Bourne again? Here’s what the Bourne Legacy is all about…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8kTwuJ42Qfw

Seeing as the newest instalment of the Bourne franchise doesn't feature Jason Bourne himself, we thought we'd tie up the loose ends and fill you in on how the new Bourne movie works.

With the latest Bourne film being Jason ‘Bourne-less’ a few of you out there may be wondering how exactly the film is going to work. You think that Jason Bourne is the whole story? There's a lot more going on here.

The main character in the fourth instalment of the franchise, The Bourne Legacy, is Aaron Ross, played by Jeremy Renner who you may remember from his role in the award-winning movie The Hurt Locker. Now, here’s where the first bit of explaining comes in.

It’s not like the Bond movies where a new actor would reprise the role every couple of years (Connery, Moore, Brosnan etc.). The Bourne Legacy actually runs parallel with The Bourne Ultimatum and it starts off right around the time that the Guardian journalist, Simon Ross (played by Paddy Considine), is killed after finding out about the Treadstone and Blackbriar operations. Still with us? Good.

Aaron Ross, just like Jason Bourne (who is presumed to be either KIA or MIA), is part of a secret government operation that mirrors Operation Treadstone. It’s called Operation Outcome and like the other secret operations, it’s restricted to CIA level 5, which means only the top agents and staff know about it.

There’s also a major difference in how the two characters react to their respective operations and it’s a key point in the new movie. Jason Bourne wakes up not knowing who he is, so his goal then is to find out what’s going on how to get the CIA off his back. However, Aaron Ross knows exactly who he is and why he’s doing what he’s doing (that being a kickass CIA operative).

We haven't even scratched the surface...

It transpires that Operation Treadstone and Operation Blackbriar barely scratch the surface of the CIA’s various secret operations and Operation Outcome is just one of a number of those splinter ops. The man at the centre of all the secret operations, or ‘Black Ops’, is Ret. Col. Ric Byer, played by Edward Norton. Basically, he's the top dog.

Norton, best known for his roles as a Nazi skinhead in American History X and as a midnight fighter in Fight Club, plays the ‘bad guy’ in this movie. ‘Villain’ would be a bit of a strong word to use, but he’s certainly no ally of Aaron Ross – well, not anymore.

Once Jason Bourne blows the lid on both Operation Treadstone and Operation Blackbriar it then becomes Byer’s job to destroy any thread of the various black-ops that are currently in operation. Sadly for Aaron Ross, that means he’s directly in the firing line.

Ross only has one ally in the CIA that he can rely on, that being a scientist working on the personality-altering chemicals used in Operation Outcome called Dr. Marta Shearing, played by Rachel Weisz.

From here on we see the same explosive action that we would expect from the Bourne franchise. Fans of the first three films will quickly know exactly what’s going on and where they are in the timeline of the four movies and anyone new to series won’t be left in the dark for too long. Plus, there are a boat load of surprises in the movie so fans new and old alike will have something to look forward to.

Now that you know what’s going on in the new flick you’ll be able to head along to the opening night on Monday August 13 without thinking to yourself, ‘wait… that’s not Matt Damon’.

The Bourne Legacy hits cinemas next Monday, August 13