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The Bourne Legacy (film)
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Wikipedia article
'The Bourne Legacy' is a 2012 American action-thriller film directed by Tony Gilroy, and is the fourth installment in the series of films adapted from the 'Jason Bourne' novels originated by Robert Ludlum and continued by Eric Van Lustbader, being preceded by 'The Bourne Identity' (2002), 'The Bourne Supremacy' (2004), and 'The Bourne Ultimatum' (2007). The film centers on black ops agent Aaron Cross (portrayed by Jeremy Renner), an original character. In addition to Renner, the film stars Rachel Weisz and Edward Norton.
The titular character Jason Bourne does not appear in 'The Bourne Legacy', as actor Matt Damon chose not to return for the fourth film, due to Paul Greengrass not directing. Bourne is shown in pictures and mentioned by name several times throughout the film. Tony Gilroy, co-screenwriter of the first three films, sought to continue the story of the film series without changing its key events, and parts of 'The Bourne Legacy' take place at the same time as the previous film, 'The Bourne Ultimatum' (2007). Aaron Cross is a member of a black ops program called Operation Outcome whose subjects are genetically enhanced. He must run for his life once former CIA Treadstone agent Jason Bourne's actions lead to the public exposure of Operation Treadstone and its successor Operation Blackbriar.
Filming was primarily in New York City, with some scenes shot in the Philippines, South Korea, and Canada. Released on , 2012, the film received generally favorable reviews and grossed $276 million at the box office. It was followed in 2016 by 'Jason Bourne', with Damon reprising his role.
Plot
Six weeks after Jason Bourne's escape from Russia after his pursuit with Kirill, Operation Outcome agent Aaron Cross is assigned to Alaska for a training exercise. He is forced to traverse the rugged terrain to arrive at a remote cabin as punishment for skipping mandatory check-ins for four days. He elects to take a shortcut across a mountain pass to avoid a pack of wolves and arrives at the cabin two days early. The cabin is operated by Number Three, another Outcome agent who is also being punished. Cross lies and tells Number Three that he has lost his program medications, known as "chems", that all agents must take to keep their mental and physical enhancements.
Colonel Eric Byer is tasked with containing the fallout from Pam Landy's exposure of Operations Treadstone and Blackbriar. His team find a series of videos posted online that could lead investigators to Operation Outcome. Byer orders Operation Outcome to be completely shut down, with all of the agents and participating doctors killed.
Byer deploys a drone to eliminate Cross and Number Three in Alaska. The base cabin is destroyed, with Number Three killed but Cross is thrown clear of the blast and survives. He removes his tracking implant and forces a wolf to swallow it, tricking everyone into believing he was killed by the drone. Other Outcome agents are given poisonous yellow pills disguised as new chems by their handlers, which cause them to immediately die upon ingestion. At Sterisyn Morlanta, the pharmaceutical company supporting Outcome, researcher Dr. Donald Foite snaps and starts killing the other doctors working on Outcome. After being cornered by guards, Foite shoots himself, leaving Dr. Marta Shearing as the sole survivor.
Four D-trac assassins sent by Byer and disguised as federal agents visit Dr. Shearing at her home and attempt to murder her and make it look like a suicide. They are interrupted by Cross, who kills the entire team. Cross asks Dr. Shearing for chems but she doesn't have any. They pour kerosene everywhere and set her house on fire to cover their escape. During the car ride afterward Dr. Shearing tells Aaron that they used a virus to lock in his physical modifications, eliminating his need for chems. Cross still needs chems for the mental enhancements but there are none available. They agree on a plan to fly to the Philippines to obtain live virus to lock in his mental enhancements as well.
Cross and Dr. Shearing arrive in Manila and bluff their way into the factory. Dr. Shearing injects Cross with the live virus. Byer, having discovered Cross's trick, alerts security, but they escape the factory. Cross gets very ill, forcing Dr. Shearing to rent a nearby room for them to hide in. Byer orders an agent from the new program LARX to go to Manila and track them down. The next morning, police find where Cross and Dr. Shearing are and surround them. Dr. Shearing screams a warning to Cross, who escapes across the rooftops. After a lengthy chase through the streets of Manila, they lose the police and kill the LARX agent. Cross is shot in the battle and Dr. Shearing bribes a Filipino boatman to help them escape by giving him Cross' watch. Cross recovers from his wound at sea and uses maps to decide where he and Dr. Shearing should go next.
Back in New York, Blackbriar supervisor Noah Vosen lies to the Senate, stating that Blackbriar was created solely to track down Jason Bourne, and that Deputy Director Pamela Landy committed treason by assisting Bourne and releasing top secret Treadstone files to the press.
Cast
Production
Universal Pictures originally intended 'The Bourne Ultimatum' to be the final film in the series, but development of another film was under way by October 2008. George Nolfi, who co-wrote 'The Bourne Ultimatum', was to write the script of a fourth film, not to be based on any of the novels by Robert Ludlum. Joshua Zetumer had been hired to write a parallel scripta draft which could be combined with another (Nolfi's, in this instance)by August 2009 since Nolfi would be directing 'The Adjustment Bureau' that September. Matt Damon stated in November 2009 that no script had been approved and that he hoped that a film would begin shooting in mid-2011. The next month, he said that he would not do another Bourne film without Paul Greengrass, who announced in late November that he had decided not to return as director. In January 2010, Damon said that there would "probably be a prequel of some kind with another actor and another director before we do another one just because I think we're probably another five years away from doing it."
