The Bourne Legacy: Movie Review

It's finally here - the movie every Filipino has been waiting for the past half year. No thanks to a very "wise" decision by Tony Gilroy to shoot it here on-site in Manila and El Nido. But success cannot be defined by publicity alone especially on a film that is a continuation of a very successful one. In all honesty, "The Bourne Legacy" falls way off against the benchmark and worse, it feels like it's an incomplete film. It's overt blandness will be a total shock and awe to anyone. Is this even an action thriller film? Because for us, this was a shoddy creation that does not deserve to get the green light.

In the wake of Jason Bourne's dismemberment of Operation Blackbriar, the CIA decides to dispose of their other black ops programs. This includes the termination of their other field agents that are like Jason Bourne. Aaron Cross (Jeremy Renner) escapes from being executed. With the help of Dr. Marta Shearing (Rachel Weisz), a scientist who conducts examinations on field agents, both set out to get his latest fix of chems. Without the chems, Cross risks losing both his beyong normal physical and cognitive abilities.

"The Bourne Legacy" falters badly because it simply lacks a compelling and complete story. It's shocking to see a film end very abruptly and there's something sorely missing. In our opinion, there should have been a third and final act that could have made this thing much easier to digest. But alas, for some unknown reason, Tony Gilroy decides to do "The Bourne Legacy" this way: a somewhat okay first act full of non-stop conversations and a second act that lacks any depth and mostly composed of one long action sequence. Both combine to cap an experience that will make anyone say, "That's it?". Ironically, for Filipinos, the second act (which features our country extensively) is where everything just starts blowing up. This is the point where things start to make no sense at all. Even the superb performances and talents of Jeremy Renner, Edward Norton and Rachel Weisz didn't save this mess. Clearly, this is one film to avoid - even with patriotism and all.

Rating: 1 and a half reels





Why you should watch it:
- the performances of the lead characters were superb
- the film is beautifully shot

Why you shouldn't watch it:
- lacks any personality and feels uninspired
- the story is a a mess and overall feeling incomplete