Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

Other reviewers have already recounted much of the plot. So, I'll skip that and go to a critique of the production itself. I gave this an overall rating of four stars because I found the movie to be interesting, engaging, with a good story and some really good action scenes. I found that I cared about the primary characters - Renner and Weisz. This tells me that the characters were fairly well developed and interesting Renner's character, Aaron Cross, would have been more compelling if more of his backstory came out sooner, and if his pathetic origin were presented differently. I think Weisz' character could have used more backstory too - all I know about her is that she's an attractive scientist with a top secret clearance. The story is really good. But this movie could have been a classic if the plot were tightened up and presented differently - too much dialogue where 'showing' instead of 'talking' would have got it across to the viewer better - this is especially true during the first part of the film. The camera work was excellent. With more experience, I think Gilroy's skills in this area will improve to a level near Greengrass' excellent abilities. Also, there's lots of good acting in this movie. On Rotten Tomatoes, the critics are currently tabulating at 51% positive, while the audience is at 70%. I think the critics (overall) are getting it wrong - primarily, I think, because they're comparing it to the high standards set by the previous Bourne movies. This is a high-quality production that tells a good story. In addition, I felt an emotional connection with the main characrters - I cared about them. For these reasons, I strongly recommend it.