markthetranny

The Bourne Legacy in no way resembles the book. That probably doesn't matter because the Bourne films and the books have been diverging for years.

Matt Damon's Jason Bourne isn't the lead. That's no spoiler..anyone who has seen posters or trailers knows that. Jeremy Renner ( Hurt Locker, the Town) is the new hero Aaron Cross. Renner is a good actor and he quickly eclipses all memories of Bourne and makes the role his own.

Rachel Weiosz is the female lead and its the first time that the hero in this series has had a female co-star who makes an impression and has a fan base of her own. Both actors are excellent. The relationship between them works on many levels and Rachel's character is an important element of the story. Bourne's female leads were either an encumberance to him to be cast aside ( Marie) or a tacked on love interest to provide a trailer moment (Stiles).

The action is handled better, not that its better staged - the action in this series has always been first rate- but now that Greengrass has gone its less frenetic in its editing so you can see what is going on.

All the cast are convincing and the good news is that a sequel has already been greenlit so we'll see these characters again.

I have to say I've enjoyed much of Gibson's work in the past and I was interested in seeing this. I don't think his character in this is the guy he played in Payback, there are a few similarities but I don't see a reason to think that unless he was named Porter.

Anyway on to the movie itself. It's obviously not a big budget movie- compared to Gibson's older action vehicles- but its not slapdash. The opening is a little bizarre. There's not an enormous amount of action but what there is looks decent. There is one distinctive touch. If Get The Gringo had a few more set pieces like that it might have been more memorable.

The problem with the movie is its leading man. He is just too long in the tooth for this kind of thing. Back in the 70s people were questioning whether Sean Connery was too old to reprise the role of 007 at the age of 40. Nowadays relics like Stallone, Chuck Norris, Schwarzenegger,Travolta are playing tough guys well past retirement age.It is a trend that needs to stop. In Gibson's case in particular there isn't enough spray on hair in the world to make Gibson believable as an action hero. Its a little sad, like seeing an ageing prize fighter in Vegas desperately taking one more shot at glory.

I'm not saying Gibson doesn't have a future in movies but his days as an action hero are behind him.

I saw trailers for this in the cinema and considered going to see it. Thankfully I didn't waste £8 paying for a ticket. The premise for this seemed great- OK reminiscent of True Lies- but there seemed to be potential for comedy and drama. Potential that is sadly never realised. Tom Hardy and Chris Pine are both charming leads (Pine needs to stop doing that chewing with his mouth open thing)Reese Witherspoon is possibly a little old for this kind of role- or at least this kind of role with Hardy and Pine- but she plays the role well enough. The problem is that there is no plot to speak of, very little action and precious few laughs. The film is beautifully lit but the editing is horrible. It reminds the viewer of Quantum of Solace with its action sequences that could be memorable except the viewer can't see what is happening. It doesn't look a cheap film and the cast and premise could have made for something memorable but how could the end result be so unsatisfying. Vapid, bland, predictable and empty its like overdosing on cake icing because there is no cake underneath. All the way through I couldn't help wonder how so much could have gone wrong until as the end credits rolled I saw it was directed by McG . Nothing more to be said.