Tom Cruise is sufficiently debonair to be a James Bond figure, but without the self-conscious irony. This is deadly serious stuff. They intend to team up with a pharmaceutical producer to make them all billionaires. It's a time-honored, Old Testament strategy. But Cruise is even more like Samson.
Cruise likes setting fire to the enemy hideout.
Cruise jawbones them while he's slaying them with fists, feet, guns, explosives and incredible bulletproof charm. Cruise charms Newton so they can leave together at the end. As in a James Bond adventure, plenty of high-tech gadgetry and unlikely chase scenes. As in both the Bond and old MI series, there's a readily-available backup team with helicopters, rocket launchers, radio communication and lots of hired hands to clean up all the mess. Cruise is both sufficiently earnest and magnetic to carry the lead role.