It was movie franchise marathon night
when Emily and I decided to go to the drive-in. Although it’s a little late now,
I thought I’d give my thoughts on two summer flicks that might cleanse your
palate if you mistakenly stumbled into a showing of Fantastic Four.
palate if you mistakenly stumbled into a showing of Fantastic Four.
Whether a movie is good is both personal
and relative, of course. I’m easily entertained and, at least when it comes to Mission: Impossible—Rogue Nation, had
low expectations. Truth is, I considered skipping the latest Tom Cruise
charm-fest, having mistakenly thought it was the second feature. It wasn’t.
I’d seen only the first Mission: Impossible movie, along with
bits and pieces of the second one. Honestly, I remember it as being very loud,
with more scene cuts than an MTV video directed by a coke addict. In the early
James Bond movies, it took five minutes for a car to go down the road (but with
that great guitar riff!) These days, in that same five minutes Tom Cruise kills
off an army, takes down a third world government, gets the girl, and still has
time for three breaks with his hair stylist.
None of that changes with Rogue Nation, so maybe I’m just getting
used to it—because I really enjoyed this movie. It had a great cast and action
sequences, and lots of humor, which can make or break a movie for me (and in
this case certainly made it). The plot? Um … something to do with Ethan Hunt
and his Impossible Missions Force taking on one of those evil organizations
bent on controlling the world. And there’s a woman.
Many people refuse to watch a movie starring
the not-always-there Cruise. Me, I despise Alec Baldwin, who plays the Director
of the CIA here. But I can separate my feelings about a person from their
product, and that’s good, because there are plenty of reprehensible people in
Hollywood. Overall I liked this movie, and I have to add: Cruise hanging on the
side of an aircraft 5,000 feet in the air, without a stunt double, may prove he’s
crazy—but it was still cool.
Still, you have to wonder how Ethan Hunt’s team
would handle contact with a Terminator … subject of drive-in night part 2. |
| "The hair--watch the hair!" |
I can't watch Cruise in anything. It goes beyond my anti-Scientology bias and my general dislike of him. I can't see him as the character. I just see Tom Cruise playing someone else. Actors like Harrison Ford become the character they're portraying. For me, Cruise doesn't.
ReplyDeleteI had the strangest feeling that would be your response ...
DeleteI'd much rather have seen Rebecca Ferguson's character instead of Ethan Hunt yet again!
ReplyDeleteCan't argue with that!
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