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Wednesday, 9th May 2012

Mission Impossible - Ghost Protocol

If you have seen any of the previous films in the Mission Impossible franchise then you will be more than aware of what sort of movie this particular one will be. There is a lot of action in locations all around the world and of course by the end of it all Tom Cruise will have saved the day, yet again. What this film does it does well. The action sequences are well thought out and naturally they are quite spectacular. That is one thing that you always get with a Tom Cruise movie. A lot of money has been spent on this film and everything looks great. So its a bit of a pity that the same can't be said about the acting. Let's face it, Tom Cruise is not the greatest actor in the world and when he is surrounded by actors of any sort of calibre this fact is thrown into even greater relief. In this movie he is acting alongside Jeremy Renner and Simon Pegg who really show him up. Tom Cruise's acting is so wooden that you almost want to shout Timber any time that he falls down. Even though this is just the sort of film that really succeeds on action and big set sequences rather than pure acting talent Tom Cruise really does let the film down. The plot of the film revolves around Cruise and his team trying to track down a Swedish scientist who believes that the only way that the world will survive going forward is to initiate a nuclear war between the superpowers. The Ghost Protocol part of the story refers to the fact that the IMF has been stood down by the American President and the team has in effect to go rogue to stop a nuclear holocaust. This, of course they do manage to do and naturally it all goes down to the wire. A lot of money has been spent on this movie and no doubt the production team have managed to make back their money on it. But going forward they really will have to up their game. A movie of this type isn't so alone in the market place as it once might have been. There is the James Bond franchise as well as the Bourne franchises that are in competition with it. Tom Cruise might still be a big name but to be honest he really doesn't have what it takes to pull off a movie like this. Maybe they need better scripts or better directors. Its obvious that they aren't going to get rid of Cruise, he is their franchise and after all it is his production company. Whatever they have to do going forward they will have to do something radical. They just about pulled it off in this film but coasting along on past successes won't get you very far.

The Son Of No One

This thriller starring Channing Tatum is surprisingly good, although that statement does need to be qualified. The film is good but it could have been better if more attention was paid to the script. Essentially Tatum plays a cop who is being targeted by someone in his past for two murders that he committed while a young teenager. The murders were, more or less, in self defence, and if he had admitted to them at the time he might not have been treated harshly. But he didn't admit to them and now all these years later they have come back to haunt him. The fact is that only one of two people could be now making trouble for him over these murders. One of these was his best friend who had many of his own troubles to deal with. He was sexually abused by his mother's boyfriend and ended up in a mental institution. The other person was a young girl who is never once referred to in the movie. So obviously it has to be her. Tatum thinks it is his old best friend even though when he challenges him about this the man denies it. Another reason for you to believe that it was the young girl, now a young woman obviously. The problem is that whoever it is they are sending messages to a local newspaper reporter about the two murders not only talking about the two murders but the fact that they were hushed up by the local cops in the precinct. As it turns out the murders were hushed up by a detective, played by Al Pacino, who knows that Tatum committed the murders but because his father used to be a cop who was killed in the line of duty and known to him thought it best to hush everything up for the sake of the young teenager. Its quite clear that Tatum's character is not a bad kid but found himself in a really bad situation. Now he is a good cop and is married and has a young daughter. His entire life could be ruined if everything came out. The film is divided along two timelines. The first is of the young teenager and the second of Tatum as he is now. This is really effective as it gives you both perspectives on his life as well as letting you figure out who exactly is sending the letter to the reporter. If there is a weakness in the film it is this aspect of the story. Its quite clear who is sending the letters to the reporter but the girl is never referred to. In the end there is a big shoot out as the cops who had set out to protect Tatum all those years ago make one final attempt to stop everything from falling apart. One of the best things about this film is Channing Tatum which came as a big surprise. He really can act. If all you ever thought of him is that he kind of only did films aimed at young teenage girls then this is a bit of an eye opener, he is really good in this movie which kind of makes up for the flaws in the script. Maybe he was just paying his dues with all those other films.

The Adventures Of Tintin

This might have a PG rating but this film is so good and so enchanting that it will charm adults as much as it will those who are much younger. Almost everyone is aware of the adventures of Tintin and his faithful dog Snowy so there is little in the way of the story in the movie that will challenge many adults although it has to be said that some of the vocabulary in the film might have to be explained to youngsters. The movie is just charming from the opening sequences to the resolution which leaves everything open for more adventures. As much for big kids as small ones it isn't surprising that Steven Spielberg has his prints all over this.