MOVIEREVIEW
Bourne this way
Jeremy Renner is a clenched fist and bottled energy in reboot of the thriller
- Published: 10 Aug 2012 at 00.00
- Newspaper section: Life
The action heroes of the 21st century have the option of being David and not Goliath. They're a compact ball of energy, a clenched fist, a meteor with a low centre of gravity, darting and zipping, not rumbling and thundering. I've grown up watching Eastwood, Stallone, Willis, Schwarzenegger; but the current generation of multiplex-goers, besides the usual slab of pen-fed meat like Jason Statham or Daniel Craig, also have the choice of skinny Tobey Maguire as Spidey, little James McAvoy as one of the X-men, and of course, Matt Damon, dense and crackling, as the man with no memory, Jason Bourne.
With his character's name ablaze on the marquee, Damon is absent in The Bourne Legacy, and we have here what seems like his natural heir.
Jeremy Renner, best-known as the thrill-addicted bomb defuser in The Hurt Locker and as Hawkeye in The Avengers _ and perhaps a high-profile brawl in a Phuket bar last year while taking a break from filming this movie in the Philippines _ fills in Damon's shoes with relish, and better yet, with integrity.
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