A Bourne film without Matt Damon is like a Man United side not being managed by Alex Ferguson or Queen without Freddie Mercury. Less successful. And that is the perfect phrase to describe The Bourne Legacy. Of course, Queen with Paul Rodgers weren't bad and neither is this installment into the Bourne franchise, but it's certainly the worst film of the lot.
It's main criticism is it's story, or lack of for that matter. Now I know that the original trilogies stories were not it's strong point, in fact all three of them were very similar films, but they all had key characters, at least adding to the story a bit. This film doesn't have that. As good as the characters are portrayed they are very minimal and weak. As the story progresses you keep saying to yourself, "Okay, what's going to happen next?" throughtout the whole film until you hit an abrubt wall that is the ending. By the ending you realise how pointless the film really is. The ending was an odd sensation because no questions were answered, yet you didn't really have any questions after. My ultimate criticism is that this film didn't really have to happen. It didn't add anything to the universe.
Apart from that massive issue though, it is typical Bourne throughout. Good chase scenes, a good leading man and good action. It ticks all the right boxes of a Bourne film and a summer blockbuster. There's a good chemistry between the two leads just like the Damon trilogy. Jeremy Renner plays a good character. He looks the part and plays the part really well. Obviously it's difficult to reach the heights that Damon found, but he gave it a good go and is a very strong point for the film.
So yeah, like I said, not a needed film at all. But it's certainly not a bad film. It's easily the worst Bourne film of the lot, but I'd definitely check out a likely sequel to this, because it could very well go somewhere.
6/10
