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The Bourne Legacy DVD Review

Director: Tony Gilroy

Starring: Jeremy Renner, Rachel Weisz, Edward Norton, Oscar Issac

Running Time: 129 minutes

Certificate: 12

Extras: None

Is there a sillier phrase than ‘victim of your own success’? Oxymoronic in it’s composition it is overused, tired, and bloody stupid. It does however sum THE BOURNE LEGACY up perfectly.

Following Matt Damon and Paul Greengrass’s departures Tony Gilroy, writer of each instalment thus far, moved into the director’s chair whilst the most definitely not Jason Bourne Jeremy Renner comes aboard as Aaron Cross – obviously still annoyed about his role in AVENGERS ASSEMBLE Renner sports a permanent frown and scowl for the movies duration. But hey, who can blame him, he’s just found out the military program Treadstone, of which he is part, has been shut down and consequently he must be killed; the medicines he was taking to make him super-human have run out, and topping it all off he’s in Alaska thousands of miles from Washington, DC. Fortunately the delectable Dr. Marta Shearing (Weisz) has access to the pills, is being chased, and needs Cross’s help to survive. The fact she is in Virginia and Cross in Alaska poses no problems, a cut away with no explanation of how he get’s back will suffice.

Pedantry aside THE BOURNE LEGACY has brought some big guns: Renner, Weisz, and Ed Norton, with Albert Finney appearing VERY briefly – so why is it all so formulaic? Perhaps in a year when AVENGERS have assembled, MISSION IMPOSSIBLE (Renner included) went invisible, and DARK KNIGHT’s rose we’ve been spoiled; maybe, without Damon there is no draw; could it even be the heavily stylised trailers setting the bar too high. In short, no, the missing ingredient is Ludlum’s source material. Through IDENTITY, SUPREMACY, and ULTIMATUM was a core idea, a backbone holding proceedings together. LEGACY doesn’t have this; instead it feels rushed, messy, and a cash in. The action sequences are average – not helped by Cross’s apparent imperviousness to pain – the script is extremely clunky, particularly when Norton’s Lyker is on screen, and Renner isn’t particularly sympathetic, strong, or effective as the lead.

THE BOURNE LEGACY would have been better titled THE BOURNE MISSTEP. Enjoyable yes, but without the staying power of the previous three it slips into action movie mediocrity. Don’t worry though it’ll find mates in Statham, Lundgren, and Van Damme down there, and who doesn’t want to be at that party?

Extras: Those who don’t have access to the blu-ray get naff all. Blu-ray customers get all this: Feature Commentary with Director/Co-Writer Tony Gilroy, Co-Writer Dan Gilroy, Editor John Gilroy, Director of Photography Robert Elswit, Second Unit Director Dan Bradley, and Production Designer Kevin Thompson, Deleted Scenes: Pennsylvania Highway, NRAG Research Room, Washington, D.C., Re-Bourne, Enter Aaron Cross, Crossing Continents: Legacy on Location, Man vs Wolf, Wolf Sequence Test, Moving Targets: Aaron and Marta, Capturing Chaos: The Motorbike Chase

THE BOURNE LEGACY arrives on DVD and Blu-ray 3rd December

Sam is a bloody lovely lad born and raised in Bristol (he’s still there and can’t escape). Favourite films include THE LOST BOYS, DRIVE, FIGHT CLUB and COMMANDO, well pretty much any 1980s Arnie film you can throw his way…even RED SONJA. Sam once cancelled a Total Film subscription after they slagged off Teen Wolf. He resubscribed 2 days later.

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