Fourth Time's Not So Charming

Can't do much sightseeing with a killer on your tail. (Photo from BourneLegacy.net)

As fans of the Bourne film trilogy, we plunked down our eleven (!) bucks apiece to see the fourth installment of the series. The Bourne Legacy stars Jeremy Renner as Aaron Cross, a genetically enhanced super-warrior created and trained by the Central Intelligence Agency. Jason Bourne, played by Matt Damon, is referenced briefly but never appears (unless a silhouette in the water counts).

Because of the earlier movies' revelations about CIA black ops, the higher-ups in the agency decide to terminate other secret projects before they come to light, and we know what "terminate" means in spook-speak. Aaron Cross is in mortal danger, along with researcher Dr. Marta Shearing, played by Rachel Weisz.

The new movie's got some well-choreographed chase sequences, and the lead characters are attractive.

However, I'm getting a little tired of the Bourne universe. In the first film, the Bourne Identity, Jason Bourne's former CIA boss sends teams of killers after him until the boss's boss calls a (permanent) halt to the hunt for Bourne. In the Bourne Supremacy the aforementioned big boss turns out to be a bad guy who's in cahoots with a Russian mob leader; of course, by the end of movie #2 our hero eventually triumphs over both. In the Bourne Ultimatum  bad guys who are running another CIA secret project try to silence Bourne, but their efforts backfire.

So the Bourne formula appears to be this: whenever the studio wants another movie, another super-secret project run by amoral, if not evil, characters magically appears. To cover up their mis-deeds they try to kill soldiers like Jason Bourne and Aaron Cross who have served them loyally.  The bad guys also have no compunction against gunning down innocent bystanders. (One wonders why teams of assassins and technicians continue to obey these kill-on-sight orders, since it's obvious their knowledge puts them in danger, too.)

Through four movies the CIA doesn't spend one second fighting the enemies of the United States. I'm beginning to think the film-makers have a certain point of view they're trying to get across.