Expectations about The Bourne Legacy are naturally high as the three previous Bourne films—the first directed by Doug Limon and the second two by Paul Greengrass, all starring Matt Damon as an amnesiac super spy—were a cut above other spy action thrillers, with imaginatively staged action sequences and a sense of visual glum gifted by its European locales. However, "The Bourne Legacy" is grade B Bourne: Good in its own right, but not as great as the original stuff.
Tony Gilroy — who wrote or co-wrote all three of the original films — has put on the directorial cap for this one. He has built this offshoot on the bones of the initial trilogy in a pretty ingenious mode. The flow of the story is impeccable leaving little room for bitterness.

Written by Gilroy and his brother Dan, ‘The Bourne Legacy’ rides on the entirely credible notion that Bourne was not the only agent the government were altering with drugs and training and biochemical prying. But Gilroy the director is no match for Gilroy the writer, and even more pointedly, he's no match for Paul Greengrass, whose quick-cut sense of controlled chaos lifted those films to rare heights. Yes, comparisons may be unfair, but they're also inevitable. Also ripe for comparison is Jeremy Renner, this film's super-spy. Obviously, he's not Matt Damon, the original Bourne. He has neither the steely-eyed-smoothness or interior panic of the original character, but he does have a nice sense of humor and his own reason to be frantic.

Renner plays Aaron Cross, one of a handful of medically enhanced spies who followed in the wake of Jason Bourne. A member of Operation Outcome, one of the CIA's black ops programs, he fails to reveal half the glimmer of Damon's intensity and vulnerability.

The film begins pretty much right where the last Bourne left off. The world was left to the existence of CIA super-spies by Jasob Bourne in the last film. Eric Byer (Edward Norton) a retired USAF Colonel responsible for overseeing the CIA's clandestine operations placed comfortably high up is about to be reached by government’s alarm and Byer quickly makes a decision: The only way to cover up the program is to kill the spies and the scientists who created them. So bodies start dropping, except for Cross, who is apparently something of a rebel. He tracks down Dr. Marta Shearing (Rachel Weisz) — a scientist who has worked extensively on Cross — just in the nick of time, and they hit the road together, while Byer is marshalling all the vast resources he has to find them.

There are many cutting back and forth in the movie, not deviating much from the style of its predecessors. And then there are action sequences and worried bureaucrats peering at computer screens in search of clues. Gilroy handles all of this well enough as the power of the story can take the pace forward without much issue. Gilroy’s camera which renders Aaron Cross cannot, however transform him into another Jason Bourne and a very lengthy action sequence towards the climax is no match for Greengrass’ earlier take on the movie which had swift cuts and stirring action.

When you make a movie and put "Bourne" in the title, you surely need to match it up to the previous ones as comparisons are inevitable. The chemistry shared between Renner and Weisz and the depth of Norton’s villain character are something that Bourne enthusiasts will never complain about. But most importantly, Gilroy keeps the Bourne mythology firmly intact while moving it forward, and leaves the door open for just about anything in the future. Simply put, despite his touted enhancements, Aaron Cross not as agile and shrewd as Bourne, makes you long for another Damon starrer Bourne movie.