I went out with the family last night and saw The Bourne Legacy. Will this Side-quel/Parallel-quel match up to the original films (not counting the '80s one that we pretend doesn't exist)?
The Good
* As is the norm, the action is high-octane, intense and shot closely. It's not quite as shaky as Greengrass was known to do, nor is it shot awkwardly a la Batman Begins. It's a good middle-ground.
* Jeremy Renner proves that he's right to be cast in 'everything' (Mission Impossible, Bourne, The Avengers, etc). He doesn't do Matt Damon- he plays a new character. While there's still a lot of mystery about him, the movie gives you enough to know him and his motivations.
* The plot is good, taking place as a sort of counterpoint to The Bourne Ultimatum movie.
* Overall, the Acting is very good, from Renner, Weisz and Norton down to the smaller players like Stacy Keach and Law & Order regular Zeljko Ivanek. No complaints there.
* Joan Allen, Scott Glenn and David Strathairn appear in Cameos to tie the films together. Speaking of which...
The Bad
* As is the norm, the action is high-octane, intense and shot closely. It's not quite as shaky as Greengrass was known to do, nor is it shot awkwardly a la Batman Begins. It's a good middle-ground.
* Jeremy Renner proves that he's right to be cast in 'everything' (Mission Impossible, Bourne, The Avengers, etc). He doesn't do Matt Damon- he plays a new character. While there's still a lot of mystery about him, the movie gives you enough to know him and his motivations.
* The plot is good, taking place as a sort of counterpoint to The Bourne Ultimatum movie.
* Overall, the Acting is very good, from Renner, Weisz and Norton down to the smaller players like Stacy Keach and Law & Order regular Zeljko Ivanek. No complaints there.
* Joan Allen, Scott Glenn and David Strathairn appear in Cameos to tie the films together. Speaking of which...
The Bad
* Honestly, the only real major(ish) complaint I have is that the plot felt a bit disconnected from the Trilogy. They tried really hard to convince me, but it didn't work. When the plot moves to Manilla (something the Trailers show), it made it pretty clear that there was a disconnect.
* Likewise, introducing new higher-up characters like Norton's is not bad per se, but it is a bit of cheat. That will probably only bother the hyper-detail-oriented viewer like myself.
* It's become a Bourne tradition to introduce a sort of 'Evil Bourne' for him to fight. Here- they have a chase. It's good, but not the most climactic thing that they could have done.
* Likewise, introducing new higher-up characters like Norton's is not bad per se, but it is a bit of cheat. That will probably only bother the hyper-detail-oriented viewer like myself.
* It's become a Bourne tradition to introduce a sort of 'Evil Bourne' for him to fight. Here- they have a chase. It's good, but not the most climactic thing that they could have done.
* I won't SPOIL it, but Bourne/Cross does one really ridiculous bit of action. When you see it, you'll know.
Overall, the Good far outweighs the Bad. Hell, most of you probably won't notice most of what I consider to be Bad. Even I didn't think it was really Bad, but it wasn't exactly what I was hoping for/expected.
This is a really good movie. Don't let me and my OCD discourage you. Go see it already.
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