Just let me get this out right now...I don't like Tom Cruise. I never liked Tom Cruise, I don't think I ever will like Tom Cruise. There's just something kind of creepy about him. I never watched any of his movies except for the Mission Impossible series and he kinda just scares me.
So I saw this movie because I love love love action movies and not for Tom Cruise.
The good:
+The main cast (other than Tom Cruise)--a STELLAR cast. I mean any cast with Simon Pegg is automatically a stellar cast but still, amazing amazing.
=Simon Pegg as Benji: Oh dear Lord, I love this man. He can do no wrong in my book. Ever since I saw him in Hot Fuzz it's like he just keeps getting more and more amazing. There's something so innately funny about him. I love all his lines, when he's Russian and babbling and when he goes "You'll regret this, Private Egorov, pshh." He brought some great comedic timing to this action movie and I love comedy-action. Every piece of dialogue he says is an automatic great one-liner. And when he gets all serious I love him even more! When he shoots Winstrom from down the corridor, the look on his face is bad-ass.
=Paula Patton as Jane Carter: I actually really really really liked her. She wasn't annoying and she could kick some serious ass! And she looks right for the part too. She looks muscular and strong, like she could beat up grown men. And has that amazing fight scene with Lea Seydoux as the assassin where she literally launches herself across the hallway, like a lion or something. Kristen Kreuk and Lauren German were rumored to be considered for the role...(there's Lauren German again...geez can I not escape from her?) and omg it would have been kinda horrible if they had been picked. With their little stick arms?? I can hardly imagine them being able to fire a gun let alone incapacitate two grown men. I can only imagine Kristen Kreuk running around wide-eyed hardly able to do anything and Lauren German trying to act but only succeeding in looking wooden and hardly believable when it comes to more "emotional" scenes. And Paula Patton is so pretty! Not the conventional stick thin. I was rooting for her the whole time and she could definitely hold her own. I like how even though they had that cliche of a woman agent having to seduce the old rich guy, she was actually feeling really insecure about herself. Yeah. I hope she gets her own spin off or is included in more MI movies. I liked her backstory as well with that Agent Hannway, it was a smart move on the writers part because it automatically made her a likable character.
=Jeremy Renner as William Brandt: Can I just say Jeremy Renner is freaking awesome? I've been a fan of his since The Unusuals and then The Hurt Locker and he can really do not wrong. I saw Thor so I could see the cameo of Hawkeye....is that taking my fan-ing to an extreme level? Oh well. He's smart, funny, and is seriously great at the fighting parts. He is also more comedic than I originally thought he was going to be. He's obviously the "straight" man to everyone's slightly more funny selves but then as the movie goes on, he gets more and more hilarious. When he does the lunges before he jumps into the tunnel. ("Next time, I get to seduce the rich guy.") Hilarious. And he was actually sort of sweet in this film...he kinda plays douche-y characters a lot of times. In The Town, in The Unusuals, S.W.A.T., in Dahmer (...well he played a serial killer in that one...so...haha) even in The Hurt Locker, so it was nice to see him actually being a nice, caring person...for once. I liked his backstory, and I liked that I felt sort of sorry for him in the middle of the movie and then happy for him by the end. And I liked his banter with Benji ("I think we've glossed over a big part of the plan. I-I jump and then..." "And I catch you..." "It's a 25 foot drop! They're MAGNETS." "What part of I catch you don't you understand?"). I think his character is gonna stick around for the next one? I heard his character is supposed to take over when Tom Cruise decides to step down. Also, next year is gonna be the year of Jeremy Renner. Like how 2011 was the year of Ryan Gosling (who I don't really like). He's gonna be in The Avengers and then in The Bourne Legacy, both action movies so I'm excited to see him beat some people up. I think he does action movies really well.
=Tom Cruise as Ethan Hunt: Alright, so I don't like Tom Cruise but luckily he wasn't really focused on that much in this movie. In the third one it was all about Tom Cruise and...the third one was boringggg...In this one, he didn't speak too much so that was good...and a lot of his acting was all about subtle acting in his face which I thought was smart. When he talks too much I get annoyed. It was good acting when he says through gritted teeth, "I am. taking. that. briefcase." And his little snarky comments to everyone. He was an interesting and likable character but I'm still not a fan of Tom Cruise. At least he didn't smile in this one, I liked that he was a lot more broody. His smile reminds me of The Joker from Batman (not exactly a comforting expression on his face, more...uncomfortable...).
+The Director: Brad Bird. Oh Brad Bird. I love you. I loved The Incredibles and I loved Ratatouille and I loved The Iron Giant. You can do almost no wrong in my book. I love his comedic timing. That's the one thing I really really admired about this movie. It was action-packed but it was still funny. The moment where Ethan is trying to get back into the room but his line is too short and Brandt goes, "The rope isn't long enough!" and Ethan replies, "NO SHIT!" Or when he tries to catapult himself back into the room and you think he's gonna make it because it's a movie and that's how all the heroes are (they're perfect), he instead stops his fall with his face, runs into the top of the window and almost falls to his death. There are plenty of moments where you're like "OH (ouch ouch ouch that's gotta hurt)." Bird also does suspense really well and fight scenes. There was one scene which was almost exactly like the The Incredibles though...and I wish I could remember what it was but I can't...
