Variety
An overlong sequel that features too little action and an unnecessarily complicated plot.
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The Bourne Legacy
Jeremy Renner (The Avengers) stars as a new CIA super-agent set in author Robert Ludlum’s Bourne universe, placed in a life-or-death situation triggered by the events of the first three films.
Retracing the time-frame when Jason Bourne closes in on his identity in New York, a division of the US Secret Service simultaneously decides to tidy up loose ends. But experimental operative Aaron Cross (Renner) isn't willing to be discarded.
Also stars Rachel Weisz and Edward Norton. This is an original story, expanding on Ludlum's novels, written and directed by Oscar-nominee Tony Gilroy (Michael Clayton), screenwriter of all three prior Bourne films.
Less2012Rating: M, for violence and action sequences135 minsUSA
Action
- Director:
- Tony Gilroy ('Michael Clayton', 'Duplicity')
- Writer:
- Tony GilroyDan Gilroy
- Cast:
- Jeremy RennerEdward NortonRachel WeiszJoan AllenOscar Isaac
The Bourne Legacy | Reviews
55%233 reviewsRotten Tomatoes® Score
All reviews on Rotten Tomatoes
Total Film
Assured if not inspired, Legacy keeps the Bourne engine ticking over without reaching top gear. The action's accomplished and Renner's fine. Without Matt Damon, however, it feels like a placeholder.
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Time Out
Renner and scientist Rachel Weisz are sympathetic enough (although lacking in Matt Damon's all-American approachability), and the movie flies along briskly.
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The Washington Post
With The Bourne Legacy, Gilroy has brought characteristic taste and skill to a nearly impossible task: embracing the past without completely erasing it, thereby creating an invitingly complicated and open-ended future.
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The New York Times
By the time Rachel Weisz, as a scientist called Dr. Marta Shearing, showed up in a lab coat, I stopped trying to parse every plot twist and just went with the action flow.
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The Guardian
Jeremy Renner out-toughs Matt Damon in the fourth Bourne installment. But is the franchise already outmoded?
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Rolling Stone
Gilroy stages two riveting shootouts involving Marta at work and home. And there's a killer chase scene in Manila as the bad guys try to knock Aaron and Marta off their speeding motorcycle. It's all sound and fury signifying nothing except a desperate need to feed a franchise.
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Roger Ebert
The Bourne Legacy is always gripping in the moment. The problem is in getting the moments to add up.
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Los Angeles Times
Complex, unexpected and dazzling, alternating relentless tension with resonant emotional moments.
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Hollywood Reporter
The visceral excitement is muffled by familiarity, an insufficiently conceived lead character and the sheer weight of backstory and multiple layers of deception.
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Empire Magazine
As earnestly as they have tried to continue the formerly excellent spy series, everything Gilroy and crew concoct only serves to mock the excellence and passion with which Greengrass delivered his films.
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A.V. Club
Gilroy does the unforgivable by turning out a lean thriller at a fatty 135 minutes, mainly by making the conspiracy plot far more complicated than it needs to be.
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The Bourne Legacy | Release Details
The Bourne Legacy is available to stream in Australia now on Stan and Netflix and Google Play and Apple TV and Foxtel and Binge and Prime Video Store.