However, it was reported in June 2010 that Tony Gilroy, who co-wrote each of the three previous 'Bourne' films, would be writing a script with his brother, screenwriter Dan Gilroy, for a fourth 'Bourne' film to be released sometime in 2012. That October, Universal set the release date for 'The Bourne Legacy' for August 10, 2012, Tony Gilroy was confirmed as the director of the film, and it was also announced that Jason Bourne will not be appearing in 'The Bourne Legacy'.
Gilroy said he did not get involved with the project "until the rules were that Matt [Damon] was gone, Matt and Paul [Greengrass] were gone, there was no Jason Bourne. That was the given when I had the first conversation about this. So it was very important to me, extremely important to me, that everything that had happened before be well preserved and be enhanced if possible by what we're doing now." He also said, "you could never replace Matt [Damon] as Jason Bourne. This isn't James Bond. You can't do a prequel. You can't do any of those kinds of things, because there was never any cynicism attached to the franchise, and that was the one thing they had to hang on to."
Gilroy "never had any intention of ever coming back to this realm at allmuch less write it, much less direct it. Then I started a really casual conversation about what we could do in a post-Jason Bourne setting. I was only supposed to come in for two weeks, but the character we came up with, Aaron Cross, was so compelling." After watching 'The Bourne Ultimatum' again, Gilroy called his brother, screenwriter Dan Gilroy, and said, The only thing you could do is sort of pull back the curtain and say there's a much bigger conspiracy.' So we had to deal with what happened in 'Ultimatum' as the starting point of this film. 'Ultimatum' plays in the shadows of 'Legacy' for the first 15 minutesthey overlap."
In speaking about the film's storyline, Gilroy drew a distinction between the fictional programs in the 'Bourne' film series:
Although a large part of the film was set in and around Washington, DC, the real DC appears only in aerial establishing shots. Most of the film was shot over 12 weeks at the Kaufman Astoria Studios in Queens, New York, including all interior DC scenes.Universal Studios, 'The Bourne Legacy: Production Notes'. Retrieved September 9, 2012. The old house in Hudson, New York, used as Shearing's house was unable to accommodate the weight of equipment and crew, so it was used only for exterior shots, and all interior scenes were filmed on a Kaufman Astoria soundstage. The scenes set in the "SteriPacific" factory in Manila were actually filmed in the 'New York Times' printing plant in Queens.
in the Philippines served as a filming location, and in the film, was used as escape route from Manila.
Several scenes were shot overseas, mostly in Manila and in the Paradise bay of El Nido, Palawan, in the Philippines. Several train scenes at Garak Market station on Seoul Subway Line 3 and nearby areas in Seocho-daero 77-Gil (1308 Seocho 4-dong), Seocho-gu, and Gangnam-gu, Seoul, South Korea, were used in some scenes. The Kananaskis Country region of Alberta, Canada, was used for the scenes set in Alaska.
Gilroy said, "there are three deleted sceneswe just mixed them and color corrected them [...] but what I like about it is all three scenes happen in the movie. One of them's referred to and they're completely legitimate parts of our story, they absolutely happen in our film, we just didn't have time to show them to you so there's nothing off to the side. I think they'll be on the straight-up DVD."
The film portrays Cross and Shearing as travelling non-stop from New York JFK Airport to Manila on board a fictional American Airlines Boeing 747-400, a model of 747 that American Airlines has never operated. Further, no commercial airline operated nonstop passenger service from JFK to Manila until October 29, 2018. American Airlines was actively involved in the production of the film, and contributed its own airline employees and a Boeing 777-200 for the interior terminal and cabin shots at Terminal 8 of JFK International Airport. The airline also heavily co-marketed the film throughout post-production.
Release
'The Bourne Legacy' premiered in New York City on July 30, 2012. It had its Asian premiere at Resorts World Manila in Pasay, Metro Manila, on , before its release in North America on August 10.
Reception
Box office
In its opening weekend, 'The Bourne Legacy' grossed about $38.7 million in the United States and Canada and debuted at #1 of the box office charts, surpassing Universal's expectation of $35 million. It grossed $46.6 million worldwide in its first weekend. The film sold roughly 400,000 more tickets on its opening weekend than the first film in the series, 'The Bourne Identity'. Studio research reported that audiences were evenly mixed among the sexes. The film grossed $113.2 million in North America and $162.9 million in foreign countries, bringing the film's worldwide total to $276.1 million.Critical response
On Rotten Tomatoes the film holds an approval rating of 55% based on 233 reviews, with an average rating of 5.80/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "It isn't quite as compelling as the earlier trilogy, but 'The Bourne Legacy' proves the franchise has stories left to telland benefits from Jeremy Renner's magnetic work in the starring role." On Metacritic, the film has a score of 61 out of 100 based on 42 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B" on an A+ to F scale.Lisa Schwarzbaum of 'Entertainment Weekly' gave the film an A, commenting that "Gilroy, who as a screenwriter has shaped the movie saga from the beginning, trades the wired rhythms established in the past two episodes by Paul Greengrass for something more realistic and closer to the ground. The change is refreshing. Jason Bourne's legacy is in good hands." Roger Ebert of the 'Chicago Sun-Times' gave the film 2 stars out of 4, writing: "'The Bourne Legacy' is always gripping in the moment. The problem is in getting the moments to add up. I freely confess that for at least the first 30 minutes I had no clear idea of why anything was happening. The dialogue is concise, the cinematography is arresting and the plot is a murky muddle."
