Movie review: Bourne Legacy

The last movie in the Bourne Identity series kind of tied up Jason Bourne's story. But the series was wildly popular so the Powers That Be decided to try something different --continue the series without its star by saying that the conspiracy was more widespread than previously thought. Enter Jeremy Renner as the new man that everyone is trying to kill. I'll start by saying that I liked the movie. Jeremy Renner and Rachel Weisz (as one of the scientists working on the new program without really knowing what she's working on) were both good. There were a lot of cool location shots and an extended chase scene through the streets of Manila. But I wish I had seen the last Bourne movie more recently so I could better remember the details of the conspiracy--and who all the players were because many of them popped up in cameo roles and I wasn't quite sure who they all were. My other quibble is that this movie is a little light on plot. Hopefully the next installment will have a more complex storyline than "let's shut down the program and kill all the Bourne clones." (And truthfully, one of my friends had to explain to me why they had to shut down the program in the first place. There was a lot going on at the beginning of the movie, as the action kept bouncing from location to location, and I had missed the significance of one comment about a reporter.)If you liked the rest of the Bourne movies, you'll probably be happy that they found a viable way to continue the series.