[With The Bourne Legacy set to open this Friday, we'll be taking a look back at the original Bourne trilogy.  These reviews will contain spoilers since the movies have been out for years.  Click here for my review of The Bourne Identity and click here for my review of The Bourne Supremacy.]

In 2004, the post-9/11 American had begun to take shape and The Bourne Supremacy reflected that change.  It provided a conscious subtext, but the movie remained first and foremost an action-thriller.  But by 2007, the change in our country was no longer worthy of a simple observation.  The change had produced a feeling, and that feeling was anger.  We had been misled into a war, and the government was taking extraordinary powers against Americans in the name of protecting Americans.  The Bourne Ultimatum is unapologetically political, which is its greatest weakness and its greatest strength.  Director Paul Greengrass still delivers a pulse-pounding blockbuster that retains the same intensity of Supremacy, but he pushes audiences to not only recognize the seismic shift in our country, but to confront our complicity in it.

[With The Bourne Legacy set to open this Friday, we'll be taking a look back at the original Bourne trilogy.  These reviews will contain spoilers since the movies have been out for years.  Click here for my review of The Bourne Identity.]

The identity of the Bourne franchise begins in the third act of The Bourne Identity.  It’s when the character’s strengths and weaknesses begin to arise, and The Bourne Supremacy director Paul Greengrass took note of where not only the character was going, but where America was going.  The Bourne Identity came out in June 2002, and the sense of our country’s post-9/11 world was still hazy.  By the time The Bourne Supremacy arrived on July 23, 2004, the reverberations were clear.  We had been led into a war based on faulty intelligence that was cherry-picked so that we could attack a country that had nothing to do with 9/11.  Greengrass wasn’t obligated to insert the subtext into his spy thriller, but he was savvy enough to leave the political commentary simmering underneath an intense action flick that not only boosted Matt Damon‘s credibility as a kick-ass hero, but found a way to use hand-held cinematography to its full effect rather than a lazy shortcut.

Three new TV spots for The Bourne Legacy have gone online.  Despite the constant need to remind audiences that this is still a Bourne movie in lieu of Matt Damon’s absence, the footage actually looks pretty good.  It’s reassuring to know that Tony Gilroy, who scripted the three previous Bourne movies, is taking over the franchise.  I’m a fan of his past directorial efforts (Michael Clayton, Duplicity), and hopefully he can maintain the character-centered tone of the other Bourne films while providing a fresh and engaging story that stands on its own.  This footage hammers home the idea that Jeremy Renner’s character is some kind of genetic supersoldier, and I’m eager to see how Legacy‘s story plays out within the universe of the first three films.

Hit the jump to watch the TV spots.  The film also stars Rachel Weisz, Edward Norton, Albert Finney, Joan Allen, Scott Glenn, Stacy Keach, and Oscar Isaac.  The Bourne Legacy opens on August 10th.

A new trailer for The Bourne Legacy has gone online. Rather than just a reboot, this feels like a direct sequel with Jason Bourne’s actions from the previous films creating the conflict for the new movie.  This time around, a government task force led by Edward Norton‘s character is assassinating all their genetically-modified assets to prevent another Bourne situation.  However, one member of the program (Jeremy Renner) manages to escape with a scientist (Rachel Weisz), and the two go on the run for their lives.  There are some cool stunts in the trailer, but I want to see more of the characters’ personalities rather than just the conspiracy/chase angle.

Hit the jump to check out the trailer.  The film also stars Albert Finney, Joan Allen, Scott Glenn, Stacy Keach, and Oscar Isaac.  The Bourne Legacy opens August 3rd.

A Japanese trailer for The Bourne Legacy has gone online.  It’s not incredibly different from the US trailer we saw previously, but there are a couple bits of new footage and some more looks at Edward Norton that make it worth a gander.  Writer/director Tony Gilroy recently talked about how the film sets itself apart from the previous three films while maintaining a strong throughline, adding that “what happens in Ultimatum is really the spark that’s blowing open the door to this movie because the Jason Bourne story is exploding out into the public.”  I’m excited to see how Gilroy executes this “separate but connected” film and how Jeremy Renner’s character differs from Jason Bourne.  I really liked the US trailer and I think the cast is swell, so hopefully Legacy delivers.

Hit the jump to watch the trailer.  The film also stars Rachel Weisz, Stacy Keach, Oscar Isaac, Albert Finney, Joan Allen, David Strathairn, and Scott Glenn.  The Bourne Legacy opens on August 3rd.

While writer/director Tony Gilroy’s The Bourne Legacy may be a sort of spin-off of the franchise, the film won’t be without some familiar faces. Showblitz reports that Joan Allen and Albert Finney are currently in negotiations to reprise their roles in the new film. Jeremy Renner stars in Legacy as an operative trained in the same program that housed the first trilogy’s title character played by Matt Damon.

Allen appeared in The Bourne Supremacy and The Bourne Ultimatum as a CIA agent attempting to capture Damon’s character, while Finney played a doctor employed by the government program in Ultimatum. New faces alongside Renner in Legacy include Rachel Weisz and Oscar Issacs, with Edward Norton still in talks to play the villain of the film. The Bourne Legacy opens August 3^rd, 2012.