09-21-2012, 08:31 AM
Of the MI movie franchise, this one felt the most like the original TV show, which isn't saying much because the prior 3 MI flicks had nothing to do with the original TV series except for a dance mix of the theme song. I liked the idea of the IMF finally being disavowed. The Dubai stunt wasn't the finale, which I also liked. I also enjoyed the footage of Dubai as it seems exotic, rich and a place I've never been. The international flavor, ala Bond, was fun and I especially liked that it came back to SF in the end. The dust storm was underwhelming after the 3D IMAX swordfight in Flying Swords at Dragon Gate. The new girl was disposable, so much so I'm not even going to bother finding out who she is. I kept wanting Renner to ask for chems ala Bourne Legacy. The villain was Michael Nyqvist, who I just saw in Abduction playing almost exactly the same role, so I didn't feel shied on his character; it just felt like more of the same. I totally agree with Greg in that Pegg was great. And Tom was Tom. It's absurd, as usual, from the opening scene (where the heck did that airbag come from?) but it moved along at a steady clip so there wasn't time to think too much. The Mumbai scene, well, Anil Kapoor is a major Bollywood star with over 100 films to his credit, so I could see them trying to play to that market. He was last seen in the US playing sort of the same character (rich Indian dude) in 24. But they didn't go anywhere near Mumbai. I've been to Mumbai. No way do they have a parking lot like that. There wasn't any cows. Mumbai is lousy with cows. It was way too clean in that Hollywood set sort of way. If I were Indian, wanted to see Anil in a Hollywood movie, I would have been laughing my ass off at how absurd the depiction of Mumbai was. In the end, it was distracting - worse ways to kill 2 hours - and I would have enjoyed it much more if there were swords in that parking lot. Would that have been a major logic leap? I think not. And it would have added so much value to the finale fight.
Shadow boxing the apocalypse