The Bourne Legacy

I believe "The Bourne Legacy" is more of a continuation than that of a re-boot of the franchise, although I'm sure the producers have every intention of keeping the Ludlum characters going for as long as they keep making money. Ca ching!

This is the fourth installment of the Bourne series which sidelines main character Jason Bourne in order to focus on a fellow estranged assassin, Aaron Cross (Jeremy Renner).
When political upheaval jolts certain influential figureheads, Retired Col. Eric Byer, USAF (Edward Norton) and Retired Adm. Mark Turso, USN (Stacy Keach) who consult with Ezra Kramer (Scott Glenn), decide that a special Ops outfit dubbed Alcom not only has to be necessarily eliminated, but anyone involved with it must also be eliminated. Enters Cross who survives being eliminated, contacts Dr. Marta Shearing (Rachel Weisz) after realizing she is the only survivor of a massacre carried out by colleague, Dr. Donald Foite (Zeljko Ivanek). Apparently Dr. Shearing and colleagues were unwittingly involved with Alcom to provide, through research, the operatives or outcomes as they are called ,chems or drugs so as to refine their strength and sensitivity in the field. So, of course, they also had to be eliminated, leaving this film as a 'cat and mouse' game, making Cross and Shearing targets chased by their on people. Who can trust whom?

Others to round out the cast are Joan Allen as Pam Dandy, Albert Finney as Dr. Albert Hirsch, Donna Murphy as Dita Mandy, Michael Chernus as Arthur Ingram, Oscar Isaac as Outcome #3, and Corey Stoll as Zev Vendel.

For a director who has much more writing credits than directing credits, Tony Gilroy ("Michael Clayton" '07, "Duplicity" '09) actually excelled at the helm. The writing was by Tony Gilroy and Dan Gilroy based on a story by Tony Gilroy which is inspired by the Bourne series by Robert Ludlum.The script here begins a bit sluggish and slow, but then it kicks in high gear and then takes off. Even though it's a bit long-in-the-tooth, it still was able to capture your attention until the end.

I usually don't speak too much about a film's editing, but this was incredible. John Gilroy,asc
("Billy Madison" '95, "Game Day" '99, "Narc" '02, "Miracle" '04, "First Born" '07, "Michael Clayton" '07, "Pride and Glory" '08, "Duplicity" '09, "Salt" '10, "Warrior" '11) obviously, a veteran in his field, excelled when it came to the car, and motorcycle chase scene. The editing became so rapid, it actually had a blur to it, which added to the frenetic feel. 

Certainly, as long as this franchise keeps making money, they will keep rafting out film after film, and in the case of these films, it will be more than welcome.

Out of 4 stars: 3                  Rated: PG-13                 135 mins.