Movie Review: The Bourne Legacy

                                                                   Movie Review: The Bourne Legacy
    (As usual, there's spoiler alerts for those who haven't seen the movie yet.)

 How do you describe The Bourne Legacy? My mom called it a "good movie"; but what are the traits of a "good movie"?
 Well, first a movie has to have a likeable (and of course, good-looking) protagonist. Aaron Cross: a lethal assassin with Matt Damon's kick-butt moves and super-spy abilities; however, thankfully, instead of repeating Matt Damon's 98%-of-the-time brooding gravity, Jeremy Renner brings a sarcastic, smart-alec sense of humor to Aaron.
  Second, a movie has to have an engaging, substantial plot. (There will be more later.) Just like in the previous three movies, Aaron Cross has to spend most of the time in the film trying to avoid getting killed by hist former bosses: Operation Outcome, a group of secret government bad guys whose assassins, unlike those of the Bourne films, use pills to make them as good as they are. And of course, Aaron often has to kill guys sent by the government to kill him. Along the way, the audience learns a fact about Aaron Cross unusual in thriller heroes: he has below average intelligence; so apparently, he needs a pill in order to pull off the all the tense, cool, super-spy stunts (by the way, I didn't get this from watching the film, I had to look this up on wikipedia). Rather odd that the Treadstone assassins in the previous three films either didn't need or just didn't use pills. He also has to protect this beautiful female former medical examiner. Romance is in the air! I wouldn't give the plot a high score for originality, but there's danger, tension, a few moments that actually make you jump, and moderate exploration into character relationships; all in all, it keeps me awake.
  Third, there to have be magnetic characters in a movie. The primary characters are pretty good: Aaron Cross, a kick-butt assassin, who's likable because he's funny, and is also sympathetically vulnerable, as he has a conscience and is, in his normal state, dumb. Dr. Marta Shearing, a good-looking, scared, innocent bystander, like the other two females in the previous Bourne films, but unlike the other females most of the time, is actually useful. Eric Byer, the ruthless government boss who treats his operatives as expendable, but apparently, has the persuasive power to keep Aaron Cross in the operation, similar to how the Albert Finney character had a hold on Matt Damon. Then there's the main hitman antagonist to Aaron Cross: Larx 03, a silent Chinese assassin. These characters were fun and played well, but I think it's really the smaller characters that uphold the film: the mysterious Outcome 3, a fellow assassin to Aaron Cross, who was kicked out because (it is implied) "he fell in love", and sadly, gets killed off pretty early. And Dr. Donald Foite, who seems to be the nice nerd, but ends up slaughtering his co-workers in a psychotic episode; it's hinted he may have had a crush on Dr. Shearing. These characters, who don't stay in the story for very long, who are never explored very far, these are the ones that bring meat to the story.
  (To be continued). Then of course, an action movie has to have thrilling action! An exciting chase through the snow (which also involves a humorous incident with a wolf), a shootout in a mansion, running from the government throughout the film (of course), and finally, a rooftop-to-motorcycle chase to finish with. When it comes to the action, the film doesn't score many points for originality. The snow-chase was a first, but the shootout in the house - done in the first Bourne film; and rooftop-motorcycle chase - done in the third Bourne film. So this movie did its own thing in the first half, but it then pretty much cut-and-pasted the action sequences from the previous films. Still fun to watch, though.
   All in all, The Bourne Legacy is a good movie: good enough to be a box office hit. But the previous films (or at least the first film) had enough of their own stuff to be potential classics; I don't think the Bourne Legacy is going to join its predecessors there.