Guest Review : Bourne Legacy (non-3D)

"Bourne Legacy", the forth installment of the Bourne franchise, same director (Tony Gilroy) different cast (Jeremy Renner instead of Matt Damon; Aaron Cross instead of Jason Bourne). So, this is one of those movie without the titular character, Jason Bourne in this case. 

As usual, my friend Ben has kind enough to provide his take on this Bourne movie that without Bourne. Check out his casual, frank and detailed review below.

Oh ya, before the review, maybe you would like to take a look on the trailer of Bourne Legacy and the previous installments below:

The Bourne Ultimatum (2007):

The Bourne Supremacy (2004):

The Bourne Identity (2002):

Ben's Review on "The Bourne Legacy":

"WHAT? A bourne movie without Jason Bourne?" That's the 1st impression everyone had when we saw the trailer. So did Jeremy Renner fill in the big shoes that Matt Damon left? 

Sadly no. Though not really fault of his. The Bourne Trilogy wrapped the stories nicely with little room to maneuver, the greed of men prompted the studio to do 4th movie and the writer had to spin another un-related program to justify this movie existence, hence the hard sell of "There was never One" 

This kinda made the movie rather redundant, and it didn't help that the 1st half was boringly complex. It was only after the 2nd half, that I could piece the information to form what happen in the 1st half, not a good way to introduce a new character for a old franchise. I would have think a better way is to re-tell the Bourne project but this movie required a good understanding on what happened during the 2nd and 3rd Bourne movies, which was not an easy feat considering it was almost 5 years ago when the 3rd movie was released.

The action picked up at the 2nd half, which was a little too late for the average summer action movie goers. With the good on-screen chemistry between Jeremy and Rachel, it was a shame that the story felt flat on them.

Looking at the underdevelopment of the villains (yes Edward Norton was largely unused), there should be a sequel in the making. Who knows, if Matt Damon needs $, we will see his Jason Bourne VS Jeremy Renner in the next Bourne movie. 

Cheers!

Weekly Box Office Movies in US, Singapore and Malaysia (#19-20120812)

Here are the TOP 5 Movies for the week ending 12nd Aug 2012 (Sun).

SPECIAL NOTE : The Dark Knight Rises finally succumbed the top spot to the new comer, The Bourne Legacy (by Jeremy Renner, aka the Hawkeye in The Avengers). The other new releases, The Campaign, took the second place and Hope Springs took the fourth place. 

USA: 

1. The Bourne Legacy (New)

2. The Campaign (New)

3. The Dark Knight Rises

4. Hope Springs (New)

5. Diary Of Wimpy Kid - Dog Days

  SINGAPORE:

1. The Bourne Legacy (New)

2. Brave (New)

3. Total Recall 

4. The Dark Knight Rises

5. Magic Mike (New)

MALAYSIA:

1. Total Recall

2. Step Up Revolution

3. The Bourne Legacy (New)

4. The Dark Knight Rises

5. The Three Stooges (New)

Cheers!