PhantomKnight
CS! Gold
Join Date: Jun 2005
Posts: 20,529 
Likes: 3,133
Location:
Last Online Nov 25, 2024 0:56:23 GMT -5
|
Post by PhantomKnight on Jul 17, 2023 19:15:05 GMT -5
Jack Reacher was still quite good.
|
|
frankyt
CS! Gold
Join Date: Feb 2007
Posts: 21,946
Likes: 2,017
Location:
Member is Online
|
Post by frankyt on Jul 18, 2023 5:24:28 GMT -5
I liked it. The exposition is so heavy in this did it feel like a choice to anyone else? Like when they were explaining the entity how many times did Luther have to explain it? And that first DC intelligence meeting was absurd how they kept ripping off the same shit in a new sentence. First 90 minutes was all exposition. Some of it was hilarious it was so over the top. "The stakes have never been higher."
Really didn't like tiny super spy terrorist Gabriel, Hayley atwell was a useless addition and is she really gonna take over for Ferguson? Or is this another Jeremy Renner situation where she disappears next movie to never be mentioned again? They kept trying to make her and cruise happen with some incredibly unearned chemistry that really bogged the movie down.
Really liked faust as a character, but gotta have an emotional death in these to help raise some stakes.
Coulda edited a few of the scenes down and cut about a half hour, the car chase was almost mad tv levels of too long.
Id prob give it a 6.5/10 on the sliding genre scale.
It's still fun, tonally the movies are still a little wonky and trying to figure out how to juggle all the actors.
|
|
frankyt
CS! Gold
Join Date: Feb 2007
Posts: 21,946
Likes: 2,017
Location:
Member is Online
|
Post by frankyt on Jul 18, 2023 14:28:28 GMT -5
And I'm with Doomsday the crowds always suck for these big tentpoles. And this one wasn't any different. Makes me def fear the even more crowded showings of barbie and oppenheimer for sure. Was weird though I always almost like a nervous tic check seating charts repeatedly as I'm going to the movies. Over and over I check (whats a spectrum?) And last night was no difference, but all showings just turned sold out about 2 hours before the movie started. I expected packed unruly house. There were a ton of seats not occupied. Is that just my local theater deciding they don't have enough staff for full sell outs? Glitch in the matrix? New employee just flicking the sold out button by accident? Tom and mcq buying up random seats in middle America to make it look good overall? The mystery remains. But the crowds still absolutely suck. |
|
IanTheCool
CS! Gold
Join Date: Jul 2003
Posts: 21,496
Likes: 2,864
Location:
Last Online Nov 24, 2024 22:22:14 GMT -5
|
Post by IanTheCool on Jul 18, 2023 15:35:09 GMT -5
I very rarely have an issue with the other audience members
|
|
Dracula
CS! Gold
Join Date: Sep 2002
Posts: 26,105
Likes: 5,732
Location:
Last Online Nov 25, 2024 1:15:32 GMT -5
|
Post by Dracula on Jul 18, 2023 18:57:05 GMT -5
There were a ton of seats not occupied. Is that just my local theater deciding they don't have enough staff for full sell outs? Glitch in the matrix? New employee just flicking the sold out button by accident? Tom and mcq buying up random seats in middle America to make it look good overall? I have been experiencing some of that as well for movies like Avatar and Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse. I see seats being taken up, and it shows sold out well in advance but then I get there and it's half full. It's no skin off my back because I hate people and would prefer to be around as few of them as possible but it does seem like some shenanigans. Maybe it's a lot of people buying tickets way in advance and then cancelling last minute? I don't know. |
|
Neverending
CS! Platinum
Join Date: Jul 2003
Posts: 65,783
Likes: 8,648
Location:
Last Online Nov 24, 2024 23:39:06 GMT -5
|
Post by Neverending on Jul 18, 2023 20:26:47 GMT -5
There were a ton of seats not occupied. Is that just my local theater deciding they don't have enough staff for full sell outs? Glitch in the matrix? New employee just flicking the sold out button by accident? Tom and mcq buying up random seats in middle America to make it look good overall? I have been experiencing some of that as well for movies like Avatar and Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse. I see seats being taken up, and it shows sold out well in advance but then I get there and it's half full. It's no skin off my back because I hate people and would prefer to be around as few of them as possible but it does seem like some shenanigans. Maybe it's a lot of people buying tickets way in advance and then cancelling last minute? I don't know. I can’t speak for those movies cause I haven’t experienced that, but that has turned out to be the case for Sound of Freedom. They have that Pay It Forward gimmick that sounds like money laundering to me, and has resulted in empty auditoriums at some theaters, but on the other hand, it has legitimately sold out in conservative areas. |
|
PG Cooper
CS! Silver
Join Date: Feb 2009
And those who tasted the bite of his sword named him...The DOOM Slayer
Posts: 16,649
Likes: 4,066
Location:
Last Online Nov 25, 2024 0:10:25 GMT -5
|
Post by PG Cooper on Jul 22, 2023 11:06:39 GMT -5
I almost feel like Dead Reckoning Part One is the Mission: Impossible movie critics hyped Fallout up as being. I enjoyed that movie a great deal too, but I found myself a smidge underwhelmed by the results despite the awe-inspiring stunt work. Dead Reckoning came closer to scratching that itch. For one, it seems like Tom Cruise and Christopher McQuarrie have made genuine efforts to improve the franchise's rather pitiful rogues gallery. Making the central antagonist an A.I./algorithm is not only rather timely, but it also makes for a unique form of enemy and creates a pervasive sense of paranoia. Even the human villains were more interesting this go around. I can't say I particularly care about Gabriel's personal ties to Ethan Hunt's past (despite Cruise's immense star power, Ethan himself remains quite a bore) but I quite liked Esai Morales's screen presence and I loved Pom Klementieff as the largely silent assassin Paris, who essentially functions as the film's main heavy in action scenes. Hayley Atwell also brings a new dynamic to the proceedings whilst simultaneously fitting very well within the ensemble.
Then there's the action scenes. The filmmakers largely avoid trying to top Fallout's spectacle (likely saving a lot for Part Two) and instead lie more on suspense than bombast. The extended airport sequence is indicative of the film's interest in creating tension by spinning an obscene amount of plates before they start to fall. For most of the movie this airport section stood out as my favourite bit of the movie, but then we got to the train, and oh boy, is that train set-piece exquisite. The sheer physicality in that final bit - aided by the soundtrack consisting entirely of diegetic sound effects rather than score - is utterly thrilling and wildly impressive. I have my criticisms of Cruise, but I can't deny how much that ruled. I also appreciate how much effort McQuarrie puts into shooting exposition scenes in a dynamic and exciting way.
There are nits I could pick with Dead Reckoning Part One. Most of the comedy fell flat for me and the way the women in Ethan's life are becoming rather replaceable is a bit disappointing but none of these really take away from what a great time the movie proved. This might well be my favourite Mission: Impossible film since Brian De Palma's original. At the very least it's definitely in my top three. Kudos as well for handling the bisected nature a lot more gracefully than a lot of its peers. Compare this to Across the Spider-Verse which feels as though it's building to its climax before it cuts off and it puts into context how carefully Dead Reckoning leaves plots open while still delivering a satisfying end.
A-
|
|
