The Bourne Legacy

Last year, when I learned that a new Bourne movie was coming out but Matt Damon was no longer the lead role, I didn't really care much for it.  But eventually, I wanted to watch the movie because it was shot in Manila, capital of the Philippines.  On the day it was released, I checked out rottentomatoes.com to see if it fared well with them.  It got a rating of 55%, not a really rotten tomato but not a red juicy one either.  It means that this movie seemed mediocre at best.

I just got to watch the movie today, more than a couple weeks since it was released.  For me, at least, it didn't disappoint up until the end when the conclusion of the film just came crashing like a sack of potatoes without warning.  I understand that they have to leave the movie hanging to keep the audiences expecting a sequel, but I really did wanted to have them pen a better ending. The rest of the film, though, was fast-paced, well shot and has gotten its act together so I highly recommend it.  

The new lead roles played by Jeremy Renner and Rachel Weisz were played very well.  It wasn't flawless but they did very well.  They also had the chemistry to match it with.  I did not understand why some critics say that their relationship was not established well in the movie.  I think they were able to develop the relationship at a good pace and did not seem contrived at all.

My main concern about the movie is that the plot is neither cohesive nor is it novel.  It almost resembled the first three Bourne movies without a new twist into it.  In the former movies, the CIA went after the tagged-rogue agent Jason Bourne and eliminate him to shut Operation Treadstone down.  Jason Bourne escaped and caused collateral damage in his path to save himself, his lover/wife and fight back against the agency he formerly worked for while discovering his identity and trying to stay very low profile to keep the agency off his back.  In this new movie, all Bourne-like operatives have to be eliminated inorder for a new set of Bourne-like-without-the-emotional-connection-aka-drama operatives could be set in place.  Renner, of course, survives the assassination attempt, was able to discover that he had his genes mutated by a virus to have permanent physical enhancement (increased strength, reflexes etc) and with the help of Weisz, travel to Manila to have his genes mutated again-- this time to have permanent neurological enhancement ( increase nerve regeneration, sensation etc).  Now, the CIA is tracking them down, wanting to kill them but because they are the stars of the film and there is a need for a sequel (with sarcastic rolling of the eyeballs), they manage to get out of it all, kill the lone Bourne-like-without-the-drama operative and in the end were sailing smooth along the beautiful lagoons of the Hundred Islands (this I am not sure of).  ---okay, just now I've been told it is El Nido, Palawan :-)

In order to keep the movie sequel interesting, Renner should have a real meeting or even a collaboration with  the real Bourne, Matt Damon in the movie.  They called it the Bourne Legacy, but Damon didn't even make a cameo appearance in the film.  I don't think the franchise will survive without Matt Damon, the face of the Bourne franchise, in the film at all.  

The shots taken in Manila was surprisingly very good.  It really caught me off guard.  I was expecting a less than savory portrayal of the Philippines as a third world country.  The film, however, managed to showcase a picture of what Manila and the entire Philippines is all about.  It is about a nation who is rising from the clasp of poverty and is getting ready to take center stage as a booming economy that could no longer be taken for granted.  The film showed the high rise buildings along with the simple, old, tin-roofed apartments and they even have a shot of Renner losing his footing on one of those roofs.  (I was wondering at first how Renner could have run on top of those tin roofs without having one of those roofs crash down.  Well, one of them eventually did.)  The movie also showcased the people traffic along the overpasses of EDSA, which was also accurate especially if you pass there at rush hours.  The portrayal of a woman screaming magnanakaw (thief) when she discovered a stranger (Weisz) in her home is also accurate.  The same could not be said of the ensuing events that followed.  In reality, the policemen will be last to answer the call for magnanakaw and God-forbid by the time they get there, Weisz would've been beaten black and blue by the townspeople. Hahaha! It was good though, how the movie portrayed how industrious our factory workers are and even that pharmacy lady who opted to give out medicine for free to the foreigner.  That would surely have escaped the eyes of all movie-goers except the real Filipino patriots like muah.

All in all, I would rate the movie a 7.5/10.  The storyline was legit and I don't think the movie would have gotten fairly harsh criticism if only it wasn't compared to the original Bourne trilogy which is a classic.  It's like  nothing was ever as good or nearly as good as The Godfather trilogy until GoodFellas came along (and perhaps none since).  Furthermore, it was able to project my country in a new light, something full of hope this time not of despair.  It featured the Philippines and its people with vibrancy and dynamism, an economy that is growing and healthy and it did showcase the beauty of its islands for which it should be known for as it should be.  Kudos to the cast and crew of the film and I am looking forward to its next installment.

(P.S.  for the Pinoys who were in the film [I googled them, of course] we have Antonette Garcia as the landlady, John Arcilla as the security guard and comedian Lou Veloso as the fisherman/owner of the fishing boat).