Kenneth Turan Reviews 'The Bourne Legacy'

At the Los Angeles Times, "Review: 'The Bourne Legacy' lives up to its predecessors":

"There was never just one." That advertising tag line for "The Bourne Legacy"has an almost apologetic ring to it, as if making a Bourne film without Matt Damon — the star of the first three and the epitome of the empathetic killing machine that is Jason Bourne — was a brash and risky move.

As it turns out, no one needed to worry, because few films have less to apologize for than this one. Complex, unexpected and dazzling, alternating relentless tension with resonant emotional moments, this is an exemplary espionage thriller that has a strong sense of what it wants to accomplish and how best to get there. And it is impeccably cast, from stars Jeremy Renner, Rachel Weisz and Edward Norton on down.

Tony Gilroy, the man responsible for this accomplishment, is more than the director and co-writer of "Legacy." Though this is his first time behind the "Bourne" camera, he has written on all four pictures, and is in effect the keeper of the franchise flame. Gilroy knows the underpinnings of this world inside out and appreciates how essential it is to maintain and extend the house style of cool and credible intelligence that marked the previous films.

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