The Bourne Legacy (2012)

As the summer blockbuster season winds to a close, The Bourne Legacy revisits a familiar franchise with a new angle – one of the first “midquels” I’ve ever seen – and a common twist – “Put Jeremy Renner in it.”  Both end up being profitable decisions, as The Bourne Legacy is perhaps more enjoyable than its forerunners, “Bourne again” anew.

Taking place sometime during the events of The Bourne Ultimatum, Legacy wisely sets most of the original trilogy aside and allows filmgoers to focus not on unraveling a nebulous conspiracy but on following one man – Aaron Cross (Renner) – and his attempts to stay one step ahead of government officials (led by an extremely dedicated Edward Norton) who want him dead.  Along the way he meets up with Dr. Marta Shearing (Rachel Weisz), a scientist coming to terms with her own involvement in the supserspy program that birthed Cross – and Jason Bourne.

After stepping into Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol and representing the common-ish man in The Avengers, Jeremy Renner is wasting none of his post-Hurt Locker inertia by stepping into yet another big-league franchise.  The decision to focus entirely on Renner is a daring one, since the Bourne name is synonymous with Matt Damon, but Damon’s absence here is barely noticeable, in part because Renner’s performance as an edgy superspy is extremely compelling.  His Aaron Cross is a man forced into a difficult situation, and Renner is a master of switching between lethal force and a killer sense of humor; the transition never feels out of character.

But more importantly, the film crafts an interesting narrative around him that renders superfluous any appearance by Jason Bourne.  Director Tony Gilroy performs an almost impossible feat by making this film virtually stand-alone, never relying on what’s come before but instead guiding us through a new corner of a shared universe.  The film expands on the science behind the secret project that “created” Jason Bourne and goes deeper into the human cost of such a large-scale initiative, but it focuses more on the attempts of the government to roll up the project and obscure its existence – with Cross in the middle.

The highlight of the Bourne films has always been their intense action sequences.  Quantitatively, The Bourne Legacy contains fewer, opting for a slow burn rather than a relentless string of big moments.  When the film does explode, it does so with a few very well-directed sequences.  I won’t spoil any by describing in too great of detail, but there’s a first-rate shoot-out and a breathtaking motorcycle chase that are as well-crafted as anything else in the franchise.

While The Bourne Legacy probably won’t be the greatest movie you’ll have seen all summer, it’s an exceptionally compelling film with thrilling action sequences and a great star who knows how to get the audience on his side.  Although I can’t say for certain without rewatching the original trilogy, this may be my favorite of the Bourne films.

The Bourne Legacy is rated PG-13 for “violence and action sequences.”  That kind of says it all right there.