Ranking The Bourne Movie Franchise From Worst To Best
"Look at us. Look at what they make you give."
You could easily have been forgiven for thinking that the Bourne series was well over and done with. After a hard-hitting original trilogy that seemed to tie up the question of the resourceful spy's identity, a fourth legacy film landed with a damp thud and accusations of diluting the brand.
But then Matt Damon decided he wasn't quite done yet and now it feels like the fifth film may have opened up further story possibilities for even more sequels. Maybe we'll even get to see Damon and Renner sparring side by side?
Far more than simply a character led series with financial longevity, the Bourne series revitalised action cinema. It reinvented Bond indirectly with heavy stylistic cribbing on 007's part, it inspired the hyper-violence and crazy cam-work of the likes of Taken and it made man on a mission movies fashionable again. None of that should be underestimated, and even almost 15 years down the line, it continues to pull audiences into the box office.
Here's how the franchise's five outings so far rank...
5. The Bourne Legacy
Jeremy Renner was always facing an uphill battle from the moment he signed on to replace Matt Damon (no matter how insistent the studio - and Damon - were that replacement wasn't the agenda). It also didn't help his cause that he's still not quite as interesting a lead man as he is a supporting one.
Legacy isn't actually a terrible idea: focusing on some of the other assets in another shady government programme (called Outcome) that uses drugs to turn their guinea pigs into super soldiers. Bourne's exposing of Operations Blackbriar and Treadstone make Renner's Aaron Cross expendable, and from there we get an intriguing idea played out in frustratingly wayward fashion.
It's too bland despite the action, and it tries way too hard to over-explain everything when it isn't really necessary. And as good as the chems plot is, the progression of it is ludicrous, and it feels a little like twisting the narrative for the sake of it.
Despite the film's struggles, it would still be good to see Cross and Bourne together on screen: they would have friction, would guarantee a lot of action and we could see a redemption of sorts for Renner.