The Bourne Legacy (2012) or, Bourne 4: Hokum

11/27/2017

The Bourne Legacy (2012) or, Bourne 4: Hokum

♥

A dynamically designed poster for Tony Gilroy's The Bourne Legacy

A governmentally employed assassin, who had previously been much used by a cynical retired Air Force colonel, now gets hunted by him, as he gets in connection with a skilled chemical engineer.

Edward Norton (The Invention of Lying (2009)) is a dreary heavy as the commanding, tight-assed colonel, but also the more sympathetic parts played by Jeremy Renner (Ingenious (2009)), - who at one point in the film is battered something awful, - and Rachel Weisz (Death Machine (1994)) can't alter the fact that this the 4th film in the Bourne franchise, - for the first time without Matt Damon as the now absent Jason Bourne, - is cryptic bordering on incomprehensible.
Without any introduction to the film's new elements, such as color-coded 'chems', parts of its dialog come across as advanced theatrical exercises. This is fatal, and it makes The Bourne Legacy seem incredibly long. The impressive cast here are gathered for what is essentially an audience-hostile fart in a can.
The Bourne Legacy is written by twins Dan Gilroy (The Fall (2006)) and co-writer-director Tony Gilroy (Michael Clayton (2007)), based loosely on the Bourne book series by Robert Ludlum (The Chancellor Manuscript (1977)). It has two successful suspense scenes in it: One is a shooting scene that takes place in a laboratory with a mad Zeljko Ivanek (The West Wing (2003), TV-series), and the other is a high-speed car-motorcycle chase in Manila.

Related posts:

Tony Gilroy: Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016) or, Ginny's Fate: A Star Wars Calculation (co-writer)
2012 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED V]
2012 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED IV]

Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: 125 mil. $
Box office: 276.1 mil. $
= Flop
[The Bourne Legacy premiered 30 July (New York) and runs 135 minutes. Matt Damon would not do a Bourne film without Paul Greengrass, who directed the 2nd and 3rd film and decided against doing the 4th. Tony Gilroy had written scripts for the first 3 films and was promoted to also direct the film, which takes place partially during the events of the preceding The Bourne Ultimatum (2007). Shooting took place in the Philippines, including in Manila, in Seoul, South Korea, Alberta, Canada, New York and Chicago, Illinois from September 2011 - ?. The film opened #1 to a 38.1 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it stayed in the top 5 for another 3 weeks (#2-#2-#4) and grossed 113.2 mil. $ (41 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were the UK with 17.4 mil. $ (6.3 %) and China with 16 mil. $ (5.8 %). Roger Ebert gave the film a 2.5/4 star review, equal to two notches better than this review. Greengrass and Damon were lured back for a 5th Bourne movie, Jason Bourne (2016), which did not feature Renner and was a box office success. Tony Gilroy has stayed away from directing since the film; instead he has returned as producer of the great Nightcrawler (2014), consulting producer on House of Cards (2015-16) and co-writer of The Great Wall (2016) and Rogue One (2016). The Bourne Legacy is rotten at 56 % with a 5.9/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

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Donald Sutherland has passed away

Born in Canada, Sutherland battled polio as a child. His first credit was in Suspense (1963, TV-series) and his first film was The Castle of the Living Dead (1964). Later credits in his remarkable career include The Saint (1965-66), The Dirty Dozen (1967), M*A*S*H (1970), Kelly's Heroes (1970), Klute (1971), Don't Look Now (1973), 1900 (1976), Casanova (1976), The Eagle Has Landed (1976), Ordinary People (1980), A Dry White Season (1989), JFK (1991), Outbreak (1995), Fallen (1998), Virus (1999), Fierce People (2005), Pride & Prejudice (2005), Lord of War (2005), The Hunger Games (2012), The Undoing (2020, miniseries) and many more. He passed away at age 88. R.I.P.

Roger Corman has passed away

Born in Detroit, Michigan, Corman had a sprawling, intellectually hungry life as a youth and young man before arriving with his first film in 1955, Five Guns West. He would follow that with titles such as Apache Woman, It Conquered the World, Attack of the Crab Monsters, Teenage Cave Man, A Bucket of Blood, House of Usher, The Little Shop of Horrors, The Pit and the Pendulum, The Intruder, The Raven, The Terror, The Masque of Red Death, The Tomb of Ligeia, The Wild Angels, The Trip, Bloody Mama and many more. As a producer he was behind almost 500 films. Arguably among the most important filmmakers of the 20th century, Corman passed away at age 98. R.I.P.

