Rating (3 out of 5)
I had high expectations for this movie based on its’ Rotten Tomatoes score, but I the movie didn’t (for me) live up to they hype. In the end, this was your typical action hero movie, where the bad guys just don’t kill the good guys and everything works out well in the end.
The plot, is there are three balls of nuclear material, and bomb devices out there in the world. Tom Cruise’s team needs to go get them. The premise is that simple.
What I Liked: Hats off to the stunt men on this movie. The action sequences were top notch.
Ving Rhames and Simon Pegg are the personality of the movie. Unfortunately I didn’t think they got enough screen time. I also thought liked the chemistry between the other agent, Ilsa (played by Rebecca Ferguson) and Cruise.
(Spoiler coming) I liked the fight scene betweenIlsa and Sean Harris’s character Solomon Lane. This was a a good hand to hand battle, and while trying to keep Simon Pegg’s character alive. When she kicked the box over to keep Simon Pegg from choking on the noose, it felt very Jackie Chan.
The other scene I liked was when they tricked the evil scientist to unlocking his phone. They had to fake a CNN newscast and hospital room. It are those parts of Mission Impossible that are really good, when they do the spy stuff.
What I Didn’t Like: Tom Cruise looks old in this movie. After a while, it becomes unbelievable that his character can keep going like he does. The high speed chases, the hanging from elevators, helicopters and the side of cliffs. Kudos to Tom for being so fit to be able to do what he does in this film.
The action scene with the helicopters; it was just too much at that point. Tom’s helicopter is wounded, but somehow it is able to still ram the other helicopter. After watching car races, you notice how slow cars move with the slightest glitch, I can’t imagine what the difference would be like with those two helicpoters. And really, Henry Cavill’s character is supposed to be some CIA super assasain, but can’t hit Tom’s helicopter. Note: I don’t know if this was needed, as I found the work at the base camp to find the bombs, and the fight scene mentioned above to be more engaging.
(Spoiler coming ) My complaint here is two fold: 1) Henry Cavill to me is a 1 dimensional actor, and doesn’t light up the camera with his personality. Similar to how I feel when I watch Ben Affleck. 2) Who didn’t know that he was going to be the bad guy as soon as he appears on screen. They gave you so many hints, it was crazy, that is you are just counting the minutes to the reveal.
The action scene sequence that takes place in the bathroom, was really unrealistic. Its a men’s bathroom at a large party. While there usually isn’t long lines at a men’s bathroom, there is usually a steady flow of people, especially if it is an open bar. They destroyed the bathroom, and they try to pretend that someone has a broken nose, pleasee…
While I do have a number of complaints this is still a solid action film, and the action sequences are just plain awesome. Unbelievable, but great, and I appreciate a good action movie. Also, I appreciated the attempt at intrigue, and spy work, even thoug it was only sprinkled over the movie.