Bloody hard work

Rating: 3/10 (17 December 2001)

Spoilers within
Admittedly, when I watched this film, it was late & I was absolutely knackered, thus it had to be paused at least 3 times for the missus to explain what was going on, as it went way over my head.
I was somewhat surprised therefore to see reviewers complain of a tedious, weak plot. I agree with the many though that have said it was boring. This wasn't an awful film, but I certainly wouldn't recommend it.
As gorgeous as the female lead was, the romance was ridiculous.
Also, like so many films, it seemed to be all about the big, high budget finale & one or two other interspersed scenes with some fancy fighting. For the other 75% of the film though, very little went on, it seemed the plot (and I use the term plot in the loosest possible sense) was just plonked in without much thought, just as a prelude for the next stunt scene.
Yes, the stunts were impressive, amazing even, but anyone with half a brain knew exactly how it'd all end up. It was just a case of waiting for it. Wait we did. It must've taken 30 minutes just to close the story off & even the missus (who enjoyed it far more than me) had lost the will to live about 20 minutes from the end.
I also find films where people takes others faces off & swap them with there own very tedious. Had it just happened in the one scene on the plane at the start, it might just have been ok. But it had been repeated half a dozen times by the end, so you spend the rest of the film wasting your time wondering who is actually doing the speaking & missing the lines, as I obviously did. You half expected Tom Cruise to reach for a gun, only to peel off an outer layer of plastic & find it's an aubergine, it got that silly.
I spent years doing A-Levels & a degree, trying every method know to man to stay awake, while reading theories & attempting to store information in my head. Once those days are gone, you don't want go through it again, taking in spy films, where the characters are unlikely to mean anything to you.
Had this story been told by an old uncle or grandad & condensed down into 10 minutes, it may possibly have been interesting, but beyond that, it's just not really a story worthy of a 2 hour film.
Having slated it though, it's not awful. I've seen far worse films & one or two stunts are watchable in moderation, but in a time where nothing seems beyond stuntman & film crews, the days of making the audience go 'whoooah' are gone.
4/10