I headed off to the cinema last night, originally hoping for a convenient screening of "Puss in Boots" in 3D, but ended up choosing to see "Mission: Impossible: Ghost Protocol", the fourth in Tom Cruise's revitalisation/reimagining of the 60s TV show (and 80s remake).
I thoroughly enjoyed it. I had quite liked the first one (1996), but I hated that they recast the Peter Graves role, even though there was an interesting, bizarre twist with the Jim Phelps (Jon Voight) character. The second film (2000) seemed more like a series of tedious car chases, but my main reason for seeing it was to recognise Sydney, Australia, doubling for various world locales. It was filming here for months and months; every Thursday night I'd stumble across the support vehicles or notice temporary new hoardings over our iconic buildings. I didn't bother with #3 (2006), although I did buy the DVD, still on my "To View, One Day" pile.
This new "M:I" movie, subtitled "Ghost Protocol", was excellent! Simon Pegg is hilarious, as always; the main team is very likable; the story had some great red herrings; and the action sequences didn't bore me to tears. Well worth it. "Mission accomplished". Very accomplished!
A highlight of this outing, though, was the exciting array of pre-film trailers:
* "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey", of course, which I had already seen previewed on Facebook, but was even more enticing on the big screen
* A young Jim Kirk (ie. Chris Pine of JJ's "Star Trek" film) vs the young Jean-Luc Picard clone, Shinzon (Tom Hardy of "Nemesis") as rival spies, vying for the affections of Reese Witherspoon, in "This Means War"
* and a seemingly funny Aussie-set comedy film, "A Few Best Men", which has some very funny sequences with Olivia Newton-John.
Happy New Year, Ian. I enjoyed MIGP too, though our trailers weren't a patch on yours: Spy vs Spy and the new Sherlock Holmes movie.
ReplyDeleteI originally thought that "This Means War" was called "Spy vs Spy", too, because that catch phrase was used so prominently, but there is supposedly a long-delayed "Spy vs Spy" film, based on the "Mad" magazine comic, still in pre-production with Ron Howard. Forgot to mention "Sherlock Holmes II" - we got that one as well. Feeling spoiled!
ReplyDeleteHave a great New Year, Jonathan!