Rachel Weisz is Dr. Marta Shearing, a scientist in the DC area lab where the Agency produces and monitors the meds that that the special agents need to ingest on a regular basis. This reliance on the meds is one of the means by which the Agency controls their field operators. The little greenies are for nutrition; the blue ones give them a mental edge. When we first meet Cross he's in the Alaskan wilderness and his supply of meds is running thin. Good thing he is an expert marksman who can bag his own meal occasionally by knocking off a wolf from 200 yards away.
In addition to the lab and the wilderness, a third action point to which the camera regularly takes us is the Agency headquarters, where Retired USAF Colonel Eric Byer (Edward Norton) methodically masterminds the eradication of the nine agents. This is a global effort, but none of them is that hard to bump off - - that is, except for Aaron Cross. Norton is great (as usual) as the cold-blooded schemer who rationalizes that his dastardly deeds are actually acts of patriotism on his part.
Everyone whom Cross encounters is, in his mind, untrustworthy. I guess I would feel the same way once I figured out that my own employer, which just happens to be my country, is trying to kill me. Cross is fighting a deadline, as he desperately needs those blues and greenies not just to stay alive but also to have the mental acuteness to stay one step ahead of his high tech pursuers. As you might guess, this self-preservation urge leads him to Dr. Shearing. Maybe he shouldn't trust her either, but he figures she's his best bet to scoring a stash of the desperately needed meds. It is not the first time they've met, but before it was strictly on a doctor/patient basis. She knows him as "Number Five."
In its simplest terms this is a chase movie. Will the CIA succeed in bumping off Cross? This is a different kind of chase, however, as the action takes us all over the planet. The cinematography is spectacular, yet the great shots do not get in the way of the story. There are special effects, as there are in every Bourne movie, but most of them are believable, at least until we get to the last several minutes of the film.
The movie is not without its flaws, mostly in the Failure Of Logic Category. For example, the Manilla Police Department is made to look like the Three Stooges. Cross always seems to have a gun at his disposal, notwithstanding the fact that he has to clear airline security and customs several times. And what's up with the tall Asian tough guy who is late to the party? Isn't it bad enough that Cross has to evade both the CIA and the Manilla police while simultaneously trying to keep his female companion safe?
Finally, I must comment on this movie's connection with current events. In the past year or so we have read in the news about how the US uses unmanned drones to kill al-Qaida terrorists in the lawless northwestern provinces of Pakistan, among other hot spots. We have also, sadly, seen a number of murders by gunmen who go berserk in enclosed spaces, the most recent examples being the killing and injuring of many people in a theater in Aurora, Colorado and in a Sikh temple in Oak Creek, Wisconsin. The Bourne Legacy gives a riveting depiction of how being on the receiving end of a drone attack or of a gunman gone wild might play out. Bone chilling action, and food for thought.
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