Long action, little character. This fourth installment to the Bourne franchise has some interesting ideas, but not enough time to flesh them out, concentrating on only the actions and not allowing the audience to actually care about what happens to the characters.
Synopsis: Aaron Cross (Jeremy Renner) is betrayed by his operation and goes on a mission to find out why. Dr. Marta Shearing (Rachel Weisz) worked with operatives like Cross before the government shut down the operation and attempted to kill all the scientists. Cross and Shearing run from the government and must figure out how to survive.
Jeremy Renner - better known as Hawkeye from The Avengers - as Aaron Cross is no Jason Bourne. Unlike Bourne, Cross must take pills to enhance his intelligence, strength, speed, agility, and stamina. While Renner does an excellent job during the intense scenes, his softer scenes (which are extremely few) feel awkward and a bit bumbling. Cross kicks butt as easily as Bourne, although there's much more running involved than actual hand-to-hand combat. Renner should probably stick with Hawkeye.
Rachel Weisz as Dr. Marta Shearing is a FLI (Forced Love Interest). This is her purpose for the most part. Of course, being Cross' kind-of-but-not-really doctor/scientist does help in the long run as she knows how to get him to places he needs to go so he doesn't go into crazy withdrawal from the pills he's been taking.
Edward Norton is the... antagonist? He's a government official who's name the audience probably hears, but will never remember. He does stuff and tries to clean up his mistakes. Edward Norton plays his character so similar to other characters he's played that one might believe he's just acting like Edward Norton.
There were very few other big name actors of note who had big parts in the film. The biggest annoyance was that the motorcycle chase seemed to last forever! Then the movie just stops abruptly without resolution (probably due to a promised sequel). If one looks at the Jason Bourne series, all three of them are complete movies with a beginning, middle, and end - someone could watch the third without needing to see the first or the second. It seems that this will not be so with Aaron Cross' run as secret rogue agent man.
The coolest thing, though, is how they treat Jason Bourne. He does not appear in this movie, but he has a constant presence - especially at the beginning - in the film. He is mentioned, pictures of him are shown in files and on television. This looming presence at least lets the audience know that this is the same world as the original Jason Bourne.
Despite all of this criticism, a Bourne lover will probably like or maybe hate this movie, and it really is a good, brainless action flick.
Grade: 3/5
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