The Bourne Legacy

Directed by Tony Gilroy

(PG-13)

**

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The big question about the fourth installment of the Bourne franchise was whether it could survive without Matt Damon, said Joe Morgenstern in The Wall Street Journal. The answer is yes, as Damon’s replacement, Jeremy Renner (The Hurt Locker), proves to be “a star worthy of the term.” Renner is “interestingly inward” as a spy on the run after officials with the government program that genetically enhanced him decide they want him dead. Yet there’s “so little to the movie” beneath its “cluttered, busy surface,” said Rene Rodriguez in The Miami Herald. As a research scientist who spends most of the movie at Renner’s side, Rachel Weisz “does more with the damsel-in-distress part than you might have thought possible.” But even her engaging turn doesn’t dispel the viewer’s sense that no big surprises can happen in a movie this formulaic. Except for an overlong final chase scene, this well-shot and well-edited thriller is always “gripping in the moment,” said Roger Ebert in the Chicago Sun-Times. “The problem is in getting the moments to add up.” Though the cinematography is arresting, “the plot is a murky muddle.”