Mission Impossible 4! Been looking forward to this for a long time. For a little background on my history with the Mission Impossible series, I haven’t watched the TV show and I’ve seen all three films (although I haven’t seen the first two in a LONG time). I’m a huge fan of Brad Bird’s work (The Iron Giant, Ratatouille, The Incredibles), but I was concerned about how well he could make the transition from animated films to live action. This movie had a lot of doubts stemming from the capabilities of a first time live action director and an aging star whose shine has seemingly faded. So what was the outcome?

A rousing, crowd pleasing action blockbuster for all to enjoy. I freakin’ LOVED Mission Impossible 4. Brad Bird quieted the critics with one of the best action directorial debuts in recent years and Tom Cruise proved that even at the ripe age of 49 he could be still be an action star. Almost every aspect of this film worked for me from an action standpoint. I have some gripes about the characterization and the story, but other than that MI4 was a complete success.

Regardless of his crazy personal life, Tom Cruise is still one of my favorite actors of all-time. He’s been on a slump as of late with MI3 and Valkyrie underperforming, with Lions for Lambs and Knight & Day bombing both critically and commercially. His last box office smashes were War of the Worlds (2005) and Collateral (2004). Hopefully MI4 will help reclaim his star, because he puts in one hell of a performance. Ethan Hunt is very “Tom Cruise” type of role, but he brings a certain amount of commitment and devotion to the film that is impossible to overlook. 

I dug the side characters played by Paula Patton, Simon Pegg, and Jeremy Renner. I think that the little character arcs that they created for each character was nice because it added a layer to each character (something that was missing from the team in MI3), but those character arcs were ultimately a bit too rushed and poorly done for me to buy completely. 

The villain in this film played by Michael Nyqvist was extremely lame. His motivation was sorely lacking and he had zero charisma as a villain. Especially considering the fact that we got a fantastic villain performance from Philip Seymour Hoffman in MI3, this was a huge disappointment. It’s not as if PSH had a lot of character to work with either, but he chewed the hell out of the scenery in MI3 and gave that villain a menacing quality/character that Nyqvist never had. The lack of a compelling villain/antagonist seems to be a flaw in almost every J.J. Abrams associated film.

It’s hard to believe that this is Brad Bird’s first live action film, because he gets so much right for a first time director than most directors who work exclusively with live action. I would say MI4 is a better directed action debut than Jon Favreau with Iron Man or Christopher Nolan with Batman Begins. The way that the stunts are done for real, the CGI implementation, the inventiveness of the set pieces, the way the scenes are filmed, Bird seems to get everything right on his first go around. There wasn’t a single action scene where I was thinking to myself “Wait, what are we doing again? Who are we chasing? What’s the motivation?” Each action set piece serves a purpose to drive the plot forward.

This movie will win you over with the action. The action in this movie is INCREDIBLE; it’s well spaced, well paced, and well done. There’s a lot of variety with the set pieces and the stunts looked very real. The action felt more practically done (besides the huge explosions). The Dubai Burg Khalifa sequence was ASTOUNDING. Tom Cruise is one crazy motherfucker for actually scaling that building himself FOR REAL and not using a stunt man for most of that action scene. I also love the way this movie felt realistic with its action scenes. When you see cars crash or characters land it hits HARD. There were a few moments where I literally cringed at how much what just took place on screen hurt. Nowadays in action films the hero never seems to be in danger or get hurt, not the case in MI4.

This is just such an enjoyable spy film. I have a hard time believing that anyone who loves movies could watch this film and not at least like this film. It has almost everything you want from an action movie. Good performances, fluid direction, and jaw dropping action spectacle.

If you’re looking for a movie that will consistently entertain you for the maximum runtime, Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol will fit that bill nicely. The movie has had a nice start with a limited release in IMAX and bigger screens, I just hope that translates into huge box office numbers once the movie releases wide. This is a film that deserves to be seen by anyone who enjoys movies strictly for the escapism and entertainment a movie can give us. Truly blockbuster entertainment at its finest.

8.5/10

I have one element that I want to talk about that I have to leave after the “Read More” break because it gets into spoilers. Don’t hit “Read More” unless you’ve seen Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol!

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I was lucky enough to get to see one of the biggest releases of the year a few weeks in advance. The Steven Spielberg/Peter Jackson collaboration, The Adventures of Tintin. Spielberg hasn’t released a film in 4 years (the last being Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull), could he recapture his movie magic mojo with one of the most beloved properties in the world? To put it simply, absolutely!

