GIVEN that Matt Damon and director Paul Greengrass decided to bid adieu to the massively successful Bourne franchise after The Bourne Ultimatum, the question on everyone’s lips was could the espionage series continue?
The money men, they said yes, and so here we have The Bourne Legacy, directed by Tony Gilroy (who wrote the three previous Bourne films and co-wrote this with his brother Dan).
Damon has been replaced by Jeremy Renner, the two-time Oscar nominee for The Hurt Locker and The Town, in the lead role.
Only he doesn’t play Jason Bourne – as Renner has been very keen to stress from the moment his name was attached, despite the rest of the script being shrouded in secrecy.
Renner plays super-soldier/spy Aaron Cross, who unlike Bourne is fully aware of who he is and what’s required of him.
We meet him as he embarks on a solo training mission in the snowy Alaskan wilderness and it’s plain to see Cross can shoot, jump and climb as good as Bourne.
But to be able to do this he has to pop a couple of pills a day, one to enhance his brain, and another his brawn.
In an inspired move, the beginning of the film overlaps with the final chapter of The Bourne Ultimatum and the moment Bourne goes public about the government’s intelligence programmes.
At this point, Cross’s own clandestine organisation, known as Outcome, is deemed ‘infected’ and everybody associated with it has to be extinguished.
Most of them successfully are, besides Cross and Dr Marta Shearing (Rachel Weisz), a scientist who was involved with the development of the drugs.
With Cross requiring more ‘meds’ and Shearing needing his help to stay alive, the pair embark on a global adventure in an attempt to outrun the bad guys.
All the while, the audience becomes privy to the fact Bourne’s world was only a small part of a much larger, darker universe. At its helm is Col Eric Byer (Edward Norton), the ethically questionably man in charge of the entire black ops organisation.
Despite little back story, Renner gives a strong performance and is a competent, if less charismatic, successor to Damon. But unfortunately there’s little chemistry between him and his leading lady, to the point that you’re left feeling indifferent as to whether they make it to the credits.
Norton is reassuringly confident in a complex role and that’s despite being responsible for much of the film’s exposition in dialogue so dense and quickly-fired, it will take numerous viewings to fully appreciate what on earth’s going on.
The film retains the sharp editing, impressive stunts and general all-round hoopla that we’ve come to expect from the franchise, but at times you find your mind wandering.
There’s a sense of having seen it all before – and seen it done better.
Even the piece-de-resistance of stunts, a motorcycle chase sequence through the thrumming streets of Manila, is frankly a tad dull, especially as it lasts about 15 minutes too long.
What follows feels like an ‘add-on’ scene that, as picturesque as it is, feels unnecessary and flat. The only apparent purpose it serves is to set up a sequel.
Whether that happens will depend on the audience and if they want to invest anymore because while The Bourne Legacy may look familiar, it’s that familiarity which might breed contempt.
STAR RATING: ***
The Expendables 2 (15)
Earlier this year the New York Times Magazine declared the all-American action hero an ‘endangered species’ but Sylvester Stallone and his posse of Eighties action stars are back to prove otherwise.
The Expendables 2 comes off the success of the first instalment back in 2010, which Stallone wrote and directed.
This time the man formerly known as Rocky has decided to hand over directing duties to Simon West of Con Air and Lara Croft: Tomb Raider fame.
It’s a rip-roaring, machine gun-toting, cameo-fuelled spectacle that’s biggest challenge for the cinema-goer is clocking up the famous quotes that get a nod.
Take Schwarzenegger and his famous Terminator line: “I’ll be back”. In this he says: “I’m back”, “I will be back”, “I’m sure to be back soon”.
At least that’s what it feels like. You get the picture.
But The Expendables 2 is a lot of fun – and pretty camp in its own violent way.
Stallone returns as Barney Ross, the goateed head of a band of mercenary veterans that includes Gunner Jensen (Dolph Lundgren), Lee Christmas (Jason Statham), Yin Yang (Jet Li) and newest members Billy the Kid (Liam Hemsworth) and Maggie (Yu Nan).
They’re brought together when Mr Church (Bruce Willis) enlists them for a simple job but things go awry and they are compelled to seek revenge.
To be honest, who knows what’s going on with the plot? It’s something to do with plutonium but plot isn’t the main priority in this old-school romp.
It’s really just an excuse to fit as many gun fights and explosions in as possible.
Fans of the Eighties action movies are going to love it as star after star make an appearance.
There’s also a hand-to-hand fight between Stallone and Jean-Claude Van Damme, who revels as the film’s arch villain Jean Vilain, while Schwarzenegger and Willis zoom around in a Smart car and martial arts legend Chuck Norris turns up for inexplicable reasons.
If you’re looking for the meaning of life, then The Expendables 2 won’t be for you, but then it never promises to offer anything other than bad-ass action. And there’s plenty of that.
STAR RATING: ***
