Bourne survivor

The Bourne Legacy
DIRECTED BY: Tony Gilroy
STARRING: Jeremy Renner, Rachel Weisz, Edward Norton, Stacy Keach
CERT: 12

 

Ah, Mr Bourne, we meet again. Or not. The first obvious question is, can the Bourne series survive without the conspicuously absent Matt Damon? Well, considering how the Bourne book series survived the death of the author Robert Ludlum continuing under Eric Van Lustbader who has written seven more of the novels so far, I would say the chances of survival are quite high.

There is a certain unwillingness in the entertainment industry to put a proven cash cow out to pasture.

After that, there is only one question that matters: Is the new Bourne movie any good? Well, it is and it isn’t.

The idea here is a good one, a clever enough way of keeping the franchise spinning without reinventing it altogether, or going down the Bond road and passing the Bourne role along to the next man in line. So credit there to regular Bourne screenwriter Tony Gilroy, who also occupies the director’s chair this time around, Paul Greengrass having taken the exit as well.

The problem is that he and his writer brother, Dan, fail to keep a simple idea, well, simple. So there are times when I hadn’t a clue what anyone was on about, or what the hell was going on.

For one thing, there’s an arrogant assumption that we all remember every little thing that happened in the last three films, as if perhaps we watch them every day. It’s called Christopher Nolan Syndrome – the belief that if you’re not intimately acquainted with every minute detail, then you should be, so tough. You can just sit there, bored and confused and pay good money for the pleasure.

In future, maybe these guys would consider including a quick summary at the start, a Flash Gordon kind of a thing: “Well now, it’s been a long five years since we saw young Mr Bourne, so it’s only fair we refresh your memory. Here’s what he was up to… oh, and we’ve also included a helpful translation of all that stupid CIA mumbo jumbo you’re about to hear.” That would be nice.

But anyway, the idea is that Bourne is still with us, though we never meet him. We just know he’s out there somewhere, running from everyone and putting all sorts of top-secret government programs in jeopardy. These operations have names like Treadstone, Alcom and Holy Jumping Mango Tango. Naturally they all involve other excellent agents.

Fellas like Aaron Cross (Renner), one of the new breed of super spies who gets his super physical and mental abilities from little blue and green pills, which he must take every so often in order to power up. He may be the Super Mario of international espionage but he better watch out because the big boys at HQ, Staccy Keach, Albert Finney, Scott Glenn and head honcho, Edward Norton, have decided to shut down the program with “extreme prejudice”. Which means all the super spies must take a permanent nap.

Of course young Cross won’t stand for that, so he legs it, hooking up along the way with Dr Marta Shearing (Weisz), a fine scientist who might be able to help him with his little drug problem. The problem being that, as one character puts it, if he doesn’t get sorted “he’s going to run out of brain?”

At times, I can assure you, he wasn’t the only one. Between trying to make sense of the story, deciphering the gibberish, and following the annoyingly choppy action, I could literally feel the grey matter melting.

The film does hit a certain stride for a while, after that long, dull build-up. Gilroy pulls off a few decent action scenes, and his cast do a solid job.

Renner is fine in the lead, Weisz is her usual pleasant self with a touch of added hysteria and, though Norton doesn’t have a memorable part, it’s fun to see him knocking heads with great veterans like Keach and Finney.

In what is becoming a modern screenwriting phenomenon, however, it is as if the Gilroys lose their minds entirely in the closing stages. A new villain is introduced, old familiar faces come out of the woodwork, there’s a chase scene that would try the patience of a dead monk and in the end it’s all wrapped up nice and pretty for the inevitable sequel.

If, by some chance, it comes with a gentle reminder of what I didn’t comprehend in this episode, well, it’s the thought that counts.

Grabbers
DIRECTED BY: Jon Wright
STARRING: Richard Coyle, Ruth Bradley, Russell Tovey
CERT: 15A

For good reason, the words ‘Irish film’ generally don’t inspire confidence. So the words ‘Irish alien invasion comedy’ are unlikely to get the crowds out, queuing around the block. But Grabbers is worth a look.

Shortly after a meteorite crashes on a small island off the west coast, big globby aliens start terrorising the locals. In a fine little twist on War of the Worlds, Garda Ciarán O’Shea (Coyle) and his big-city blow-in partner Lisa Nolan (Bradley) discover the invaders’ weakness and plot their downfall.
Which basically involves rounding up the islanders and getting everyone drunk.

Besides HG Wells, director Jon Wright and writer Kevin Lehane tip their hats to the likes of Gremlins, Tremors and Shaun of the Dead. The gags don’t always hit the mark and some of the acting is shaky, but overall this is surprisingly enjoyable stuff.