The Bourne Legacy (2012)

Dir: Tony Gilroy

Starring: Jeremy Renner, Rachel Weisz, Edward Norton

Trailer:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cdtUdEoE-Q4

                The studio milks its cash cow for a few more dollars in this fourth instalment of the Bourne franchise but without Bourne.

                Set during The Bourne Ultimatum, we are introduced to fellow Bourne programme member Aaron Cross (Jeremy Renner). Anticipating the fallout from one of their black ops programmes being revealed to the public, a CIA team, led by Eric Byer (Edward Norton), decide to dismantle the programme which includes killing everyone involved in it, including the scientists, one of which is Dr Marta Shearing (Rachel Weisz). Cross goes on the run, taking Marta Shearing with him, to get the medicine which he was given as part of the programme and has run out of.

                When this film was first announced everyone asked, what’s the point? The answer unfortunately is there isn’t really. The film only has tenuous links to the Bourne trilogy. As you probably know it doesn’t feature Matt Damon as Jason Bourne and his name and names of other characters and organisations from the previous films are mentioned which attempts to link the films. The film is just a generic, and overly long, action film with quite a few action moments but nothing memorable or which stand out. Neither is the action as inventive as the previous Bourne films, no one gets killed with a biro or a rolled up magazine. A lack of originality mars the film. Things go bang, and people get punched which is fine but never really exhilarating.

                Aaron Cross is never as good a character as Jason Bourne, despite the likability of Jeremy Renner. With Bourne we had more than just a man surviving. Bourne was trying to find out who he is, what happened to him, what his back story was. With Cross, all he’s doing is trying to stay alive and that doesn’t give us enough to hold on to.The film has good actors, trying their best with what little they are given.

                The film also never really goes anywhere. It starts fairly slowly and then is just a fairly uninteresting chase for an hour and then it just ends. The film doesn’t wrap things up to a satisfying conclusion and pretty much just sets the path for another lacklustre sequel.

                A solid Saturday night action offering with only very loose ties to the original Bourne films. Competently made and acted but it doesn’t deserve to be a part of the franchise. You won’t remember it after a couple of months. Should have stuck at three.

2 out of 5 Buttons

Brave (2012)

Dir: Mark Andrews, Brenda Chapman, Steve Purcell

Starring: Kelly Macdonald, Billy Connolly, Emma Thompson

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TEHWDA_6e3M

                Pixar has become the studio for quality animation, making films for all ages. This time they travel to Scotland for a tale of magic and legend.

                Merida (Kelly Macdonald) is a Scottish princess who is going to be married off to one of three potential suitors. Wanting her freedom and taking her life in to her own hands, Merida breaks tradition and humiliates the suitors and runs off. Meeting a witch she makes a deal involving her mother which leads to terrible circumstances.

                As is usual with Pixar, the film looks beautiful. They’ve captured the majestic natural beauty of the Scottish lands perfectly and Merida’s curly red locks flow and spring realistically. Pixar have always managed to push the boundaries with their animation, whether it is the individual strands of hair in the coats of Sully from Monsters inc. and Lotsohuggin’ bear in Toy Story 3, or the twinkling beauty of space in Wall.e, and they continue here. Pixar should be applauded for choosing a quite unusual setting for a children’s film and using it so well.

                What makes Pixar so great is that there is always more to their films than just the beautiful surface, they always have heart. In this case that comes in the relationship between Merida and her mother Elinor (Emma Thompson). Merida is a teenage girl who has been raised by her mother to be a lady and to marry for the good of the country while she is still young but Merida wants to be free and live her life how she wants. It is good to see the relationship between a mother and daughter as the core of a film rather than the typical romance of the male hero and the beautiful heroine. It's this relationship which is at the front of the film rather than anything to do with the three young suitors. It is a film about family and learning to love each other. However, the film never hits the emotional heights of Wall.e or the incredible first ten minutes of Up.

                The film has jokes for both the youngsters in the audience and their parents but it is never as funny as some previous Pixar films. Wall.e managed to make us laugh and fall in love with a robot who barely spoke and Up made us root for a grumpy pensioner, mining comedy from such tough ingredients, but Brave raises chuckles rather than full on laughs.

                A solid effort from Pixar which sits in the middle of Pixar’s roster in terms of quality. Good looking and fun but not enough to stick with you for much longer afterwards.

3 out of 5 Buttons