[FBSDeMorgan]

I can only assume that The Bourne Legacy is the first in what is hoped to be another trilogy, but on the evidence of this first entry I’m not sure it really deserves to be. I should point out that I didn’t really care much for the original (Damon not Chamberlain) upon first viewing, I seem to recall picking it up on DVD whereon it started to grow on me, so it may well be the case with this one.

One of the other key differences is that Aaron Cross knows exactly who he is right from the outset so instead of trying to find out his identity he’s trying to find out why he, and his compatriots, are being wiped out.

It appears to have fewer ‘action’ set pieces and none of them compare, in my opinion, to the sequences from any of the preceding trilogy (with the singular exception of a rather spectacular motorcycle accident in the finale). And how many more sequences do we need to see of shadowy government types banging on about an endless list of ‘programmes’ in inadequately lit rooms? Or people in dimly lit rooms filled with computer screens screaming at their subordinates that they ‘need to do better’?

At the end of the day it’s not a bad film, it’s just that it doesn’t really have a point and I can’t see how it can go anywhere. It finishes with Cross and the doctor sailing off into ‘anonymity’ much like the original film did with its two leads; where can it go if not following the template of the original sequel? I can’t help but think we’ll be introduced to yet another series of ‘programmes’ and yet another new set of shadowy government types who will hold meetings in rooms with the dimmer switch turned all the way down to the ‘conspiracy’ setting who, in turn, will again bark at their underlings in even darker rooms filled with walls of computer screens showing CCTV footage of Cross....and so it continues.

Anyhoo...good if a little perfunctory.