Two Blondes review a movie and mostly ramble about themselves.
Jessica says:
Whenever I see a movie with my mom, she always seems to say the same thing as we’re exiting the movie, “Well, it wasn’t what I expected.” Always. She says this after every movie. I am always baffled by it. I mean first of all, that is not an answer to, “Did you like the movie?” Secondly, what does that mean? And where are you getting these expectations? And maybe that is your problem…but I digress.
Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol should be exactly what you’d expect it to be – fun. (Do you hear that, Mom? Expect a fun, popcorn flick.) It was a really fun movie to watch. My only complaint was that it was about 20 minutes too long. However, if you’ve been keeping up with our posts on this site, you will know that is a common complaint of mine.
Now let’s get to the scene everyone will be talking about: Tom Cruise (and/or some stunt guys) hanging off the outside of the world’s tallest building in Dubai. Holy cow. The film, as a whole, looks really cool, for lack of a better word (Warning: it may not be so cool, if you suffer from vertigo). However, this scene, in particular, is incredible. If you haven’t seen the behind-the-scenes footage on YouTube yet, watch it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t8hNKp7D3e8.
I’m not really going to go into the detail of the plot because, well, I don’t really think that’s really the point of this kind of popcorn flick – they’re spies trying to catch someone before he sets off a nuclear bomb, a.k.a. the plot of 99.9% of spy movies. The point of this movie is…coolness (Did I just make up a word? Oh well.). Tom Cruise’s Ethan Hunt and his team (Simon Pegg, Jeremy Renner, and Paula Patton) are just really cool – they have cool gadgets, they go to cool locations, and they’re pretty darn attractive (Hello! Paula Patton in that green dress). This movie also reminded me of something I had kind of forgotten after all of Tom Cruise’s couch jumping, etc. antics – he is a really good movie star. He is handsome (still…29 years after The Outsiders and Risky Business), charismatic, and likable.
I recommend seeing Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol in theaters, but maybe as a matinee.
Alison says:
I did not see Mission: Impossible 3 and I can’t remember if I saw Mission: Impossible 2. I’m totally a fan of action movies, but usually sequels can get a bit repetitive, and while I respect Tom Cruise as the epitome of a movie star, he’s not necessarily what draws me to a movie the past few years. But my interest was piqued first by the video online of Tom Cruise hanging by a rope on the world’s tallest building, the Burj Khalifa (Jessica pasted the link into this blog). Scientology and Oprah couch jumping aside, that is just f#cking badass and there are very few people in this world with Tom Cruise’s smile, charm, and balls. There are many reasons he’s a movie star and many reasons he’s still a movie star after a 30-year acting career. The guy is almost 50 and he looks amazing. I could not get over how tiny his butt is. I don’t mean to sound creepy, but it was something that I could not avoid noticing throughout the movie. So if you’re into tiny butts and badass, doing-their-own-stunts action stars, well I think you might just enjoy this movie.
The main reason I decided to shell out money to see this movie was Brad Bird, the director. I loved The Incredibles, which he also directed. He comes with the Pixar seal of approval and has directed some of my favorite animated films. Plus, he worked on The Critic, a show I watched a bunch in my youth. Most importantly though, he wrote the script for one of my favorite movies from my childhood, *batteries not included. I loved that movie when I was little. There are so many things from his résumé that I love, but they don’t really add up to make him the obvious choice to direct the next Mission: Impossible movie. He was an interesting choice and my interest was officially piqued.
And I was happy I went. As I’ve already mentioned, Tom Cruise is a perfect movie star. He was great in this movie, exactly what you would want from a super spy. I’m also a big fan of Jeremy Renner and Simon Pegg, so seeing those two made me happy. And after seeing this movie, I am now also a big fan of Paula Patton. A picture of her should be placed in the dictionary next to the word gorgeous. All in all, it was a fun popcorn flick to watch. It was a bit on the long side though, but still an entertaining way to spend 2 hours plus.
LA Viewers: Worth seeing in the theaters, but maybe go for a matinee.
Translation for non-LA viewers: Same goes for you.
P.S. Tom Cruise, if you are reading this, I hope you took the tiny butt comment as a compliment. And I hope you do another role sometime like in Magnolia. Loved you in that movie, but also was blown away by you in MI4. By the way, why are you reading this? You’ve really got much better things to do.
P.S.S Sorry for the f-bomb in my review (especially to my mother if she’s reading this), but hanging around on a rope thousands of feet in the air while waving and smiling at tourists is fucking badass. That is the definition in the dictionary of such an activity.
Two Blondes Walk Into a Blog 