{"id":3436,"date":"2012-07-27T15:24:28","date_gmt":"2012-07-27T21:24:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/?p=3436"},"modified":"2012-07-27T19:27:01","modified_gmt":"2012-07-28T01:27:01","slug":"oh-what-a-tangled-web-the-bourne-writers-weave","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/2012\/07\/oh-what-a-tangled-web-the-bourne-writers-weave.html","title":{"rendered":"Oh what a tangled web the Bourne<\/i> writers weave…"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"\"<\/a>The constant retconning on the Bourne<\/i> movies is really something to behold. The first sequel<\/a> didn\u2019t do anything too outrageous \u2014 it just added some flashbacks to an earlier point in \u201cJason Bourne\u2019s\u201d career \u2014 but it ended with an epilogue in which Bourne, an amnesiac, learns his real name. So the second sequel<\/a> had to get a wee bit more inventive, if it was to keep this amnesiac-on-the-run storyline going; instead of picking up where the first sequel left off, the bulk of the second sequel actually takes place before<\/i> the epilogue to the first sequel. And then, by the end of that second sequel, Bourne\u2019s real name had been shared not only with Bourne himself but with the world at large. The amnesiac-on-the-run premise had been exhausted. The franchise simply had nowhere to go<\/a> from there.<\/p>\n

But that hasn\u2019t stopped the filmmakers from coming up with a new angle, and revising everything we thought we knew yet again. \u201cJason Bourne\u201d himself is not a major figure in The Bourne Legacy<\/i>, which comes out next week \u2014 but apparently his actions had a domino effect on a whole bunch of other<\/i> characters who will now be introduced to us for the first time. And, just to make things even more<\/i> convoluted, a just-released featurette explains that the new, fourth movie actually takes place at the same time as<\/i> the third movie. Which presumably means that it, too, takes place at least partly before the end of the second movie. Whew.<\/p>\n