Let's be clear, though, this isn't a Carrie 2 or Son of the Pink Panther situation. Bourne Legacy mastermind Tony Gilroy -- who wrote the previous three adventures and took over the director's chair this time out -- is too skilled a craftsman to deliver something that's completely lacking in major and minor pleasures. And with the heavy lifting of shuffling Jason Bourne offstage and turning the spotlight on his replacement, Aaron Cross (Jeremy Renner), now out of the way, there's a real opportunity for the next movie (if there is one) to come out of the gate firing on all cylinders, in the same way that Paul Greengrass's The Bourne Supremacy improved upon Doug Liman's solid, but unremarkable franchise starter. One gets the sense throughout this one that Gilroy is trying too hard to please too many masters, among them a studio that's understandably interested in milking a few more dollars out of one of their most trusted franchises, moviegoers who liked Matt Damon, but are still making up their minds about this Jeremy Renner fella and newcomers who haven't caught up with the previous three movies but are desperate for another decent summer blockbuster to see on Friday night instead of The Dark Knight Rises for the 15th time.

In building the narrative for The Bourne Legacy, Gilroy cribs heavily from his scripts for the previous three movies. The film opens with a direct homage to the image that started off the series back in 2002 -- a prone body floating just below the surface of the water. When this figure swims into view, we see that it's not Damon's Bourne, but Renner's Cross -- another specially engineered super-spy created by a top-secret CIA program. Aaron is currently flexing his muscles (literally -- Renner and his trainers have clearly sought to outdo Damon on the beefcake front) in the remote wilderness, making his way through the mountains to an isolated cabin where he crosses paths with another member of his kind (Oscar Isaac). Meanwhile, back at HQ, Bourne himself has made his way to New York (the first act of Legacy runs roughly parallel to the last act of Ultimatum) and the violence he's left in his wake has brought unwanted media attention to the Agency, the director of Outcome -- the super-spy training program that supplanted the Bourne-birthing Treadstone -- Eric Byer (Edward Norton) is forced to kill the program as well as all the deep cover operatives it's spawned.

Since the movie would be over if Byer succeeded in his objective, Cross survives the initial attempt on his life (Isaac's nameless agent isn't so fortunate) and quickly pieces together that seeking help from his former masters would be a bad, bad move. There's a problem, though; his enhanced physical and mental prowess is maintained by a rigorous intake of specially-created pills and without these drugs -- which he calls his "chems" -- he'll revert back to his previous existence as an unexceptional soldier that enlisted in the army primarily to escape his unexceptional life. To avoid becoming the military version of Charlie Gordon, Aaron seeks out the doctor that got him hooked on the chems in the first place, Marta Shearing (Rachel Weisz) who is also the sole survivor of a Byer-ordered massacre, one designed to take out all of the scientists that were associated with Outcome. After saving Shearing from a second assassination attempt, the duo flee the continental U.S. for the Philippines, where she plans to inject Aaron with a concoction that will either boot him off the drugs while leaving his skill intact... or kill him. So, you know, there's no pressure or anything.

It's actually something of a nervy move on Gilroy's part to swap out Damon's sympathetic amnesia victim for a protagonist who is, essentially, a drug addict in need of a fix. And to Renner's credit, he's not afraid to play Aaron Cross as a darker, more desperate individual than the man whose legacy hangs over his head. In his first out-and-out star turn since The Hurt Locker (he's been in several big movies since then, but always as backup to the likes of Tom Cruise and a big green dude in ripped pants), the actor reconfirms that he has the intensity and charisma to headline his own spy franchise, one that's less tethered to the Bourne mythos. That's why it would be something of a shame if the studio does manage to tempt Damon back for another go-around, pairing him up with Renner Avengers-style for a final showdown with the Agency. Cross is too promising a character to relegate to the second banana position after only one movie. Where Bourne's chief objective was to recover his true identity, Cross wants to flee it and that's an intriguing direction to send the series particularly since it would allow for the introduction of antagonists who have nothing to do with the labyrinthine (and increasingly murky) layers of conspiracy at the CIA.

One of Legacy's big disappointments is that Gilroy's gallery of villains prove so uninteresting and ineffectual; the previous movies got a lot of mileage out of the ass-covering bureaucrats who squared off with Bourne from the comfort of their offices (Joan Allen's Pamela Landy was a particularly great creation) but the different energy generated by Renner demands a different kind of opposable force. Early on, it seems like the movie is setting up a charged history between Cross and Byer, one that will eventually force Norton into the field to take care of matters himself. But no, instead he goes and calls in yet another product of the CIA's apparently limitless number of super-spy generating programs, an assassin identified by the call sign LARX #3 (Louis Ozawa Changchien) who tracks Cross to Manila where they engage in an Ultimatum-style foot chase across the rooftops, followed by a motorcycle race through the streets that brings to mind the Paris collision course from Identity. These sequences are executed competently enough by Gilroy -- an action novice whose previous directorial efforts, Michael Clayton and the underrated, underseen Duplicity, are best enjoyed for their crackling dialogue and nimble plotting -- but they lack the propulsive energy that drove the Greengrass movies. (On the other hand, those who were left queasy by that director's signature docu-realist visual style will probably be glad to hear that Gilroy keeps a firmer grasp on his camera.) In fact, the movie's pace as a whole is much too slack considering the thin material; a formidable villain and/or a more intricate storyline would have justified the protracted 135-minute runtime. As it is, you could walk into Legacy a half-hour in and not really miss a thing.

Should Legacy prove enough of a hit to net Cross another assignment, let's also hope that, along with a richer story and a better bad guy, Gilroy lets Cross ditch Weisz's walking hostage crisis somewhere in the South Pacific. Giving Bourne a love interest (played by Franka Potente) made sense; with no memory of his previous life, she represented a person he could cling to as he adjusted to his new existence. In contrast, Cross only needs Shearing because she's his connection and once his chemical needs are met, there's no real reason for the two to stick together. There certainly isn't much in the way of romantic chemistry between the two actors, which again goes back to Renner's decision to play Cross in a fiercer key than Damon. (Or it could be that he's just a cold fish when it comes to the lovey-dovey stuff.) If Gilroy and Universal are serious about making Aaron Cross the new face of the Bourne series, they have to commit to allowing him to be his own man, not a shadow of his predecessor. That's the only way he'll be able to leave his own legacy behind for the next inevitable franchise seqboot.

Click here to see our picks for the other movie franchises that need a dose of Jeremy Renner

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