So what did Cruise do to risk his life for the sake of his craft? Plenty! In terms of sheer danger involved, nothing tops the motorcycle cliff jump into a skydive that Paramount has wisely based their marketing around for the past year. Seeing the entire sequence in the completed film really emphasizes just how completely fucking insane it was to even attempt, let alone execute and the shot of Hunt freefalling before he pulls the parachute delivers the type of raw adrenaline and clear and present danger that only the wildest stunts in the world can provide.
When it comes to the broader setpieces involving other members of the cast (which are more important if you ask me), the top highlights are a massive car chase in Rome where Hunt and Hayley Atwell's Grace are forced to drive and perform multiple vehicle switches while hand-cuffed together and an unpredictable, lengthy footchase through the Abu Dhabi International Airport. The Rome sequence is laced with humor, massive vehicular/property destruction and some of the most exceptional stunt driving you'll ever see on screen while the Abu Dhabi scene is an electric sequence that masterfully builds an escalating sense of tension through switching between a half-dozen parties, constantly introducing new elements that throw them out of rhythm and seeing how each of them adapts on-the-fly in order to try and work out their objective. Its in scenes like this where the creativity and desire to entertain an audience that drives the partnership between Cruise and McQuarrie shines brightest and demonstrates precisely why they've been able to become so simpatico over the past decade of making movies together.
While I don't exactly buy Cruise and co-writer/director Christopher McQuarrie's insistence that the characters are what makes these movies special, they did do an excellent job of bringing in new actors to join their traveling action circus here. Atwell makes for a great addition to the well-established team of rogue spies (Ving Rhames, Simon Pegg, Rebecca Ferguson) that aid Cruise's Ethan Hunt as an endlessly charming virtuoso thief/pickpocket who isn't quite prepared for the constant threats of danger that rule the high-stakes espionage world she's entering, Esai Morales is a properly elusive, intimidating ghost-like presence as the mysterious Gabriel that has a powerful connection to Hunt's past and Pom Klementieff gives the film's most endearing performance as Paris-a nearly-silent French assassin that shadows Gabriel who expertly communicates her rage, maniacal glee and sorrow through facial expressions and body language. Finding actors that can play off or counterbalance the stern intensity Cruise isn't easy to do, but this trio joins Rhames, Pegg and Ferguson as part of the small group that has the resolve and skill to pull that daunting assignment off.
A breathtakingly silly plot about all of the world's power players fighting over a key that would provide them control over a sentient AI system known as "The Entity" that is capable of dismantling or altering any computer system in the world that feels like yet another attempt by Cruise to position himself as the only person in the world that's capable of destroying the film industry's reliance on digital effects/streaming algorithms, some blandly-choreographed hand-to-hand fight scenes that make use of the most puzzling shot selections/editing choices of any action movie since last summer's The Gray Man and the big finale set on a speeding train in the Austrian Alps that might be the single weakest setpiece in a recent Mission movie simply on the grounds of it being far more CGI-driven than what we typically see in this franchise dings Dead Reckoning Part One enough where it's not able to rise to the level of Fallout. Still, it's a relentlessly thrilling, top-tier entry in this series that does a terrific job of selling the joys of the theatrical experience to any non-believers that may exist out there and teasing a second half that could very well prove to be the grandest, most action-packed installment yet.
Grade: B+
No comments:
Post a Comment