The Bourne Legacy is something of a slow burn. It takes its time to build up the back story – which is that the appearance of Jason Bourne in Manhattan in the third part of the series has prompted a complete termination of the Treadstone Project and all of the agents operating within it. That includes Aaron Cross, a twitchy, drug-addled, souped-up agent who’s making his way back from a mission in Alaska. His story intertwines with that of a doctor of dubious moral compass, played by Rachel Weisz, who is caught in the meltdown and on the run for her life.
So is it any good. Well, yes, it is actually. I’d hesitate to say its as brilliant as Bournes 1-3, which I loved, but when it gets going, it’s pretty fantastic. A motorbike chase through Manila, and a set piece at a house in upstate New York are particularly edge-of-seat. I enjoyed it. Jeremy Renner is brilliant too.
The movie is unsurprisingly location-heavy, but in spite of that, it was mostly shot over twelve weeks at the Kaufman Astoria Studios in Queens, New York. That included the interiors of the beautiful old house where Rachel Weisz’s character lives; the actual house – with a staggeringly beautiful staircase across whom all manner of people get shot – is the Dr. Oliver Bronson House in Hudson, New York, which was unable to accommodate the weight of equipment and crew. Even the scenes set in the “SteriPacific” factory in Manila were actually filmed in the New York Times printing plant in Queens.
There are some stand out international locations; Manila, as mentioned above, and several Seoul, South Korean scenes too, including train scenes at Ogeum Station on Seoul Subway Line 3 and nearby areas in Seocho-daero 77-Gil, Seocho-gu and Gangnam-gu. Oh, and before you go booking your adventure holiday to Alaska, the Kananaskis Country region of Alberta, Canada was used for stand-in.
