The Bourne Legacy (2012, USA)

There’s a lot that seems right on the surface of Tony Gilroy’s The Bourne Legacy – a capable leading man in Jeremy Renner, a smart female one in Rachel Weiss, a bloodless villain in Edward Norton, good use of locations and some early action sequences with snap – but it’s all in the service of very little. In a fatal misstep, Gilroy layers elements of The Bourne Ultimatum into Legacy at the outset and the end, trying to anchor his film with the structure and impact of the preceding one. The device falls flat, underlining Legacy’s inability to stand on its own. Smart casting and flashy Manila motorcycle chases can’t compensate for a film without a plot.