It was movie franchise marathon night when Emily and I decided to go to the drive-in. Although it’s a little late now, I thought I’d give my thoughts on two summer flicks that might cleanse your palate if you mistakenly stumbled into a showing of Fantastic Four.
Whether a movie is good is both personal and relative, of course. I’m easily entertained and, at least when it comes to Mission: Impossible—Rogue Nation, had low expectations. Truth is, I considered skipping the latest Tom Cruise charm-fest, having mistakenly thought it was the second feature. It wasn’t, and I’d have been too cheap to go home, anyway.
I’d seen only the first Mission: Impossible movie, along with bits and pieces of the second one. Honestly, I remember it as being very loud, with more scene cuts than an MTV video directed by a coke addict. In the early James Bond movies, it took five minutes for a car to go down the road (but with that great guitar riff!) These days, in that same five minutes Tom Cruise kills off an army, takes down a third world government, gets the girl, and still has time for three breaks with his hair stylist.
None of that changes with Rogue Nation, so maybe I’m just getting used to it—because I really enjoyed this movie. It had a great cast and action sequences, and lots of humor, which can make or break a movie for me (and in this case certainly made it). The plot? Um … something to do with Ethan Hunt and his Impossible Missions Force taking on one of those evil organizations bent on controlling the world. And there’s a woman.
Many people refuse to watch a movie starring the not-always-there Cruise. Me, I despise Alec Baldwin, who plays the Director of the CIA here. But I can separate my feelings about a person from their product, and that’s good, because there are plenty of reprehensible people in Hollywood. Overall I liked this movie, and I have to add: Cruise hanging on the side of an aircraft 5,000 feet in the air, without a stunt double, may prove he’s crazy—but it was still cool.
Still, you have to wonder how Ethan Hunt’s team would handle contact with a Terminator … subject of drive-in night part 2.
I’m always amazed when I see Tommy Cruise interviewed. He’s not massively tall and I always wonder what damage he could do, if he was, say, 5ft tall.
Maybe that explains the chances he takes, doing his own stunts — he’s compensating for something.
Really, 5000 feet up hanging outside an airplane? Green screen, anyone?
No, it was really him, although I’m sure they had him all sorts of strapped in. In my mind it’s just another sign that he’s crazy … but on the other hand, it’s not too different from a lot of people who engage in extreme sports. To me the surprising part is that the movie’s insurance company let him do it.
Mark, you could easily hang from an airplane at 5k feet, just don’t look down! And I think you’re onto to something with the Cokehead cut outs, something is up there.
I think I could probably do it, if properly strapped in and with something to hang onto. However, I don’t think I could jump out of an airplane, no matter how good my parachute … it all depends on your issues, I guess.
I would only jump out of or hang off the wing of an airplane if I had to do it to save my son’s life. Luckily, it is very unlikely that life is going to present me with that scenario.
It could happen — happens all the time, in the movies!