Tom Cruise and a few amazing sequences can't carry the failure of the rest

Rating: 4/10 (21 September 2012)

I'm a huge Tom Cruise fan, and I really wanted to like this film, but just couldn't.
The romance was unbelievable, the plot poor, and the villain mis-cast. The dialog ranged from weak to cringe-inducing. During every action shot, a cheesy, hackneyed version of the main musical theme was played. Most of the fights were stylized and played in slow motion to the point of ridiculousness. One classic gadget was hideously overused.
But my biggest gripe is that this is nothing like a Mission:Impossible movie. Gone is the stylish, slick, and very smart tone. Gone is our quick-on-his-feet hero with a magnetic smile. No more bluffs or playing sleight of hand with a 6 million dollar disc. Whoever John Woo thought his character is, he certainly isn't Ethan Hunt. And this movie sure isn't Mission:Impossible.
Even if you can forgive the rape of Ethan and the franchise and hold this up to your average action flick, it still underwhelms.
I don't blame the actors for this....they did what they could under terrible direction and with a terrible screenplay, Ving Rhames and Anthony Hopkins especially. And Tom always devotes himself to the film, managing here to be the only positive thing in the whole ordeal.
Please forget this ever existed...go on to M:I:III and Ghost Protocol.