Yet another in the rather long line of annual Tom Cruise sci-fi blockbuster movies... and to be honest, it's better that last years 'Oblivion'... Which isn't really as much of a compliment as you might think.
The plot is just rehashed from loads of other sci-fi movies and if you think about it, the entire pacing of the movie is virtually identical to 'Groundhog Day'... But without the comedy or superb performances.
Emily Blunt who i highly rate as an actress, and was in one of my fave movies in recent years (The Adjustment Bureau) simply phones in her performance here... and her's is one of the better performances.
Not a single character has depth, the plot is entirely predictable and the ending scene rather contrived.
Maybe I expect too much from my sci-fi movies these days... but after being spoilt by great films such as the aforementioned Adjustment Bureau, Moon, Source Code and Inception and thrilled by the likes of the Marvel cinematic offerings... Movies like this just cannot compete with them.
It's like when True Lies was released back in the early 90's... a Schwarzenegger action movie that surpassed what we had come to expect from secret agent films... and that many film buffs and critics (myself included) were saying could very well end the James Bond franchise (and nearly did as they got ever more ridiculous until Daniel Craig stepped into the role).
The dialogue is rather slow and painful in places... But the cinematics and visual effects are pretty decent, although there are several scenes where you see them running in the armoured suits and can tell they're on hoists because their movements don't quite match with what you are seeing.
So whilst this movie is better than Oblivion... it's still a pretty poor movie that whilst offering some enjoyment for the two hrs or so it lasts... offers no repeat viewing value at all.
Hence my score of just 5. Maybe I'm just not a fan of Tom Cruise, maybe I find him just a little bit creepy and maybe I wish he use his skills as an actor in meatier roles.
It's not that I simply like my Sci-Fi to be a littler more cerebral, I love action fests, it's actually more to with the fact that I enjoy character development and good dialogue at the same time. Sadly it's hard to find movies that tick all the boxes. On one had you have the films mentioned already, this falls somewhere in the middle whilst the Transformers movies are somewhere at the bottom of the pile because they cannot tick ANY of the boxes.
Shout by DeletedBlockedParentSpoilers2014-09-18T20:38:11Z
Yet another in the rather long line of annual Tom Cruise sci-fi blockbuster movies... and to be honest, it's better that last years 'Oblivion'... Which isn't really as much of a compliment as you might think.
The plot is just rehashed from loads of other sci-fi movies and if you think about it, the entire pacing of the movie is virtually identical to 'Groundhog Day'... But without the comedy or superb performances.
Emily Blunt who i highly rate as an actress, and was in one of my fave movies in recent years (The Adjustment Bureau) simply phones in her performance here... and her's is one of the better performances.
Not a single character has depth, the plot is entirely predictable and the ending scene rather contrived.
Maybe I expect too much from my sci-fi movies these days... but after being spoilt by great films such as the aforementioned Adjustment Bureau, Moon, Source Code and Inception and thrilled by the likes of the Marvel cinematic offerings... Movies like this just cannot compete with them.
It's like when True Lies was released back in the early 90's... a Schwarzenegger action movie that surpassed what we had come to expect from secret agent films... and that many film buffs and critics (myself included) were saying could very well end the James Bond franchise (and nearly did as they got ever more ridiculous until Daniel Craig stepped into the role).
The dialogue is rather slow and painful in places... But the cinematics and visual effects are pretty decent, although there are several scenes where you see them running in the armoured suits and can tell they're on hoists because their movements don't quite match with what you are seeing.
So whilst this movie is better than Oblivion... it's still a pretty poor movie that whilst offering some enjoyment for the two hrs or so it lasts... offers no repeat viewing value at all.
Hence my score of just 5. Maybe I'm just not a fan of Tom Cruise, maybe I find him just a little bit creepy and maybe I wish he use his skills as an actor in meatier roles.
It's not that I simply like my Sci-Fi to be a littler more cerebral, I love action fests, it's actually more to with the fact that I enjoy character development and good dialogue at the same time. Sadly it's hard to find movies that tick all the boxes. On one had you have the films mentioned already, this falls somewhere in the middle whilst the Transformers movies are somewhere at the bottom of the pile because they cannot tick ANY of the boxes.