Movie Review: JJ Abrahms Cashes In...err..I mean "MI3"

For my scoring and philosophy concerning movies and movie reviews, check out my earlier Movie related posts, especially the recent review of North Country below.

Spoiler-free plot synopsis: Super…spy? Agent? …actually, I’m not sure what he is exactly, but he’s Tom Cruise and that’s pretty much all you need to know. He’s not super-human, but no human could the things his character Ethan Hunt does in these movies. In this movie he tries on the never-before-seen action movie premise of trying to save the love of his life and the rest of the free world from a very bad man whose agenda above all else appears to be being bad…especially to Tom Cruise. Even as action movie plots go, this one is pretty basic.
Since, action movies basically all follow the same general formula (bad guy tries to kill good guy…and all of man kind, good guy fights back against impossible odds…a fracas ensues), they tend to try to spice up their stories with either twists or layers.

A twist is when you thought a good guy was bad or vice versa and it turns out to be the other way around. Or, the world is really the matrix, or it was all a dream, or "she’s a man, baby." A layer is when you think you know what the evil plan was and who was in charge only to discover that this was all part of a larger plan run by someone even more evil. The tv show 24 has taken layering to a ridiculous extreme, somehow managing to outdo even Alias and the X-Files in this category.

Anyway, MI3 provides very little of either and just relies on pure, non-stop action, which it delivers. One more note about action movies in general. To be good, a big-budget action movie must, I repeat must, show me something I’ve never seen before. It can be as subtle as a camera angle or as overt as a giant laser destroying the White House. These sorts of images are critical since these movies tend to otherwise be so much the same. So, when reviewing an action movie, I will have to comment on whether it showed me something new.

Advertising/Expectations: I thought the first MI movie was pretty solid. Lots of twists to compliment the action and a number of things I hadn’t seen, or at least hadn’t seen much. The second one was pretty bad really. That whole helicopter in the tunnel scene was so far over the top it started to become comical…never a good sign for a move that’s trying to make your heart race not your belly ache. I don’t watch commercials anymore thanks to Tivo, but still managed to see this preview about 50 more times than I wanted to. Also, Tom Cruise is now crazy and that dampened my hopes a bit. So, all in all, I was tired of the ads and went in with fairly low expectations.

The ads didn’t give away the entire movie which I appreciated and the movie delivered what I thought it would and maybe even a bit better than I thought it would, so the low expectations ended up making this movie fairly enjoyable.

Storytelling: Definitely the weak point of the film. It needed some twists or layers or something. How about some character development? I didn’t really care what happened to anyone in this movie and I’m a pretty caring guy. On the plus side, this story certainly won’t confuse anyone….I hope. It relied too heavily on action sequences that didn’t advance the story and tried to do all the story telling in a few short scenes where uninteresting dialogue was supposed to advance the story, develop the characters and explain why we should care. That was too much pressure for those scenes and they were generally pretty useless. Basically, you leave this movie knowing nothing about any of the characters and basically having little idea what all the shooting and missiles and what not were really for other than to save a girl we don't know or really care about.

Acting/Casting: Tom Cruise is a whacko, but he still did an adequate job playing a guy who is in a really big hurry to save the world…and the world’s most trusting wife. Let’s just say that my wife would have wanted a bit more explanation as to why I was suddenly going to be gone to an undisclosed location doing undisclosed things for an undisclosed amount of time the day after we got engaged, than a long intense stare and a request that she trust me. My wife trusts me, but she also likes disclosure, mostly because she doesn’t like to miss the action. Philip Seymour Hoffman is brilliant, one of the best in the business. He was fine, but entirely wasted in this movie. Everyone else wasn’t asked to do much and they complied. Basically, the acting didn’t get in the way and the casting was pretty good, though uninspired.

Writing: Uhmmmm….This script could have been written in 30 minutes, which is even less than the amount of time it would take to read the whole script even if you took time to set up each scene. This is the same guy that created Lost? Really? There just wasn’t much said in this movie, and since what was said was usually your basic action movie dialogue (i.e., lots of threats, panicked calls for help, desperate assurances that “you can do it”, and a few moderately funny quips by a sidekick or two), that was just fine. At least, it did not detract from the movie.

Directing: This was pretty well done unless you look at the director as the guy ultimately responsible for telling the story. If you can’t hold a thin story against him, then the movie was pretty well directed. The movie gets you on the edge of your seat pretty much right away and holds you there pretty much the whole way. The scenes fit together and generally it accomplished what a movie like this is supposed to do. You didn’t have to think too much (or at all) and it was something like riding a roller coaster. It’s a thrill while you’re on it, but as soon as you’re off, it’s like it never happened. This movie was a good ride, but you don’t take anything away from it. No great lines or great scenes to discuss over and over, no signature moments, just a bit of a rush for a couple hours and that’s it.

Visuals: Solid. Not a lot of CG or slow-motion which was a nice change. The stunts looked real even when they were impossible. It lacked a signature scene or anything that I haven’t seen before. The closest thing you get is that scene on the bridge from the previews where Cruise gets launched sideways into a car after an explosion. Why sideways? But it was still a good visual experience and the action sequences were tight, impressive and constant.

Sound: I couldn’t tell you much about the music other than Kanye’s song at the end which was fine, but the sound was amazing. My seat shook hard at least twice from some of the explosions and the soundtrack kept you tense without becoming annoying or distracting. And of course, the theme song is a classic, though I was surprised no effort was made to “reinterpret” it for the movie.

Need for Screen: See this on the big screen or don’t bother. You need a good sound system and a big screen to really get what you can out of this movie. This is absolutely a big screen movie.

Gut Feel: This wasn’t a good movie when you break it down, but I walked out feeling pretty good about it. It really was like a roller coaster in the sense of the short-term mindless thrill, but I like roller coasters so there you go. On a gut level I enjoyed the movie, the ending could have been much, much better.

Who you should bring: It is probably mostly a guy movie, so bring guys. But not so much that women who enjoy action movies wouldn’t enjoy this one. It is Tom Cruise after all, and no matter how crazy he gets, chicks dig him. Bring people who don’t over-think movies and are just there to escape for a couple hours and have a good time and move on. If you go with someone who wants to talk about how unrealistic it is or how many holes in the plot there were, it is going to bring you down. (which is why you should never attempt a review like this the moment you walk out of the theater). So, either bring your friends that won’t over analyze or make a promise before hand that you won’t have to talk about how this or that could never really happen.

1-10 Score: 6 – It was fine. I didn’t hate or love it and infact I was pleasantly surprised with how constant and good the action was. It was really pretty unnoteworthy though, which for all the hype and budget, may be the harshest criticism of all for this movie. It will give you an action rush, but you will forget everything about this movie 10 minutes after you see it.