William Friedkin has died

Born in Chicago, Friedkin accrued TV credits prior to his advance to the big screen as the director of Good TImes (1967), The Birthday Party (1968), The Night They Raided Minsky's (1968) and The Boys in the Band (1970) before his major breakthrough, The French Connection (1971), for which he won his only Oscar. He followed it up with the even bigger smash, The Exorcist (1973), arguably the best horror film of all time, for which he was Oscar-nominated. Later credits include Sorcerer (1977), Cruising (1980), To Live and Die in L.A. (1985), Rampage (1987), Rules of Engagement (2000), Killer Joe (2011) and The Devil and Father Amorth (2017, documentary). Friedkin passed away at age 87. R.I.P.

Louise Fletcher has passed away

Born in Alabama to deaf parents, Fletcher got her first credits in late-1950s TV-series.She took a 10 year-long sabbatical to devote her time to motherhood after the release of A Gathering of Eagles, but then came back and soon saw her career's most important part, as Nurse Ratched in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975), for which she won her sole Oscar. Later credits include Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977), The Lucky Star (1980), Brainstorm (1983), Two Moon Junction (1988), Cruel Intentions (1999), A Perfect Man (2013) and many more. Fletcher passed away at age 88. R.I.P.

Jean-Luc Godard has passed away

Born in Paris, France, Godard lived much of his life in Switzerland. He wrote for French film criticism magazine Cahiers du Cinema and became foundational for the New French Wave that inspired new waves in scores of other countries across the world with his Breathless (1960). Later credits include A Woman Is A Woman (1961), Vivre Sa Vie (1962), Le Petit Soldat (1962), Contempt (1963), Alphaville (1965), Pierrot le Fou (1965), 2 or 3 Things I Know About Her (1967), Weekend (1967), Every Man for Himself (1980), King Lear (1987), Century of Cinema (1995, documentary), Goodbye to Language (2014) and many more. Godard died of assisted suicide at age 91. R.I.P.

Wolfgang Petersen has died

James Caan has died

Caan was born the son of Jewish immigrants from Germany in New York. He got his start on TV in the early 1960s. His credits include El Dorado (1966), The Rain People (1969), Brian's Song (1971, TV movie), The Godfather (1972), - for which he earned his only Oscar nomination, - Slither (1973), The Gambler (1974), Funny Lady (1975), Rollerball (1975), Silent Movie (1976), Hide in Plain Sight (1980), - the only film he also directed, - Thief (1981), Misery (1990), Honeymoon in Vegas (1992), Bottle Rocket (1996), Eraser (1996), Dogville (2003), Elf (2003), Las Vegas (2003-07), Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (2009) and many more. Caan passed away at age 82. R.I.P.

Jean-Louis Trintignant has died

Born in Vaucluse, France, Trintignant's theatrical debut as an actor was in If All the Guys in the World... (1955). Later credits include ...And God Created Woman (1956), The Seven Deadly Sins (1961), Inferno (1964), A Man and A Woman (1966), My Love, My Love (1967), A Man to Kill (1967), The Great Silence (1968), Z (1969), The Assassination (1972), Three Colors: Red (1994), Amour (2012), Happy End (2017) and many more. He also wrote and directed two films in the 1970s. Trintignant passed away at age 91. R.I.P.

Ray Liotta has died

Adopted from an orphenage at a young age, Liotta got hooked on acting in high school. He had various TV credits in the late 1970s and early 80s, with his film debut in The Lonely Lady (1983). Later credits include Something Wild (1986), Field of Dreams (1989), Goodfellas (1990), Cop Land (1997), Hannibal (2001), Blow (2001), Narc (2002), John Q (2002), Identity (2003), Observe and Report (2009), Youth in Revolt (2009), The Details (2011), Killing THem Softly (2012), The Place Beyond the Pines (2012), Shades of Blue (2016-18), The Simpsons (2018, TV-series), Marriage Story (2019), The Many Saints of Newark (2021), Black Bird (2022, TV-series) and many more. Liotta passed away at age 67 in his sleep while on production in the Dominican Republic. R.I.P.

Philip Baker Hall has died

Born in Ohio, Hall didn't start acting until he was 30. His long list of credits include Zabriskie Point (1970), Miami Vice (1987, TV-series), Midnight Run (1988), Ghostbusters II (1989), Cheers (1993, TV-series), Hard Eight (1996), The Rock (1996), Air Force One (1997), Boogie Nights (1997), Seinfeld (1991-98), Rush Hour (1998), The Insider (1999), Magnolia (1999), The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999), Bruce Almighty (2003), Dogville (2003), The Zodiac (2005), Zodiac (2007), Curb Your Enthusiasm (2004-09), Mr. Popper's Penguins (2011), Modern Family (2011-12) and many more. Hall passed away at age 90. R.I.P.

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11/27/2017

The Bourne Legacy (2012) or, Bourne 4: Hokum

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