Tom Cruise

Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation

I used to love Tom Cruise (Edge of Tomorrow). He’s always been a capable actor, but I think people are reluctant to elevate him to the upper echelon of Hollywood elite when it comes to talent. Make no mistake, he’s an undeniable superstar – but that just means he’s popular and his movies do well. I think he’s talented, but his thespian skillset is overshadowed by the perception of him as action star. I credit him with a knack for self-deprecation and an overwhelming commitment to his craft, evidenced by the fact that he’s long performed his own stunts. Action movies are in his wheelhouse, so I was excited to see Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation (aka Mission Impossible 5).

The franchise began with an emphasis on espionage and has since become more reliant on action. Additionally, there doesn’t seem to be much consistency with characters from one movie to the next, other than Cruise as steadfast superspy Ethan Hunt. This time around the IMF (Hunt’s covert employer) is on thin ice, with its leader William Brandt (Jeremy Renner, Avengers: Age of Ultron) clashing with CIA director Alan Hunley (Alec Baldwin, Aloha) after a mission to recover a nuclear weapon is unsuccessful. The film’s opening sequence details Hunt’s attempt to stop a moving plane from absconding with the deadly missile. Intel reveals that a rogue “nation” known as The Syndicate has stolen the weapon in order to execute terror attacks against Western allies. Complicating matters even further is the fact that the head of The Syndicate, Solomon Lane (Sean Harris, Prometheus) has ties to British Intelligence and the IMF, utilizing disavowed agents from both agencies.

One such agent is Ilsa Faust (Rebecca Ferguson, Hercules), formerly of British Intelligence. She and Ethan both want to stop Lane, but we aren’t sure if she’s friend or foe. One minute she’s helping Ethan escape The Syndicate, the next minute it looks like she’s doing their bidding in an assassination attempt against the Austrian Prime Minister. In one of the movie’s better scenes, Ethan foils the assassination attempt at the opera; deftly battling spies atop a catwalk while the audience watches the performance, completely unaware. That scene reflected all that’s great about the franchise (action, clever plot development, suspense), but unfortunately that level of tension was not maintained throughout the film.

I thought the movie suffered in its third act, when it got a little too smart for its own good. There was one twist and turn too many, and little things just didn’t add up for me. I know that a good spy movie should keep you guessing, but the plot quickly went from simple to complicated, which wasn’t necessary. Ethan Hunt felt like a poor man’s Jason Bourne, and although the action scenes were top notch – I still found myself bored as the movie wore on. The interplay between Ethan and Ilsa was fun to watch, but for me the movie was a bit of a mixed bag. I wasn’t disappointed, but it wasn’t quite as good as I thought it would be. Grade: B

 

Jack Reacher

Sometimes it’s hard for me to separate the artist from the work.  If I dislike the way an actor conducts themselves outside of their movies, I don’t really look at their movies the same way, if at all.  Clint Eastwood pisses me off now.  I think he’s an ornery old cracker.  His movies are dope, but I just don’t rock with him like that.  Which brings me to Tom Cruise (Rock of Ages), my old favorite up until recently.  I have always liked Cruise, the venerable star whose movies were sure blockbusters.  And then he started to seem like a kooky scientologist.  Granted, I never heard of him doing anything really bad; he just seemed kind of weird.  But dammit, I couldn’t completely give up on him.  I liked him in the last Mission Impossible movie, because he’s still a great action star.  He’s charismatic and capable and seems like he performs his own stunts.  I’m sold on him in these types of roles, so when I saw the trailer for Jack Reacher, it looked worth checking out.

Cruise stars as Jack Reacher, a military investigator who is “off the grid.”  He served honorably, receiving numerous medals of distinction.  He hasn’t been definitively heard from or seen in a couple of years, and only resurfaces after being requested by a domestic terror suspect.  The movie begins with a vivid and terrifying sequence of events where members of the public are seemingly shot at random.  In light of the recent shootings in Connecticut, I’m sure this scene was particularly disturbing for some.  It reminded me of the DC Sniper, as we see the killer hunt his victims as they engaged in routine activity.  First he trained his sight on a woman walking alone, then on a man seated on a bench, and so on and so forth.  At first it seemed that he was bypassing his targets, whimsically sparing each one – but he quickly retraced his steps and picks off each victim in rapid succession.  He makes his getaway quickly, and soon the wrong man is arrested for the heinous crime.  We know this right away, but what we don’t know is why this unsuspecting former soldier named Barr was chosen as the fall guy, or why he wants Reacher to help him.

Rosamund Pike (Wrath of the Titans) and David Oyelowo (Lincoln) round out the cast as Barr’s lawyer Helen and the detective who wants to put him away, respectively.  They were serviceable in their roles, though something about Pike annoys me.  I think I haven’t forgiven her for replacing Gemma Arterton in Wrath of the Titans, which is unfair.  Nevertheless, I was glad that her character and Reacher kept it professional throughout the movie.  I didn’t notice any particular chemistry between the two, which was in keeping with Reacher’s solitary nature.

