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SALT LAKE CITY — A full-length trailer for the fourth installment in the popular Bourne series hit the web Wednesday to a divided reaction.
"The Bourne Legacy," set to hit theaters Aug. 3, is a move away from the past for the Bourne films, which until now have featured Matt Damon as rogue agent Jason Bourne. The film instead stars Jeremy Renner as a supposed improvement on Jason Bourne.
The trailer for the film, sinister from the start by echoing the opening credits of Alfred Hitchcock's "Psycho," promises the action Bourne fans are used to with a twist: Renner's character, Aaron Cross, is labeled as "Treadstone without the inconsistency" implying even greater abilities than those posessed by Bourne.
Viewers of the trailer have largely focused on Damon's absence, many saying the film is too different to be considered "one of the Bournes."
"The Bourne Legacy," though, is not exactly one of the Bournes. It is what it claims to be: a semi-spin-off, a look at the legacy of Jason Bourne. Damon is not being replaced — his character is.
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Some reacted on social media websites with excitement at the new direction the film takes.
On Twitter, Joshua Ginter said he is "very glad The Bourne Legacy leaves Jason Bourne behind and creates a new character," adding that it is "going to be great."
Despite differences in opinion over the wisdom of cutting the main character, most seem to agree that the trailer is promising: Renner "delivers on what we're looking for in a post-damon killing machine," Mark Lisanti wrote on Grantland.
At least one person does not seem to be too excited about the film: Matt Damon himself, who told KCRW in December, "I think if (the film) doesn't work, we can just ignore it and pretend it didn't happen, but I expect that it will work and only help us if we did another one, which I'd love to do."
What do you think? Is The Bourne Legacy a born success, or is a Damon-less Bourne film a guaranteed failure? Is the trailer as promising as past films in the series? Share your thoughts on the comment boards or on Facebook.
