It is, however, all very entertaining. Director Brad Bird has made the transition from animation (probably best know for Up, Ratatouille and The Incredibles) to live action very well. He does nothing especially fancy, but is slick enough for this kind of film. The main cast are all given enough to do, and there is also time to flesh out Ethan's character a bit. As Ethan, Tom Cruise is in his element; and as someone who does all his own stunts, everything looks pretty spectacular. Maybe the MI series exists just to make Tom look good, but to be fair he does it justice. Good to see Simon Pegg out in the field, and not just to bring brevity to tense situations. Jeremy Renner is good but perhaps suffers from having to play second fiddle to Tom; still, they could have done a lot worse. He's even involved in Ethan's back-story. Paula Paxton is fairly kick-ass as the sexy Jane Carter and Michael Nyqvist as a fairly one dimensional baddie completes the main cast.
Overall, perhaps the most enjoyable film of the franchise, maybe only let down by a weak villain, but then most of the fun is had in tracking him down. Spectacular, intriguing, and clips along at a good pace despite its 133 minute run time.
It still amazes me how much praise this film gets. I was honestly bored throughout most of it. Yes, there are some epic set pieces, but it just didn't float my boat. Which was a bit disappointing, because I was really looking forward to seeing what Brad Bird would do with the franchise. He's directed some of my favourite Pixar films!
ReplyDeleteThat's a shame, I really enjoyed it. I can't really comment about his Pixar days; I seem to remember liking the Incredibles but can't remember much about it, but I'm afraid I really didn't like Up. Still, if Ghost Protocol is anything to go by, I'll be interested to see what he does next.
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