The Bourne Legacy: Where's Bourne?

I'm just going to start by saying that this movie is okay.  It wasn't great but I found it a lot more interesting than say Total Recall.  Before I start commenting on the movie as a whole, I think I'm going to have to give this movie an incomplete.  I don't remember the Bourne Trilogy all that well.  I saw them a long time ago and my memory of them isn't as fresh as I'd like it to be.  And so much of the plot of this movie has to do with what happened in the Bourne Trilogy that I'm guessing a lot of my confusion about this movie could probably be answered if I came in more prepared.  So, in fairness, I'm reserving judgement.

The action scenes in this movie were pretty good.  There were a lot of close up/shaky cam stuff, but it wasn't as bad as I've seen in other movies.  I find it hard to even talk about this issue because nothing about it was all that remarkable.  I think the coolest action scene was near the beginning with Aaron Cross up in Alaska.  That whole scene with the wolves was awesome.  The motorcycle chase in the Philppines was cool as well, but it was just too close and shaky for me to really enjoy. 

It's the story that was a bit of a hangup for me.  And as I said before I'm not sure if it's because I don't remember the Bourne Trilogy that well or not.  Here's the story: They (whoever they are) are shutting down this super soldier program.  That means killing all the agents and the scientists who created these pills that turn people into super soldiers.  Well, they miss one.  Aaron Cross.  The rest of the movie is "They" chasing Cross and the beautiful female scientist Marta Shearing.  And that's about it.  I have no idea why "They" were shutting down this program, I don't know who "They" are protecting, and I don't know why "They" had to kill everyone.

For me, there is a carrot and a stick approach.  I'm sure the scientists could've been bought off but they never even tried.  They went straight to murder.  Is any of this explained in the Bourne movies?  Maybe.  I don't remember.  I'm sure the biggest question is explained and that's why the agency is being shut down.  I remember that Bourne exposed the program and that's why it's all being shut down.  But why kill everyone?  That seems a bit extreme when bribery works with the threat of assassination.  Granted a less interesting movie.

So, that's about all I have to say.  It's good, but the plot of the movie is so intertwined with the Bourne movies that it really feels like there's a lot of missing information if you haven't seen them or just don't remember what happened.  Bourne is referenced so many times in this movie I fully expected Matt Damon to make a cameo.  The movie ends on a very obvious piece of sequel bait so expect another Bourne movie to come out within the next few years.  If Jeremy Renner is the lead actor again, I'm there.