Remember Jason Bourne, the man who couldn't remember who he was? His story continues in The Bourne Legacy, the fourth movie in the spy thriller series created by Robert Ludlum. This new action/adventure stars actor Jeremy Renner as Aaron Cross, a CIA operative working for a black ops program called Operation Outcome.
If you haven't watched the other films in the series (The Bourne Identity, The Bourne Supremacy, and The Bourne Ultimatum), then the beginning of the movie may be a bit confusing. Briefly, agents must take "chems" to maintain their enhanced abilities: green pills to increase physical ability and blue pills to increase intelligence. Once enhanced, the agents are programmed to be highly-trained government assassins.
At the end of The Bourne Ultimatum, agent Jason Bourne went rogue, determined to expose black ops programs Operation Blackbriar and the Treadstone Project. All the major power players, including CIA Director Ezra Kramer (Scott Glenn) are now scrambling to cover their tracks. Enter Eric Byer (Edward Norton), a retired USAF Colonel, to the rescue. Byer's plan? Eliminate loose ends - all of them!
Outcome agents.
Outcome scientists.
And anyone else who gets in the way.
Agent Cross narrowly escapes execution and returns to save Dr. Marta Schearing (Rachel Weisz), the scientist who conducted testing on him.
Since this was the fourth installment, I thought the story might be somewhat predictable, but there were enough plot twists in Legacy. Of course, there are plenty of exciting action sequences and brilliant stuntwork to keep you on the edge of your seat, especially the chase scenes that take place in Manila, the Phillippines. Matt Damon never appears in the movie; only a photo of Jason Bourne is shown. But Renner, who also appeared in the superhero movie The Avengers as Hawkeye (see link below), assumes the Bourne role vacated by Damon and performs heroically as a secret agent on the run for his life. A must-see for action movie fans!
Cast of The Bourne Legacy
Jeremy Renner as agent Aaron Cross
Rachel Weisz as Dr. Marta Shearing
Edward Norton as Ret. Col. Eric Beyer
Stacy Keach as Ret. Adm. Mark Turso
Scott Glenn as Ezra Kramer
Joan Allen as Pamela Lundy
Check out another great spy movie starring a female lead, Angelina Jolie in Salt (see link to review below).