The Bourne Legacy

Can a Bourne action-adventure succeed without Jason Bourne? After The Bourne Identity, The Bourne Supremacy and The Bourne Ultimatum grossed nearly $1 billion worldwide, the filmmakers ran out of black-ops story ideas from the Robert Ludlum-penned series. So writer-director Tony Gilroy (who scripted all three previous films) here expands the Bourne mythos with a new protagonist: Aaron Cross (Jeremy Renner), who joins a highly secretive national-security program. It helps to be acquainted with Bourne's attempts at making public the covert Treadstone and Blackbriar operations in earlier franchise entries. In The Bourne Legacy, because of Bourne's most recent debacle, military officials (Edward Norton, Stacy Keach) decide to terminate a third program, Operation Outcome, which went a step further than its predecessors by attempting to pharmacologically enhance field agents. Cross is one of those operatives being hunted, as is Dr. Marta Shearing (Rachel Weisz), a neuroscientist who helped administer the experimental drugs, here joining Cross on the run. Cross's mission is to make his “super soldier” enrichments permanent so that he will no longer be reliant on obtaining meds. Although he's also a government target, Cross's character simply lacks the same emotional resonance as Bourne's, and while Joan Allen, Albert Finney, David Strathairn, and Scott Glenn reprise supporting roles, former series star Matt Damon is sorely missed. An optional purchase. [Note: DVD/Blu-ray extras include audio commentary by director Tony Gilroy, writer Dan Gilroy, editor John Gilroy, cinematographer Robert Elswit, stunt coordinator Dan Bradley, and production designer Kevin Thompson, “Capturing Chaos: The Motorbike Chase” featurette (8 min.), deleted scenes (7 min.), “Re-Bourne” on restarting the series (6 min.), and trailers. Exclusive to the Blu-ray release are a “Crossing Continents” location featurette (8 min.), “Enter Aaron Cross” on the new character (7 min.), “Moving Targets: Aaron and Marta” character featurette (6 min.), a “Man vs. Wolf” scene segment (5 min.), a “Wolf Sequence Test” (2 min.), the BD-Live function, and bonus DVD, digital, and UltraViolet copies of the film. Bottom line: a fine extras package for a so-so reboot bid.] (S. Granger)