Tony Gilroy has faced nothing but an uphill battle putting together The Bourne Legacy. Not creatively, mind you, just in winning over fans who only identify the Bourne franchise with Matt Damon. Even with a proven star and bonafide butt kicker in Jeremy Renner taking over, I don't think people were convinced the film would be any good until we started seeing trailers. Gone was the gritty, handheld technique favored by series director, Paul Greengrass, replaced with a more traditional, but no less impactful style. And then there was Renner as Aaron Cross, who looks like he might be able to give Jason Bourne a run for his money.
But if this is a franchise that's going to continue on, people are going to find Cross as interesting as they did Bourne. What we know is that the film will basically begin sometime during the events of The Bourne Ultimatum, with Jason Bourne's actions causing all types of havoc in the ranks of the numerous shadow organizations like Treadstone and Operation Outcome. While talking to Empire, Renner had this to say about the major differences between Cross and Bourne...
Renner: "He knows exactly who he is; he signed up to this...He wants to be part of a team. I can tell you he was in the military then he joined the program. He's a person who wants to be part of something... to have a sense of purpose. But then it's taken away."
That's a pretty big difference, as Bourne basically just wants to be left alone. Cross's motivations should take the story into some vastly different areas, and in a way also makes it feasible to see him working alongside other agents just like him. Like say...maybe....Jason Bourne? Producer Frank Marshall certainly hopes to see that happen...
Marshall: "You see there are several different programs in the movie with different skill sets. All possibilities are open. My dream is that in the next one we see Matt and Jeremy team up."
Don't get your hopes up of that happening. It may a pie in the sky dream for Universal, but the reality is Damon and Greengrass left the franchise on pretty rocky terms. While there's been some lip service paid to the hope of coming back some day, we've heard quite a bit about Damon's feelings towards Gilroy.
Then again, stranger things have happened. A few years ago would anybody think we'd be sitting around talking about Jeremy Renner starring in a fourth and fifth Bourne film? Probably not. The Bourne Legacy hits theaters on August 10th.
