The Bourne Legacy

This is an open letter to all the people I’ve seen on twitter moaning about the new trailer for the next film in the Bourne franchise, ‘The Bourne Legacy’. (see below)

I am a huge fan of all three existing Bourne films, they made action cool again, they had brains and they made Bond better (in divided opinion). Being a fan, I like many, many others were interested to hear that a possible follow up was on the cards, but dismayed to hear that Matt Damon would refuse to take part unless director Paul Greengrass also returned. Paul Greengrass had no such wish. This didn’t sound good, so I was hoping for the project to be dismissed. Obviously, that was never going to happen, and plans continued without the Greengrass/Damon pairing. 

Well, this made me glum. I was worried we’d have another Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Flop on our hands.

The next thing i heard was that Jeremy Renner was to take Damon’s place. This was a bit double edged, as although i was derisive of the project as a whole, I do really love Renner and his work. However, pulling in Renner wasn’t enough. I have never been able to enjoy different actors playing the same part in the same franchise. It’s a pet niggle of mine. Even the James Bond series, where it’s obviously necessary (although Sean Connery could of just kept going?) slightly irks me.

My point is, Matt Damon is Jason Bourne. Renner, although he could be considered a better actor than Damon, is not Jason Bourne. Therefore, the idea is still a waste of time.

However, only recently was it revealed to me, that Renner will not be playing the part of Bourne, but a completely new agent, not stepping on any of Damon’s toes. Obviously the first question that came to mind was, ‘then how is it a Bourne film?’. Well, the answer lies in the title, ‘The Bourne Legacy’. This is a completely new film, but set in the same world as Bourne, and the legacy he left behind. Ok, I’m convinced. 

Now for the trailer, and the moans it has caused. 

Firstly, all those who hadn’t heard of the Bourne follow-up instantly jumped up with “But there’s no Matt Damon”. No there isn’t, but that’s ok, neither is his character. Jeremy Renner will more than make up for his absence, but the men in charge have decided to spoil us anyway and have thrown in Tyler Durden himself, Ed Norton, for good measure.

We also get a glimpse of former Bourne alumni, most looking likely to be flashbacks. Albert Finney however, can be seen face to face with Renner, returning as Dr. Albert Hirsch. This will tie in with the other films well, as a completely new cast would make it difficult to link all four together. We also get a nice nod to the film’s predecessor ‘The Bourne Ultimatum’ with a repeat of that chilling line;

“Will you give yourself to this programme?”

The very same question asked of Damon’s character. The trailer then goes on to give us some very teasing lines in regard to the film we’ve yet to see, such as;

“Jason Bourne was the tip of the iceberg.”

and,

“He’s Treadstone without the inconsistency.”

Well, i like the ambition, subtly putting it to viewers that this film is not Bourne, but better than Bourne. The jury will be out on that one until 17th August (U.K.), but I, for one, am impressed with this trailer.

It’s the perfect teaser. Giving lots of clues, references for fans and snippets of set-up, without revealing ANY of the plot. I just hope it’s got one.

Oh, and if anyone moans that it won’t be headed up by the same director? Neither were ‘Identity’ and the two sequels. As long as they follow the same style (which looks to have happened), it should turn out really good.

I’ve written about 3x as much as I intended. I hope getting carried away shows how excited this trailer has got me, especially considering my consistent hatred of ‘the-4th-in-the-trilogy’ phenomenon. 

Here’s the trailer;