The billion-dollar 'Bourne' roller coaster

MANILA, Philippines - After a year of buzz surrounding the latest Bourne movie, the day of reckoning is finally upon us: Will Manila stand up to the world’s cinematic scrutiny?

Yes, it turns out Manila is ready for its close-up.

The Asian premiere of The Bourne Legacy was held at Resorts World Performing Arts Theatre last Sunday (five days ahead of the US release), and Manila was decked out in formal wear to finally look at how it is being portrayed in the latest installment of the blockbuster action franchise.

Fear not: the movie is a kick-ass thrill ride, and Manila’s mean streets fit nicely into that overall experience.

As Patrick Crowley, the United International Pictures executive producer who selected the Philippines as the climactic locale for the new Bourne movie, told the audience at the sneak preview, “The Philippines now makes its first big-screen debut in a long time, and with this, Manila joins Moscow, Madrid, Paris, Rome and other world cities in the thrill ride that is the billion-dollar Bourne roller coaster.”

Actors Jeremy Renner, Rachel Weisz and Edward Norton were not in attendance — but before the screening they gave a prerecorded message to the Philippines, saying what a great time they had filming here. (“We had an amazing time shooting in your beautiful city,” spoke Renner, who plays the movie’s new action hero, Aaron Cross; Norton added: “We really wanted to thank you for welcoming and embracing our whole production team and cast.”)

None of this would matter if The Bourne Legacy wasn’t good. Good news: it’s great. With locales ranging from Alaska to Pakistan, Seoul to Bangkok, and of course, Manila, new director Tony Gilroy continues the legacy of providing exotic locales in which its star gets to kill and maim bad guys in new and interesting ways. Not to give much away, but Aaron Cross is yet another product of the US black ops Treadstone program introduced in earlier movies; he’s a trained killer who can’t quite connect all the dots as to how or why he was chosen. We meet Aaron in a breathless opening sequence shot in Alaska, where he’s diving into sub-zero waters, fending off packs of wolves and leaping across icy precipices. In other words, another day of training at the office. The movie neatly dovetails with the finale of the previous film, The Bourne Ultimatum, where Jason Bourne (Matt Damon) is shown making his final escape from government assassins, and Operation Treadstone director Noah Vosen (David Strathairn) makes a decision to “burn the program down to the ground” before its true purpose can leak out.

Tasked to make this happen in the new movie is Eric Byer (Norton), though the program is now called Operation Outcome (or “Treadstone without the inconsistency,” as he describes it). One of the loose ends in the program is a chemical lab where Dr. Marta Shearing (Weisz) is treating Outcome subjects with performance-enhancing drugs — and we don’t mean steroids and Viagra. When Weisz gets wise to Byer’s plans, she flees with an equally clued-in Cross by her side.

One of the reasons the Bourne movies continue to matter is the intelligent scripts and the casting of lead actors who gain our sympathies. Damon did a great job of conveying that vulnerability, though after three films — and with director Paul Greengrass bowing out — the Hollywood actor declined a fourth installment.

Enter Gilroy, the sharp, smart scriptwriter of the previous Bourne movies, and director of sharp, smart movies like Michael Clayton.

And enter Renner, hot off action movies like The Avengers and Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol, not to mention Oscar nods for The Hurt Locker and The Town. He brings not only a vulnerable guy-on-the-run quality to his Aaron Cross, but also a self-preserving edginess. While there’s less hand-to-hand combat in this outing (we expected to see Renner show off his kali skills), there are some incredible action sequences, including some of the best in the series shot right here in Manila. In fact, as Crowley told the audience at Resorts World: “The movie’s already being talked about as the best of the Bourne movies, and the Manila chase as the best chase scene yet.”

You can imagine the applause following that line.

A big chunk does take place in Manila and surrounding areas, including San Andres, Intramuros, Navotas fish port, Binondo, not to mention Palawan and El Nido. (We hope to see more of this footage someday in the DVD Director’s Cut version!) Stepping into the role of Larx-3, a stone-cold killer hot on Cross’s trail, is Louis Changchien, who says more behind a menacing pair of sunglasses than most bad guys can manage. His motorcycle chase through Manila’s streets rivals any Mission Impossible or 007 entries, and even recalls the classic elevated train car chase from The French Connection — only this time it’s in Manila!

Some may say the storyline is threadbare, existing merely as a means to get Cross into a series of entanglements and leave behind a pile of busted-up bodies; but hey, if the formula ain’t broke, why fix it? Fortunately, the script by Tony and brother Dan Gilroy is fiercely intelligent enough to drop in the necessary exposition without detracting from story and character at all. As all good action movies should. 

Perhaps the final word should go to William Tieng, chairman of Solar Entertainment, who noted that filming in Manila “could have been a nightmare,” yet the shoot was “swift and peaceful, and it proves that filmmaking really is more fun in the Philippines.”

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Thanks to Romy Berona of United International Pictures for inviting us to the Asian premiere.