Reacher was similar to some of Tom Cruise’s past characters, in that he was a skilled antihero, a good guy who isn’t afraid to punish mercilessly when pushed by an adversary.  Despite his toughness, I liked that Reacher was more of a thinker than a bruiser; he only used violence as a last resort.  His mysteriousness only heightens the suspense of the movie, and I thought much of it was smart and well done.  However, after mulling it over with a friend who also saw it – I have to admit that certain scenes were foolish and didn’t quite make sense.  One fight scene between Reacher and two foes looked like something out of the Three Stooges, and it dumbed down an otherwise smart movie.  I’m not sure why the scene played out that way, though writer/director Christopher McQuarrie is brilliant to me, on the strength of The Usual Suspects alone.  I thought the writing was very sharp for the most part, but I was admittedly sucked in from the opening scene, so I may have had blinders on.

Tom Cruise is like a timeless, cryogenic wonder.  He is either genetically blessed, or he has the best plastic surgeon in Hollywood – because he still looks great and is believable.  At the age of 50 he is still convincingly playing the action hero, which is pretty impressive.  I’m not familiar with the series by which the movie was inspired, but I understand there was some backlash from its fans about his casting.  The Reacher of literary note was a blonde behemoth – which clearly does not describe Cruise.  Like I said, I’m not familiar with the books, so I share no such disappointment.  In sum, I thought Jack Reacher was pretty good, but it’s not a must-see.  Grade: B.

Mission: Impossible 4 – Ghost Protocol

Tom Cruise (most recently of Knight and Day) used to be one of my favorite actors.  Then, his public perception began to decline after marrying Katie Holmes.  An unfortunate appearance on Oprah and some ill-advised comments about Brooke Shields’ post partum depression didn’t help matters.  It seemed like people were no longer focusing on the movies; they were focused on the Scientology and the wacky behavior.  Cruise has been a certified hit machine since Risky Business.  He’s given us classics like Top Gun and Rain Man.  It would take the passage of time and several enjoyable movies for people to move past the punch lines of a few years ago.  With the latest edition to his blockbuster Mission: Impossible franchise, maybe Cruise has finally returned to being the likable star he once was.

The Mission: Impossible franchise has always been a good one, with the first movie in the series opening in 1996.  It’s the only Mission: Impossible that I own on DVD and it remains the most suspenseful of the four movies.   Ghost Protocol finds Ethan Hunt being busted out of a Russian prison by fellow IMF agents Jane (Paula Patton, Precious) and Benji (Simon Pegg, Hot Fuzz).  They need Ethan’s help to find the assassin who recently killed another agent.  Furthermore, Ethan’s official mission is to prevent the same assassin from delivering nuclear launch codes to a Russian madman.  When the team botches a plan to break into the Kremlin, the entire agency is disavowed in the wake of a perceived potential return to the Cold War era.  ‘Ghost Protocol’ is initiated, and the agents are on their own. They must clear themselves of the Kremlin incident and still prevent the Russian lunatic from getting the launch codes.  After Hunt’s contact tells him about the Ghost Protocol, they add government analyst and former agent Jeremy Renner (The Town, The Hurt Locker) to the mix.

Ok, let’s talk about what worked and what did not work.  First of all, the plot was very simplified this time around.  I’ve seen a million action movies, and sometimes the plot gets really intricate, almost to the point of being unnecessary.  Here, things are pretty straightforward.  Nuclear weapons are bad. Russian man wants to launch one.  That would be bad; he must be stopped.  If you’ve seen more than one Mission: Impossible movie, you know there will be lots of action and some great stunt work.  I tip my hat to Cruise for always being up for the challenge.  His scenes on the side of a skyscraper in Dubai were heart stopping.  The gadgets can’t compare to those in the 007 movies, but the cars and high-speed chases make up for that.  Cruise is still in great shape after all these years, and I laughed at an extended foot chase scene similar to one featured in Mission: Impossible 3.  He’s still got ‘it.’  You can count on him and Will Smith to run their asses off in a movie.  Tom Cruise was even running like the wind all over town in The Firm, briefcase flopping everywhere – remember that movie? I digress.

Mission: Impossible 4 – Ghost Protocol was an entertaining movie, but it was good – not great.  A few really great scenes, including a suspenseful opening sequence, and the aforementioned foot chase through a blinding sandstorm, held the movie together.  Cruise can play Ethan Hunt in his sleep.  Jeremy Renner continues to show his versatility, and Simon Pegg provided great comedic timing and comic relief.  Which brings me to Paula Patton.  She turned down a recurring role on Law & Order: SVU to take this role, and at first I thought that was a mistake.   There’s an obvious upside to appearing alongside Tom Cruise, but I thought the stability of a television series with a strong following would have been better for her career.  Is Thandie Newton (For Colored Girls) a big star because she was in Mission: Impossible 2? I don’t think so.  But, after further consideration – I think I was wrong.  Ghost Protocol was a good look for Ms. Patton.  She showed that she could hold her own in an action movie and look beautiful while doing it.  However, there were some awkward moments that could have been left on the cutting room floor.  I picked up on some unintentional comedy in the way she delivered a few of her lines, and I think she should continue to improve as an actress.

You know what you’re getting with Mission: Impossible, but I thought it made for an enjoyable day at the movies.  It wasn’t the best installment in the franchise, but it’s definitely worth checking out.