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I watched The Bourne Legacy this afternoon. It was excellent.
What was not excellent was the woman sitting three seats away who was asking those annoying older-woman questions. "Who did that? Was it him?" etc and then laughing way too loudly at the quippy lines. I ended up moving because there was not way I was letting that kind of shit distract me from Jeremy Renner.
The writers said that they approached this movie like a math problem; figuring out what story they could tell that would make sense, fit in their universe, and be interesting. They did a great job. In one way this is a very small story - the protagonists are basically focused on surviving – but I think that really worked, and managed to open up this universe for other stories without going to a 'conspiracy inside a conspiracy inside an enigma' place. Everyone's choices made sense and we got a strong sense of who they were.
I thought The Bourne Legacy actually did particularly well by Marta: The Girl in action movies is often a terribly written role (remember how Jason's girlfriend's main purpose was to die?)
First off, let me take a moment for a slow clap because of the fact that Marta was not seen as morally pure by the movie. It was clear that she was being willfully (if subconsciously) blind to the larger implications of what she was doing because she was That Into the science of it. ALSO, think about the fact that while her boyfriend probably left her because of her job, when she lists sacrifices she made for the program, she lists the fact that she couldn't publish. Recognition as a pioneer in her field > boyfriend. God, that makes me so happy.
PLUS, she saved herself when her coworker went crazy, reacted SUPER-REASONABLY to the team that came to kill her, AND WAS DAMN WELL GOING TO BASH THAT SUPER-ASSASSIN IN THE HEAD WITH HER HELMET BECAUSE MARTA SHEERING WANTS TO MAKE IT OUT OF THIS MOVIE ALIVE.
Finally, Marta's expression at the end cracked me up. Never have I so clearly seen a 'THANKS FOR ALL THE BONING WE DID LAST NIGHT, HOW ABOUT A REPEAT?' look.
Really enjoyed Jeremy Renner's Aaron Cross. I definitely think switching protagonists was a good movie (and next movie can we PLEASE have a lady!spy from whatever the non-burned division is?) and I liked that he was a bit of a talker and while he wasn't going to stick around and be killed, did appreciate what the enhancements had given him. And again, going back to how well the movie was constructed, I liked that while it was clear that Aaron had a tiny crush on Marta, the main reason he went to her house was because he thought she could get him the drugs that he needed.
Also, there were two lines that (iirc) were in the trailer that got cut from the final version of the film and both of which I were glad to see go. The first was, "I'm not just a science project," which I'm glad they cut given that Aaron clearly feels that he's much better because of what the government did to him. The second was, "they took everything from us," which I don't miss because it wasn't needed; the movie made it clear what both of these characters have lost.
I don't... really, I don't have any other thoughts beyond, 'nice job making me feel things, Jeremy Renner!'
On that subject, a blog post regarding Jeremy Renner's ass. (It's not dirty if it's art.) (No Bourne spoilers.)
What was not excellent was the woman sitting three seats away who was asking those annoying older-woman questions. "Who did that? Was it him?" etc and then laughing way too loudly at the quippy lines. I ended up moving because there was not way I was letting that kind of shit distract me from Jeremy Renner.
The writers said that they approached this movie like a math problem; figuring out what story they could tell that would make sense, fit in their universe, and be interesting. They did a great job. In one way this is a very small story - the protagonists are basically focused on surviving – but I think that really worked, and managed to open up this universe for other stories without going to a 'conspiracy inside a conspiracy inside an enigma' place. Everyone's choices made sense and we got a strong sense of who they were.
I thought The Bourne Legacy actually did particularly well by Marta: The Girl in action movies is often a terribly written role (remember how Jason's girlfriend's main purpose was to die?)
First off, let me take a moment for a slow clap because of the fact that Marta was not seen as morally pure by the movie. It was clear that she was being willfully (if subconsciously) blind to the larger implications of what she was doing because she was That Into the science of it. ALSO, think about the fact that while her boyfriend probably left her because of her job, when she lists sacrifices she made for the program, she lists the fact that she couldn't publish. Recognition as a pioneer in her field > boyfriend. God, that makes me so happy.
PLUS, she saved herself when her coworker went crazy, reacted SUPER-REASONABLY to the team that came to kill her, AND WAS DAMN WELL GOING TO BASH THAT SUPER-ASSASSIN IN THE HEAD WITH HER HELMET BECAUSE MARTA SHEERING WANTS TO MAKE IT OUT OF THIS MOVIE ALIVE.
Finally, Marta's expression at the end cracked me up. Never have I so clearly seen a 'THANKS FOR ALL THE BONING WE DID LAST NIGHT, HOW ABOUT A REPEAT?' look.
Really enjoyed Jeremy Renner's Aaron Cross. I definitely think switching protagonists was a good movie (and next movie can we PLEASE have a lady!spy from whatever the non-burned division is?) and I liked that he was a bit of a talker and while he wasn't going to stick around and be killed, did appreciate what the enhancements had given him. And again, going back to how well the movie was constructed, I liked that while it was clear that Aaron had a tiny crush on Marta, the main reason he went to her house was because he thought she could get him the drugs that he needed.
Also, there were two lines that (iirc) were in the trailer that got cut from the final version of the film and both of which I were glad to see go. The first was, "I'm not just a science project," which I'm glad they cut given that Aaron clearly feels that he's much better because of what the government did to him. The second was, "they took everything from us," which I don't miss because it wasn't needed; the movie made it clear what both of these characters have lost.
I don't... really, I don't have any other thoughts beyond, 'nice job making me feel things, Jeremy Renner!'
On that subject, a blog post regarding Jeremy Renner's ass. (It's not dirty if it's art.) (No Bourne spoilers.)
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