• More than anything I appreciate the brashness of it—from Cruise probably first and foremost and from Chris McQuarrie as well- they went for it in terms of degree of difficulty and stunt and set piece ambition– the skydiving, the motorcycle chase against traffic in the round-about, the skyscraper jumping scene and the helicopter chase… with any one of these set piece action sequences we probably couldn’t have an archiveable film if the rest of the film around it was solid—but they had all four—and they’re all spectacular
  • The narrative is fine- but that’s not the focus at all
  • When a film has an 86 on metacritic—especially a genre film—I wonder if it’s the announcement of a new auteur, the film shows a dedication to a given aesthetic, has an abundance of artistic ambition throughout—but this is really none of these things—I’m not really dying to see what McQuarrie does next, this isn’t Black Panther with Ryan Coogler slipping in some great flourishes in a previously-seen artistically stale MCU- environment, this isn’t Paul Greengrass with his camera dedication aesthetic (Bourne Ultimatum) and this isn’t like Only God Forgives or something where Refn clearly cares more about making art than commerce (Atomic Blonde perhaps a light version of this)
  • The reason I say the achievement might be more Cruise’s is he’s sort of turned himself into Chaplin or Jackie Chan where the viewer (or critic) spends large portions of the film admiring not really his acting talent but his physical gifts and dedication… it’s a major triumph for the stunt work and choreography– that said- Cruise is good here acting—it’s a movie star performance and a glorious one—it’s big performance— perfect to match those action sequences
  • McQuarrie will probably always be the screenwriter of The Usual Suspects (top 100 WGA script) and Cruise will never top his work in the 80’s, 90’s (especially that 1999 working with probably two top 10 all-time auteurs)—but this second life for them as action director and action star is impressive- admirable
  • It’s not stunning photography like Skyfall—but the mountain range finale and the trees in the park in a row are make for strong visuals
  • You’re skydiving with Cruise- or in the cockpit with him- it’s a visceral experience—owes much to his dedication as I said but also to recent successes in analog filmmaking from Nolan (hello opening of Dark Knight Rises) to Fury Road
  • If you compare it to Bond I think it’s closer to Casino Royale than Skyfall– in Skyfall I was dazzled by Mendes and Deakins— in Casino Royale I was like “holy shit who is this guy jumping around like it’s a video game?” being blown away by Daniel Craig as an object
  • Either the best or second best of the MI series- for now I’ll say second behind De Palma’s talent and precision in the first film
  • Recommend