This is the first time Steven Spielberg is using the new motion-capture 3D system technology (popularized by James Cameron’s Avatar) and one of my biggest questions was, how was he going to use it? Even with the technology being used, this film feels like a Steven Spielberg film. Spielberg likes to operate the camera when he shoots his films and with this being a mostly animated film, he instead controls a virtual camera that basically has no limits. I’ve always admired the way that Spielberg uses the camera to help tell the story and create momentum in the plot. His use of 3D is so inventive and takes full advantage of playing with the depth of field, great stuff.

As far as the animation goes, this is some of the best CGI I’ve seen to date. I won’t say that the film looks photorealistic all the time, but there were moments in this film where I said to myself “wow, if I didn’t know about the technology they used to make this film, I might think this was a 100% real location,” and THAT in and of itself is an accomplishment. What felt a little odd is that some of the characters looked extremely realistic and others looked more obviously cartoony. It’s almost exactly the same with the environments where some looked photorealistic and others you could tell were CGI creations. That being said, it didn’t ruin the experience or suspension of disbelief for me at all. The CGI was top notch and some of the best I’ve seen in a film to date.

What I really love about The Adventures of Tintin is something that is a Spielberg specialty, the action. The action set pieces in this film are INCREDIBLE. I feel like Spielberg was like a kid in a candy store with this new motion capture technology because this is Spielberg unhinged and unrestrained, and it is a glorious sight to behold. There are scenes and stunts in this film that you literally cannot see anywhere else because it would simply be impossible to do in live action. The two stand out action set pieces are the ship sequence and the motorcycle chase, the latter in particular literally made my jaw drop. If you are a film fan and you appreciate good action, that sequence will do nothing short of astound you. The way Spielberg moves the camera, the action, the choreography, the chase, the score, everything just combines so perfectly. This movie feels like an amalgamation of everything that Spielberg has wanted to try/do since he started making movies but just couldn’t because it was impossible to do in live action. The action scenes are well paced and extremely diverse; the action scenes are so varied and no two set pieces feel the same.

The John Williams score was quite good, but not anything extraordinary. I thought that it enhanced the scenes on screen, which is usually my standard for scores. I may be alone on this opinion about the music though, but I don’t think that it’s as good/inventive as his scores for Catch Me If You Can or Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. There’s certainly nothing here to match the classic themes of Superman, Star Wars, Indiana Jones, or Harry Potter.

There are a few things that dragged down my overall experience. I felt like the story and characterizations were a bit weak. That made me a bit sad because the writers of this film are Steven Moffat (Dr. Who), Edgar Wright (Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World), and Joe Cornish (Attack the Block). That is an incredible trio of writers collaborating on this plot, but the script was disappointing overall. I didn’t find the film to be very funny either (again, considering those writers I would’ve thought otherwise), gearing more towards kiddy slapstick humor, which works at times and doesn’t at others.

The story also starts off a bit slowly. The mystery is intriguing at first but it takes a little too long to get into gear, and then when you find out the motivations behind the characters it feels too simplistic. There are also little plot contrivances that are too easy and feel cheap, although I am willing to be a bit more forgiving in this film.

I’m very curious to see how well this film will do with American audiences. I’ve made this comparison in the past on my blog, but Tintin is sort of like soccer: the biggest thing in the entire world, but doesn’t do much for Americans. Will American audiences come out to see this film? It’s being positioned as a winter tentpole film in the vein of Avatar, but I wonder just how successful this film will be at the box office. Of course I hope it does gangbusters because it’s a wonderful film and definitely one the entire family can enjoy, but I’m a little worried about how this film will do in America.

The Adventures of Tintin is a good old-fashioned crowd pleaser. Steven Spielberg proves that he hasn’t lost his touch and takes full advantage of the 3D technology at his disposal. While the story and the characters feel slightly weak, this is still a damn enjoyable movie that children and adults of all ages will enjoy. Don’t forget to front the extra cost for the 3D, it is well worth it!

8.5/10

I will disclose here at the end of my review that there some fucking guy right next to me who was laughing like a fucking hyena at EVERYTHING. Even shit that wasn’t a joke or funny at all. Just like my Like Crazy viewing with the fucking MORON who pulled out a fucking LAPTOP, this might have affected my viewing subliminally. Just putting that out there that I might have enjoyed the movie more if this guy was not in the theater lol.