+The fight scenes and action: Pretty great. Stuff I had never seen before. The technology was good. That car was kinda freaking amazing. And that blow up crash bag that you can throw and then it blows up before you fall and smash every bone in your body was pretty cool. I wonder if that can actually work...I mean isn't it like trying to land on an air mattress? Does it really cushion your fall? But I digress. The screen with the camera thing was also pretty cool. And the fighting between Brandt and Cruise and the fighting between Brandt, Cruise and those bodyguards...and just fighting in general. Although, I would wonder about when Brandt is fighting Winstrom, how come he couldn't get his way out of that one? I mean we had just seen him break a guy's leg with his arms...he can't get out of Winstrom's hold? Maybe it was to show that Benji can shoot a gun... Hunt's fight with the bad guy was pretty great. Just because it was a bunch of older guys duke-ing it out and basically injuring themselves a whole bunch. That whole time I was just wincing because they...are just so...not young. And when he goes into the car and drives it off the elevator...I was wincing with him. But how come the old bad guy can match Tom Cruise in a fight? That is sort of...reaching a bit. I mean seriously? He breaks Cruise's leg with a kick...unless it's a mighty Kung Fu kick...I don't see that happening. Who taught him to fight anyway? A martial arts master? Are they frequent in Germany or Belgium or wherever he came from? On top of being just naturally crazy and planning nuclear world war, does he go to the dojo and bang out some karate? That was asking the audience a bit too much in the suspending disbelief department.
+The comedy: The comedy was so great. I loved the countdown that Brandt does and that rich Indian guy who is only on for like five minutes and yet almost steals the show. He makes Agent Carter find him in his party and then he does that little dance to get out of his shoes and then she wrestles him into a hold. It's hilarious. Or when Brandt has to convince himself to jump into that wind tunnel. Or the Russians. Bogdan and his "SERGEI!"
+The music: was actually very good. I liked the classic MI theme coming in at pivotal moments and the placement of those recognizable notes was extremely smart. And the score around the theme was very good at building suspense. I only noticed it the second time I saw it but I realized it was a pretty good score.
The eh:
+The editing: The beginning was kind of slow. It could have been cut a little better so that it would flow a little better. Just a little shave here and there, time-wise and it would have been a better cut, tighter movie. It isn't really until after the Secretary tells Hunt about the IMF being disavowed does it start to flow better and become more suspenseful. I think he focused a little too much on the comedy in the beginning part. I liked the comedy, don't get me wrong, but I think it just slowed down the pace of the movie too much. The ending fighting scenes could have been better cut as well, I think. The fight scenes in the middle where it's quick and brutal had more of an impact for me than the ones that drag on and on. I mean, again, I can't really believe that that crazy Professor "Cobalt" could really match Ethan Hunt in fighting techniques and yet Hunt and Brandt can dispatch the assassin's bodyguards in one fell swoop, can you? Maybe if they had made it more into a gun fight it would be a little more believable. Or if he had a bad wound or something. And again with Brandt vs. Winstrom.
+The plot (kinda): WELL, I can give this a little more slack. I liked how they kept getting foiled until the last minute. It made for a really high suspense situation. I mean obviously it couldn't happen because it's a Mission Impossible movie and they never fail but the whole time you were thinking but what if the director throws us for a loop and they do fail? It's like he was playing chicken with the audience. But I was interested in the plot holes. Like when Hunt's impersonating the Russian general and they're bringing all that equipment into the suitcases and it goes through the metal detector and X-ray machine. I mean wouldn't the security of the Kremlin ask questions? Or is it because he's supposedly a high-ranking general that they don't give the bloody screen, camera and ipad a second look? Or how did Cobalt know they were gonna be in the Kremlin at that time? How did the Russians know that Hunt was in Dubai? And why Dubai? Didn't anyone see a little figure hanging off the hotel and ask questions? I mean he did crash through the window with that wooden spool thing, wouldn't they have looked up if they felt glass raining on them? And is the window really that weak that a wooden spool could break it? If that's the case, I am never going to that hotel. ever. And why did the technology keep failing? It's like Spy Kids and how the Machete brand never works. How realistic is this plot anyway? Why would some dude just be walking about with Russian nuclear launch codes? Even though I'm pointing them out and making fun of them, I still like this movie. It's just interesting to look at the holes.
+Sort of cheesy dialogue: When Ethan is making that speech about needing them all..."We've all got to do this together," all I could think about was High School Musical, "We're all in this together" which made me laugh. No one can say that anymore without me thinking that. The writers should have picked a better line. The dialogue wasn't the best all the time...but then again who's paying attention to the dialogue with all the fighting and explosions going on?
+Lea Seydoux: She's extremely beautiful but I didn't really believe she could be an assassin that would be able to beat up people. Maybe with a gun she would reign supreme but hand-to-hand fighting? Not so much. She did play it well though. I didn't like her at all which is how it should be. And when she was kicked out the window...I was actually kind of happy. Again, which is how the audience should react.
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