Best thing: Cruise brings the same fun we saw from him in Edge of Tomorrow. We are regularly invited to laugh at Hunt's impossible predicaments.
Worst thing: The exact same premise of seemingly every single Mission Impossible movie. Also I never seem to like Ethan Hunt as much as I'm supposed to or invest in the action as much as I'm supposed to.
Ghost Protocol was dumb fun, but it was somewhat elevated by the spectacular visual eye of director Brad Bird. Rogue Nation doesn't have the same level of visual flair, but it still looks pretty cool and the action scenes are still exciting.
What Rogue Nation has over its predecessor is a much more interesting plot. It's not exactly a gripping intricate mystery, but it does come together nicely rather than feeling like a set of action sequences loosely connected to each other.
The premise, like in seemingly all Mission Impossible movies, is that IMF have been disavowed and now need to do their mission unsupported... again!
I like the actress Rebecca Ferguson, who is brought in here as a double, triple, quadruple agent to make us question loyalties and throw a spanner in the works. Still, I never really believe that her character has parallels with Ethan Hunt, in spite of the way the film insists.
Tom Cruise seems less smug this time around with more of the self-deprecating humour we saw from him in Edge of Tomorrow. The best parts are still the stunts where Ethan Hunt seems like his super spy skills might not be enough. Just like the malfunctioning wall climbing gloves were the most exciting part of Ghost Protocol, a ridiculous amount of time in which Hunt needs to hold his breath is the best scene in Rogue Nation.
I'm not fantastically gripped by every scene (the car/bike chase overstays its welcome a bit), but the film is still good solid fun. This is probably the best Mission Impossible movie so far.
B+
The Man From UNCLE (2015)
Best thing: Hilarious and a lot of fun. The three central actors have fantastic chemistry and the addition of Hugh Grant to the mix works very well too.
Worst thing: The villains don't really matter. Though actually the film isn't desperate to make the villains matter. The focus is on the lead actors.
The best spy movie of the year. Forget MI:Rogue Nation and definitely forget Spectre. This has all the fun and all the action we normally expect from a good Bond movie, but the interesting chemistry between this set of characters gives the film its own unique take on the genre.
Alicia Vikander (A Royal Affair, Ex Machina) is very cool in a very central female role. Meanwhile the rivalry between Henry Cavill and Armie Hammer goes to places you would never see in any other film when they start arguing about women's fashion. Still, Vikander is not simply facilitating their rivalry. She is very much a character in her own right and has an even share of the gags.
There's rarely a moment in The Man From UNCLE where I am not laughing. Every single scene has a wonderful sense of fun. I must admit that I could never really get into the re-run episodes of the old 60s tv series and so I've no idea how much the film veers from the original premise. However, as a project in its own right, “The Man from UNCLE” is impeccable.
For me, this is undoubtedly Guy Ritchie’s best film ever. I liked Lock Stock a lot and I also enjoyed Snatch very much even though I felt it was somewhat of a mixed bag. (I feel Brad Pitt rather stole the show in the latter, but the rest of the film didn’t always work so well for me.) I haven’t even tried his two flops, “Revolver” and “Swept Away”, because of their terrible reputations, but I have seen (and failed to be impressed by) his supposed return-to-form movie “Rocknrolla” (where I thought the protagonist suddenly seemed interesting at the last minute, but the rest of the movie was boring as hell). While quite fun, I thought “Sherlock Holmes” was a very formulaic and failed to be an engaging story, so I completely skipped the sequel. (I don’t think it helped that there were so many Sherlock adaptations being released concurrently.)
But “The Man From UNCLE”? I wish I’d seen it in the cinema. I’d love to see a sequel. And it isn’t just a good script either. The film has a pretty gripping visual style which serves both the drama and the comedy very well. Amazingly, when I’d pretty much dismissed Guy Ritchie as a hack and had begun to attribute his initial successes to the involvement of Matthew Vaughn, he’s suddenly completely turned things around and made me want him back in the director’s chair for the next instalment.
A+
Crimson Peak (2015)
Best thing: Great performances, particularly from Tom Hiddleston and the ever awesome Mia Wasikowska.
Worst thing: Early on in the story there is an unidentified murderer. Nobody saw who it was? I feel like it should have been harder to avoid detection when committing a crime like that.
Guillermo Del Toro is an awesome director who at very least brings an incredible visual style and creature design to his films, but has also shown that he can be an excellent storyteller.
My favourite Del Toro movie is still Pan's Labyrinth, but he's also responsible for one of my favourite superhero movies: Hellboy II: The Golden Army. Looking back at Del Toro's older films, I was surprised at how unimpressed I remained with Blade II.
Another important element in Crimson Peak, on top of Guillermo’s storytelling skill, is Mia Wasikowska in the lead role. Stoker, Tracks, Maps To The Stars, The Double. She has starred in so many great films lately and this is no exception. Seeing her act alongside Tom Hiddleston here is a real treat.
This is very much a ghost story and there's no bizarre twist. The ghost is not a metaphor and it is real. Often I'm irritated or at least underwhelmed by ghost stories, but I loved Crimson Peak.
Great performances (including a notably awesome performance from Jessica Chastain too, which I really can’t afford not to mention), fantastic visuals, and a gripping gothic story. Great!
A+
Wer (2013)
Best thing: Great effects reminiscent of those in the film Afflicted.
Worst thing: Pointless unnecessary head shaving scene and an unfortunately less compelling third act.
Begins with a cool mystery, with a legal defence team trying to understand how a figure weakened by a rare illness could possibly be responsible for a violent murder. Convinced that the authorities have made a mistake and that their methods of handling the suspect are unethical they pursue a case to acquit the suspect.
For the first half there is a very cool build-up and then in the second half we get some very cool action sequences. Unfortunately the action gets a bit repetitive and the final showdown leaves something to be desired. One character randomly shaves their head, which seems a bit silly. The finale then seems a little padded out, doesn't resolve the character drama particularly well and the resolution feels a little underwhelming.
Still I must admit I had fun. It's quite an interesting take on werewolves and, until the final act ran out of steam, I was enjoying myself very much. And I will note that this isn’t an ending which ruins the whole experience. It’s just that the first half promised so much and the final scenes feel rather humdrum after all that build-up.
B+