that bit too superhuman. Bourne always blew our minds but you kinda thought a human being could do that if they trained hard enough. Here, we watched Aaron Cross scamper up the side of a house unaided, wrestle a wolf, and hear a drone that was clearly several miles away. Maybe I've been watching too many superhero movies myself, but there's genetic engineering, and then there's this.
Entertaining enough, but really, it just wasn’t Bourne and it never can be, even if they use THE music at the end.
**Rating: **3/5
Rating: 3 / 5