Well, you gotta at least give credit where credit is due. With both Paul Greengrass and Matt Damon bouncing from the franchise after “The Bourne Ultimatum,” Universal went to series guru Tony Gilroy to write and direct “The Bourne Legacy.” And the result was a brainier, less frenetic, slightly more thoughtful approach. It didn’t quite work. At least not with audiences who turned out to see Jeremy Renner as the newly controlled agent, but not quite in the numbers a franchise four movies in should expect. So now they’re calling in the big guns.
Four-time “Fast & Furious” franchise director/saviour Justin Lin is in early discussion to take the helm of “Bourne 5.”And what does really mean? While it’s not spelled out, it’s clear the studio wants a different approach, and probably one that will have the kind of big set pieces, explosions and spectacle audiences expect in their entertainment. Big and dumb? Okay, maybe not that extreme, but certainly less heady, more visceral. We’ll see what screenwriter Anthony Peckham comes up with, but he’s the writer behind “Sherlock Holmes,” so again, the clues are fairly obvious here.
It’s up to Lin at this point, as Variety notes it’s his move to make in the negotations, though Deadline posits it’s a done deal. Lin has no shortage of projects to choose from — futuristic thriller “Hibernation,” manga adaptation “Lone Wolf & Club”, and sci-fi comedy “Subdivision,” a special ops thing for Warner Bros. among countless others — so he’ll have to decide what to do next, though it seems like he’s rolling with Jason Bourne Aaron Cross (yep, Renner will be back) Thoughts? You know where to leave ’em.