Originally published on metropolis.co.jp on September 2012

Billion-dollar franchises have a Bourne-ish way of surviving; in this case the departure of Matt Damon and director Paul Greengrass. The odd-duck result is an above-average if not quite inspired espionage thriller that insists on embarrassing itself with frequent and clumsy attempts to find links to the earlier blockbusters. Jeremy Renner is intense and sturdy as a rogue super-agent being hunted by his former handlers to cover up their misdeeds, etc., and the always-good Rachel Weisz does the sidekick/damsel-in-distress honors with her usual brio. Enjoyable, but a bit too long and overly complicated.