Another latter-day spy movie

Rating: 7/10 (4 August 2015)

I'm old enough to remember watching Mission: Impossible as a child. Gosh, those were great shows.
But of course the world has changed immeasurably since then. So have the movies. Strangely, a lot of spy movies are all the same now. I have a hard time telling this modern reincarnation of Mission:Impossible apart form the Bourne films, the new Bond films, Safe House and a half dozen other movies you can easily think of.
In these movies the security agency involved (usually the CIA, but not always) has incredible technology allowing them to visually track pretty well anything in the world. They can find any information they need in seconds. They have instant access to data bases you didn't even know existed. They can do anything really. Instantly accessible CCTV, internet and telephone tapping all play a huge role in these movies. There are always flunkies sitting at screens and then an intense older man or hard-nosed woman standing around shouting orders at everyone.
These agencies seem to have endless cash and will not hesitate for a second to do anything. Send a team to Zurich! Deploy the jets to Zambia! Moreover, in these movies the agents often have superhuman intellectual and physical abilities, far beyond that of trained athletes and martial arts experts. They jump from roof to roof, get injured in the knee, smash their heads against doors, and yet press on. They all fight like Bruce Lee nowadays. They can fly helicopters, drive like stunt men, do daredevil tricks with motorcycles. They have superb memories, training in explosives, knowledge on how to disarm nuclear weapons. These people are not only highly trained, super fit, super smart sharpshooters trained in martial arts to an unearthly level, they're also sort of invulnerable. They're superheros really.
And of course there's always a rogue element: it's always the case that someone has become, will become, or is suspected of being, not what he seems. The viewer is invited in virtually every film to try to figure out the twist. You can't trust anyone, can you. It's almost a rule now. Nothing is as it seems.
These films are a combination of the "Spy" and "Superhero" or "Martial Arts" genre, but with "Science Fiction" technology thrown in. And the rogue element has some of the "Mystery" genre in it. Also, in these American films there are almost always intense shoot outs and chase scenes. Everything happens very fast. Lots of crazy driving, crashes and near death escapes. That makes them "Action" films. And of course they're shot in "Exotic Locations" So let's rearrange the initials of all these genres to call this the "MASSFLAMES" genre. It's really not right that so many of these movies are more or less exactly the same in tone and content.
Anyway, this is that kind of movie. It was competently done. This was a very fast-paced movie, with one action scene after the next. I have to admit though that the shootouts and chases turned me off. It just didn't impress me that much. There wasn't enough of a story or enough character development. Tom Cruise was OK. Sean Harris was good as the creepy villain. The one who really caught my eye here was Rebecca Ferguson. Wow.
There were even a few aspects that just seemed wrong to me. They shook me right out of my suspension of disbelief. No point in going into them here.
I didn't hate the movie. It had a few visceral pleasures. If you're a teenage boy, you'll enjoy this movie. Although you could also just go to another "massflames" movie. They're all the same really.