Partner and I finally saw “The Bourne Legacy” last weekend.
First of all, there was this Jeremy Renner fellow, who has interesting eyes and a nice face and a very neato body. He’s Aaron Cross, a supersoldier / agent who’s caught in an elaborate doublecross / triplecross scheme, and who fights back.
Like so many modern action/adventures, it’s an extended chase scene. It is, however, an exceptionally well-done extended chase scene. It has the usual parkour stuff, but also mopeds and motorcycles and cars. Never for a moment do you lose focus, or forget the goal.
The thing that surprised me, however, is the cinematography.
There are a couple of scenes, in among the frantic chases, that are beautifully dreamlike:
- An opening sequence in the mountains of Alaska, including a scene with Renner diving (mostly naked) in a freezing river in front of a waterfall, like every Hawaiian idyll you’ve ever seen, but at forty degrees below;
- A violent shootout in a remote abandoned house, all white wood and long staircase and peaceful autumn foliage outside, that feels like something out of “Inception”;
- A panic in a Manila drug factory, with hundreds of workers in pink smocks and pink hairnets running for the exits;
- Manila itself, a Third World dreamscape of alleyways and broken rooftops and smoggy skylines;
- An Elysian archipelago of tropical islands, and a small boat running between them.
The supporting cast (Scott Glenn, Ed Norton, Joan Allen, Albert Finney, Stacy Keach) could have been replaced with nobodies, or cardboard cutouts. The movie’s all about Jeremy and his traveling companion / hostage / girlfriend, Rachel Weisz. You know it’s going to turn out okay for them (until the sequel, anyway).
Partner and I highly recommend this picture.
And we’re deeply committed to the sequel.
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