‘The Bourne Legacy’ confuses, falls short

Although the latest "Bourne" blockbuster opened Aug. 10 sans its leading man and the film’s namesake, Matt Damon, the film brought in an impressive $14 million opening night.

The fourth film in the Bourne installment, "The Bourne Legacy" stars Jeremy Renner, made famous by his Academy Award-nominated role in "The Hurt Locker" and more recently as Hawkeye in "The Avengers."

"The Bourne Legacy" takes place in tandem with the third Bourne film, "The Bourne Ultimatum."

While the government is trying to deal with the mess Jason Bourne is making, they learn they have yet another rogue assassin, Renner, on their hands.

This time, though, Renner’s character is a part of an even more elite group of genetically modified super-soldiers twice as dangerous as Jason Bourne.

If the explanation seems a bit confusing, you are not alone. Like the rest of the films in the fast-paced series, missing one word can throw you into wild perplexity.

The movie was a wash in confusing flashbacks, hallucinations and references from the third "Bourne" flick. If you haven’t seen "The Bourne Ultimatum," you are going to be puzzled, to say the least.

There were some consistencies throughout the film, though. Scene after scene, Renner pulled off action-packed stunts that would mystify even the likes of Chuck Norris.

Though some parts seemed a bit outrageous, the film keeps you on your toes at all times.

When you are not trying to figure out what the characters were talking about, you are watching Renner tear apart extra after extra in true "Bourne" style.

There is, however, a particularly long chase scene that seems ridiculous even for the most outrageous of action films.

Starting at night and going until morning, the chase goes from on foot in crowded streets to rooftops, back to the streets, onto a motorcycle, then the motorcycle vs. cop cars, then motorcycle vs. motorcycle.

At some point, you’ll be forced to question, "How hard could it really be to catch up to a seemingly malnourished Rachel Weisz and super-virus infected Renner?"

The chase is reminiscent of that in "The Blues Brothers" at any given time they could have burst through an entire mall with 60 cop cars in pursuit.

In the end though, the long chase scene does not seem an important setback for the film. Even with its many blunders, "The Bourne Legacy" was able to blow "The Dark Knight Rises" from its top spot in the box office and beat out Zack Galifianakis and Will Farrell’s latest comedy, "The Campaign."