By Chase Bayless ’15
THE ROUNDUP

“The Bourne Legacy” starring Jeremy Renner and Rachael Weisz

7.5 out of 10

In the fourth installment of the “Bourne” series, Jeremy Renner takes the lead role as Aaron Cross, a special agent from the same program that created Jason Bourne.

The face of the Bourne movies, Matt Damon, also known as Jason Bourne, is missed in this newest sequel.

In the previous movies that started in 2002, Jason Bourne is a CIA special agent operative who seems unstoppable.

Aaron Cross is another highly trained agent from the same program as Bourne.

The program they are from has modified them mentally and physically, making them stronger and smarter than everyone else.

Now that same program is trying to kill everyone who is or had been involved in it.

That includes Bourne, Cross and the others like them along with anyone else who had knowledge of what they were doing.

Aaron escapes the assassination attempt and tricks them into thinking he is dead.

The acting of this new arrival, Jeremy Renner, along with Rachael Weisz and Edward Norton is outstanding.

The plot however, uncharacteristically lacks the action audiences are used to seeing from the other Bourne movies.

In fact there are only a few action scenes throughout the whole 135 minutes.

The scenes themselves are riveting and realistic though they lacked in quantity.

This is a movie worth seeing, but it is very different in comparison to its sequels.

You will not get the action you are used to seeing and the plot doesn’t relate well to the other movies.

It that sense this movie is able to stand alone without the previous three installments.

Renner largely succeeded in the seemingly impossible task of replacing Matt Damon, but it was the script that brought them down.

“The Bourne Legacy” is an above average action movie that will always have the shadow of its preceding movies lingering over it.