Peter Debruge of 'Variety' wrote that "the combination of Robert Elswit's elegant widescreen lensing and the measured editing by Tony Gilroy's brother John may be easier to absorb than Greengrass' hyperkinetic docu-based style, but the pic's convoluted script ensures that auds will emerge no less overwhelmed." Michael Atkinson of 'The Village Voice' also wrote a scathing review of the film, saying: "The 'Bourne' films have more than just overstayed their welcome and outlasted the Ludlum booksthey've been Van Halenized, with an abrupt change of frontman and a resulting dip in personality."
Kenneth Turan of the 'Los Angeles Times' gave the film a positive review, called the film "an exemplary espionage thriller that has a strong sense of what it wants to accomplish and how best to get there." He especially commended Gilroy's work on the film: "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." Todd McCarthy of 'The Hollywood Reporter' commented on his review that "the series' legacy is lessened by this capable but uninspired fourth episode."
Home media
'The Bourne Legacy' was released on DVD and Blu-ray on December 11, 2012, in the United States and Canada.Soundtrack
The soundtrack to 'The Bourne Legacy' as composed by James Newton Howard, unlike the previous films, which were composed by John Powell, was released digitally on , by Varse Sarabande Records.(, 2011). [http://filmmusicreporter.com/2011/11/14/james-newton-howard-to-score-the-bourne-legacy "James Newton Howard to Score 'The Bourne Legacy'"]. FilmMusicReporter.com. Retrieved , 2012.(, 2012). [http://filmmusicreporter.com/2012/06/12/varese-sarabande-to-release-the-bourne-legacy-soundtrack-2 "Varese Sarabande to Release 'The Bourne Legacy' Soundtrack"]. A new version of Moby's "Extreme Ways", entitled "Extreme Ways (Bourne's Legacy)", was recorded for the film's end credits.
Sequel
From 2012 onward, various additional Bourne film plans have been made and changed, with some intended to be 'Legacy' sequels starring Renner, and others sequels to the original trilogy and starring Damon. The latter eventually saw release as 'Jason Bourne' in 2016. As of 2017, a second Renner film was considered unlikely, though such a work had been in pre-production stages since 2013. The shifting course of these projects has been somewhat complex.
In September 2012, Universal Pictures had stated at a media conference in Los Angeles that they were likely to release more Bourne films, despite 'Legacy' being given mixed reviews by critics. In a December 2012 interview, Matt Damon revealed that he and Paul Greengrass were interested in returning for the next film as Jason Bourne and the director, respectively.
Damon is reported saying that although he had not seen 'Legacy', he intends to do so because not only is he curious to see it, but also because he has enjoyed Jeremy Renner in everything he has seen him in. However, in June 2014, executive producer Frank Marshall said that Matt Damon would not be returning to the big screen for the next Bourne film, contrary to earlier statements made by Damon and rumors surrounding his return to the franchise. On February 21, 2013, it was confirmed that a 'Bourne 5' was being planned.
On August 2, 2013, Universal hired Tony Gilroy and Anthony Peckham to write the film's script with Renner returning as Cross. On November 8, 2013, the 'Fast & Furious' film series director Justin Lin was announced to direct the film.
On December 2, 2013, it was announced that Renner would return as Cross, Lin would both direct and produce from his production company Perfect Storm Entertainment, and the studio announced an August 14, 2015 release date. On May 9, 2014, Andrew Baldwin was brought in to re-write the film.
On June 18, 2014, the studio pushed back the film from August 14, 2015, to July 15, 2016. In November 2014, the 'Bourne Legacy' sequel was put on hold in favor of 'Jason Bourne', for which Damon confirmed that he and Greengrass would return.
On January 6, 2015, the studio pushed back the release date to July 29, 2016. The first trailer for the film was aired on February 7, 2016, during Super Bowl 50, which also revealed its title as 'Jason Bourne'. The film premiered
July 11, 2016, in the UK and July 29, 2016, in the United States, to mixed reviews.
Producer Frank Marshall said Universal Pictures is hoping to make a sixth film in the franchise, a direct sequel to 'Jason Bourne'. He stated that a sequel to 'The Bourne Legacy' featuring Renner's Cross is unlikely, although he did not explicitly rule it out. However, in March 2017, Matt Damon cast doubt upon any sequel, hinting that people "might be done" with the character.
See also
* List of films featuring surveillance
* List of films featuring drones
References
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