Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol, with Tom Cruise, Jeremy Renner, Simon Pegg & Paula Patton. Some of us are too snobbish to give a thumbs up at something that is exactly what was expected. I’m certainly not.
Face it, if you want to go see a certain type of movie, you look for one & then go see it. You’re happy to be satisfied with what you saw. How is that not a “most excellent” film to rival a work by Fellini? I know there are standards of beauty but I don’t recognize any one “expert reviewer” over someone (like me) who is just giving a personal opinion, from standard information. Gleaned from years of hedonism & solitude.
I admire Cruise because he’s a survivor & good at what he does. He’s not my “most” favorite actor but definitely a long-time favorite. I can’t help it. I like to be amused (I admit it). No one likes a sour jester & since he’s not that, he must be good. Right?
He stuck to the character’s development & portrayed an almost-invincible, secret agent with a crack team. Cruise is well-preserved, so that’s also a plus – to counteract all the zombies I’ve seen this year.
Jeremy Renner (Hurt Locker) was sort of a let down. I don’t want to sound like too much of a j@ck!ss but he really needed a trip to the beauty parlor & a bucket of powder, before they started filming. It seemed to me he was unable to focus on the character. I hope he doesn’t turn out to be a one-hit wonder. If you see this film, I think you too will be astonished at the really bad lighting on him. Was that on purpose? He’s over-rated.
Pegg & Patton are superb as eccentric support team members, way in over their heads on a mission that turns into a deadly change of matters when nuclear launch codes are obtained by madmen!
Patton has an everywoman quality, I’m sure that’s served her well during auditions. She has an edge to her, like a clever tart on the corner. So whatever she did right at said auditions, she was well cast as a clever covert operator. I don’t remember anything that stands out, as far as her acting; but that’s alright in a hyper action film.
Pegg is the humor valve, stress release; so that the constant non-stop action doesn’t become a joke. If we don’t understand what’s going on we can just admire the comic. He’s great, I hope he lands another role in a big film.
I highly recommend this film for viewing by everyone, except the film snobs.
I know we haven’t seen the last of Cruise. Thank god someone is still making an effort.
