Review by Dennis D. McDonald

It’s a MISSION IMPOSSIBLE movie so I went into the theater with certain expectations, one of them being wondering if this would be as good as Ghost Protocol.

It is. I think the Rome car chase might be one of the best car chases ever filmed. Plus, the train crash sequence has to be seen to be believed. (I assume there was a lot of CGI used in that but there are certain things about gravity that just can’t be faked so I’m looking forward to details on how that sequence was actually filmed. This may go down in history as one of the best train crash sequences ever filmed and may eventually be considered in the same class as the crash sequence in Buster Keaton’s 1926 film The General.)

In other words, don’t expect an introspective contemplation of the meaning of life or anything like that. It’s a Tom Cruise film. You either love him or hate him.

I like the results on the screen. The guy has very high standards. And I do think it’s a nice touch to see a little clip of him and the director thanking the theater audience for buying tickets. I grew up going to a lot of movies — my dad managed a local theater on weekends in Columbus, Ohio — and even now I still enjoy the anticipation of sitting down in a darkened theater to wait the start of a film, even if I have to watch Nicole Kidman for the umpteenth time tell me how “magical” the theater experience is. (I know I know — get on with the movie already!)

It helped that I had visited both Rome and Venice just a few weeks before seeing this film. I was especially amused by the car chase scenes filmed around the Fontana della Barcaccia at the foot of the Spanish Steps in Rome. I have some great pictures of my smiling 5 year old granddaughter sticking her hand in front of one of that fountain’s gushing water jets and laughed at the site of Cruise’s tiny Fiat racing around the fountain.

I’ll let others argue about Cruise. I like his films. And yes, I do intend to see both Oppenheimer and Barbie in the coming weeks. I like all kinds of fims — including submarine films.

Review copyright (c) 2023 by Dennis D. McDonald

Thrillers and Popcorn