Mark Twain once said that, "A NIGHT AT THE OPERA . . . "

Rating: 8/10 (14 February 2016)

" . . . is a good walk spoiled." In this loose remake of director Alfred Hitchcock's THE MAN WHO KNEW TOO MUCH II (1956), the MISSION IMPOSSIBLE (episode 24 or so) people quadruple the number gun-wielding assassins Hitchcock had prowling around in an opera hall, and switch the program to Puccini's TURANDOT (which was just used for similar dramatic purposes by another action blockbuster a few months back, but I'm not any better than Twain in keeping my opera cameos straight). Tom Cruise also retraces Jimmy Stewart's footsteps to Morocco from TOO MUCH (though since kidnapped children would raise the suspense stakes far too high for today's squeamish movie audiences, only Cruise's comic relief sidekick gets snatched here). Anyone expecting a big musical hit to emerge from MISSION 24, such as Doris Day singing her young son to Freedom with "Que, Sera, Sera," will be sorely disappointed. So too will the folks dying to know what happens in TURANDOT. (SPOILER ALERT: Ping, Pong, and Pang cannot persuade the Mystery Prince to tell Turandot his name, but after Liu's tortured and kills herself, Turandot decides to live happily-ever-after with the Prince, anyway). But for fans of implausible chases, bad guys who cannot shoot the broad side of a palace, and imaginary Higher Tech, MISSION 24 won't disappoint.