Inspiring Young Minds to Look Toward Aduthood

Rating: 5/10 (30 November 2006)

We enjoyed some of the action scenes and the on-location shots taken in Vatican City and Shanghai. I also enjoyed the shots of Tom Cruise's wife/girl friend in her green T, jeans, and dripping in grease and sweat. Yum! But a good movie needs script, character development, and an element of suspense. This picture is too shallow to offer any of that.
Suspense does not come from holding a hand-held camera and shaking it to create lets-pretend tension. It does not come from blowing things up all over Rome and China. No, it comes from involvement with characters and their situation. Why should the audience care if the bad guy shoots Cruise's wife in the head? Sure, we all care about murder; but we don't know the person at all. If the so-called Rabbit's Foot is really so darn important, why not send James Bond for it?
Tom Cruise is America's top box office actor, but his audience deserves better. When I was 14, Hollywood made pictures that introduced young guys into the grown-up world --- and we loved it and benefited from it. Today's Hollywood wants to drag us all into the world of comic books and video games. There have been no good movies for two years now.