Movie Review – Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One

One way ticket to thrill

I read a comment somewhere saying, “Tom Cruise runs, rides, jumps, flies, clings to his dear life and does every possible stunt on Mother Earth. What else can he do in the grand finale?” But isn’t it the question which people have been asking since the second part, which at that time felt too good to be true. That’s what Tom Cruise can do. A true blue action junkie for the big screen. The one who makes everyone feel young and plausible. I’m sure no one who came out of the movie would have come home sane without raising the throttle at least once.

The movie begins with a submarine and a kind of superpower which was hidden in it. There was some sort of missile showing in the radar. They keep on stating that they’re invisible and don’t understand what’s that coming towards them. But the missile coming at them also becomes invisible. I thought the sequence would end then and there by Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) coming inside the submarine by being invisible and it’ll all be a little joke of the Russians but unfortunately that was the plot of the movie.

We get to the see the very first troupe of mask change at the start of the movie, followed by the template title cards. The mask scene didn’t work but the title card was lovely. In fact the best from what I can remember. Whatever the “Entity” is and what it does is not a problem for anyone because the director, Christopher McQuarrie, doesn’t let you think beyond it as an invisible villain. What a combination, McQuarrie and Tom Cruise are. Should be hailed as one of the best combos of Hollywood.

Hunt and his friends, Luther Stickell (Ving Rhames) and Benji Dunn (Simon Pegg) try to go after one part of the key first up but in turn get robbed by someone. It was far-fetched to see such an intelligent team getting robbed by a petty thief, Grace (Hayley Atwell), who was downright annoying, as opposed to an effervescent Helena Shaw (Phoebe Waller-Bridge) from a much recent ‘Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny’. In fact when Hunt sticks on to her, tries to save her in a car chase and from White Widow (Vanessa Kirby), it was irritating. She couldn’t get the sympathy of me. Especially the scene where she handcuffs him to the car, was limits.

What follows is a series of Mission Impossible troupes, which keeps us engaged but feels repetitive and compulsory. There were high octane scenes of course and keeps us glued to the scene but there wasn’t any surprise element. None of the troupes give a wow moment. Be it the bike ride, the running, Benji being delirious etc. It was like watching a big star movie who does his trademark thing time and again. Fortunately or unfortunately it works but a bit of innovation would have been nice.

The other characters have nothing to do and apart from a series of action scenes there weren’t a single scene which people could connect. Thanks to the bad audio and no subtitles, audience started chit chatting and munching popcorn as soon as action scenes get over. The movie is worth the time, they forget the popcorn. But thankfully it was a whole lot of time.

Coming to the greatest action scene as advertised by the makers. It feels like the whole film happens for that. But to be honest, it happens too fast without letting anyone feel it. It’s just the one shot. The making felt lot better than the actual scene. With any other film, the train stunt post that would have felt unnecessary but the director and actors make that work too. We can see how they are seeing the film. It could have easily looked like a circus with people jumping like clowns here and there. But it’s the sincerity which propels the film to the next level. In fact god level. I don’t know whether I should be happy that everyone could feel the film as their own and root for the protagonist or worry about how the fans of certain actors could only wish that their hero makes such films.

See, in short, I can never write a good review for this movie, but I can never hate the movie. Mission Impossible series more than anything is a part of our life. It’s the last of something great. Like how, even if the final part of the Indiana Jones was a bomb, how the last book was unnecessarily made into two parts for Harry Potter, this too is one such series you can’t miss out. It’s to be watched in theatres and relished. Reviews are for another time.

Movie Review – The Tourist

One try, too many

Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck – One name I memorised proudly to show off during my college days after watching ‘The Lives of Others’. I precisely remember watching ‘The Lives of Others’ and ‘The Diving Bell and the Butterfly’ back to back during one of my semester holiday movie sprees and liking the director’s name of ‘The Lives of Others’ and the movie name of the ‘The Diving Bell and the Butterfly’. I wish ‘The Diving Bell and the Butterfly’ had been directed by Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck. The name just suits you see. I liked the ‘The Diving Bell and the Butterfly’ amongst the two too. Somehow the name Julian Schnabel who’s the director of it, didn’t get registered at all.

Thanks to the name and the huge reputation ‘The Lives of Others’ carried, I remember that ‘The Tourist’ had a humongous expectation and that too came during the December Oscar window. Naturally as it was by an Oscar director everyone was thinking that it’d be one of a kind. But thanks to the hugely negative reviews around that time, especially from my go to critic Roger Ebert, I didn’t feel like watching the movie at all.

When I watched it now, ten years later, the film was very much like ‘Knight and Day’, only that it was not funny. Even though a crap, ‘Knight and Day’ at least works as a time pass film but ‘The Tourist’ had no idea what it was trying to do. Especially after climax I was severely irritated. Even an ultra-commercial Rajni 80s film would feel better. I was wondering why a director like – okay I’m going to type his full name again – Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck, would want to make a movie like this. The only explanation I could think of is a free trip to Venice, like the guy who gets caught in the climax tells, “not just any other place”.

Everything about the movie was mainstream, the actors, the posters and even the name. Very much James Bondish, just that there was no Bond. I’ve always hated Johnny Depp whenever he does this comic role. He’s much better than that. But all people remember of him as Jack Sparrow, an over the top pirate in one of the most-talked-about-movie-to-strike-a-conversation-with-chicks, ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’. It beats me till date as to why the film has such huge fan following. ‘Lord of the Rings’ is understandable but why ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’. It was not even fun. But anyways, wish people would look beyond, ‘Pirates of Caribbean’ when they see Johnny Depp, may be a ‘Donnie Brasco’ or a ‘Public Enemies’. Because it feels so bad when a terrific actor like Johnny Depp is being typecast for only his over the top role like Jack Sparrow or the ones in Tim Burtons. At least the latter is fun.

The opening sequence where Elise (Angelina Jolie) is being watched over by the French/Scot police feels like a dig of his own ‘The Lives of Others’. Followed by a sequence where she tries to get a guy of Pearce’s stature which reminds of Bond films. But both the scenes were overdone by Angelina Jolie. Its really tough to criticize her. Something is missing. She was lacking the finesse to execute such scenes but all the admiration in the film as well for the brand that she carries was making it tough to say it out loud. Also, the chemistry between the two doesn’t really work. May be if the whole film had been made in a serious manner with action and less of comedy, I guess at least then it’d have been gripping. Right from the scene where Frank (Johnny Depp) starts running on the roof, the film suffers a setback. Just imagine Tom Cruise doing it. Tom Cruise and runs, a never-ending love story, ain’t it.

There was so eagerness to follow the film initially because of its richness and an element of surprise but to drag it till climax and being illogical in explanation, it became a drag. No part of the film really works, it’s all we’ve already watched. Like the critics worldwide were confused whether it was a serious film or comedy film, I too was, like Vadivelu. The only respite of the film is Venice and to look around the amazing locales. It was like watching a TLC programme. What starts out as an ultimate male fantasy of getting a hot chick, big room and fine dine ends up being a dud because the way the film tries to be clever.