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Mission Impossible : Ghost Protocol
Your film, should you choose to accept it … is probably the most enjoyable Mission Impossible yet. And this is not mere hyperbole. Each film in the series has benefited by a new director and a new interpretation : Brian De Palma’s original was a mystery / ‘who-dunnit’ to unmask the mole; John Woo’s effort was stylish, slow-motion action; J.J. Abraham’s third instalment was emotionally intense. Wisely jettisoning another cheapening numeral in favour of a cool sub-title, director Brad Bird’s version ( ‘The Incredibles’, ‘Ratatouille’ ) has set-pieces relentlessly following each other in a breathless procession. As the fuse wire is lit, the opening titles provide teasing glimpses of the scenes to follow – as if you needed to be detained in your seat. You will not be bored.
You just know you’re watching a ‘Mission Impossible’ movie ( as opposed to even a Bond or Bourne movie ) because of the fantastic and absurdly slick gadgetry on show. Two spies infiltrate the Kremlin and advance up a corridor by hiding behind a holographic, digitised screen, reflecting back an empty hall, thereby deceiving a suspicious guard. The absurdity of these scenarios does not spoil your enjoyment. Rather, tension and suspense are heightened as fresh contingencies are layered on top of each other. The much publicised ‘human fly’ stunt performed by Cruise himself, 130 floors outside the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, is one such example ( but not the sole jaw-dropping stunt ). The fact that he has to access a server room whilst his team are acting as decoys, intercepting a meeting with the villains, is unimportant. The camera soars above his head, taking in the full vertiginous drop, as he slips and slides down mirrored glass. The stunt is exacerbated by a pair of malfunctioning, magnetic, gravity gloves and an encroaching sandstorm. Whether he is running perpendicularly along the side and swinging outwards; jumping out of a window with a fire-hose attached and rappelling down the side of the building; or just merely dangling head-first supported by Renner – this stunning section will have you flinching. However, there are equally impressive set-pieces amidst the glamorous globe-trotting, from Budapest to Moscow; from Dubai to Mombai : there’s the opening extraction of a prisoner in a Moscow jail where Ethan Hunt resides like Steve McQueen, the Cooler King; the bombing of the Kremlin; the roof-top escape from the hospital; the sudden assassination of the U.S. Secretary ( Tom Wilkinson); the car chase through a sand storm; Jeremy Renner replicating a recognisable stunt by jumping down an air shaft, only to wave his hands frantically inches away from a fan; and a ‘Die Hard’-style punch-up in an hydraulic, rotating car park.
Renner ( from ‘The Hurt Locker’, and soon to be seen as Hawkeye in ‘The Avengers’ as well as Matt Damon’s replacement in ‘The Bourne Legacy’ ) is effectively cast as an Analyst to the U.S. Secretary. He has the physique and the moves to counter Cruise’s Ethan Hunt and acquits himself equally well in lighter moments. Paula Patton provides some Eurasian glamour and slick combat skills ( especially in a bitch-fight with a female assassin), but thankfully is not the token love-interest for Cruise. Whatever happened to his wife at the end of Mission Impossible 3? Well, that is explained too. As for the villain, intent on triggering a nuclear war for no explicable reason, you may recognise Hendricks ( codename : Cobalt ). He’s actually Mikael Nyquist ( from the original ‘Girl with the Dragon Tattoo’ ), looking older and greyer, and sounding distinctly plumy. Simon Pegg provides lame comedic support as techno-geek ( now a field agent ) Benji. You get the feeling when he thanks Cruise for the mission at the end, he’s actually expressing his appreciation for the free ride on this roller-coaster. Look out for the surprise cameo from an original IMF agent, which will have you begging for Pegg’s replacement. But if only the series could bring back Jeremy Renner for another sequel before he becomes stratospherically successful.
Clearly, this is one franchise that is still showing signs of longevity and, if audiences have bemoaned the summer blockbusters with disappointment, then the old year ends and the new one begins with a hard act to follow.
By William Marcus.
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Sweden’s most popular export since ABBA and Ikea is Steig Larsson’s ‘Millennium’ trilogy of novels, starting with ‘The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo’. The original 2009 Swedish film version was such a successful, international, cross-over hit that it transcended most people’s aversion to foreign-language films with sub-titles. So why the need for a Hollywood remake so soon? Is this just a case of flagrant commercial opportunism? Or is this a superior interpretation with something better to deliver, superseding the original?
Curiosity is piqued as the director, David Fincher ( ‘Seven’, ‘The Game’, ‘Fight Club’, ‘Zodiac’ ) promises a darker, more bleak version. The opening, stylishly slick titles plays like a sinister, grungy, James Bond-style credits sequence, with a Trent Reznor soundtrack, as a keyboard and a girl are covered with oil and bound with cables, foreshadowing some of the film’s themes of violence against women.
And then there’s the assemblage of the cast : Daniel Craig as Mikael Blomkvist; Rooney Mara ( you may remember her as Nancy from the recent ‘Nightmare on Elm Street’ remake, but you will not recognise her as Lisbeth Salander ); the ancient but prolific and talented Christopher Plummer as Henrik Vanger; Stellan Skarsgard as Martin Vanger; theatrical maniac Steven Berkoff ( ‘Octopussy’, ‘Beverley Hills Cop’, ‘Rambo: First Blood’ ) as Frode; and small supporting roles for Geraldine James, Joely Richardson, Goran Visjnic and Julian Sands.
The premise of the film may already be known but the scenes are replayed with a subtle twist. Crusading investigative journalist, Blomkvist, is framed and loses an expensive libel lawsuit to a corrupt business-man, Winnerstrom. Reluctantly, he accepts an offer from wealthy Industrialist, Henrik Vanger, to osensibly write his memoirs. The real deal is to find out what happened to his neice, Harriet, who disappeared forty years ago on the day of a terrible accident; and to find the killer amongst his despicable, dysfunctional family. There are plenty of suspects amongst the Neo-Nazis but you may feel confused, trying to keep track of all the members as the Vanger patriarch expounds upon the Dutch Elm disease in his family tree. Eventually, Blomkvist’s path crosses that of Lisbeth Salander’s : a grungy, goth hacker hired to investigate the reporter’s background.
Fincher invests investigative scenes with mounting menace, surpassing each fresh discovery with the shock of a serial killer. Craig is shot at and pursued through woods and there is a torture scene for him ( which must be written into his contract, along with taking his shirt off ), that actually surpasses the brutality of ‘Casino Royale’. Hoisted by his neck, hog-tied and suffocated with a plastic bag over his head, he is threatened with disembowelment in a basement that looks like a sterile abattoir, whilst Enya’s ‘Orinocco Flow’ plays in the background. But a tiny moment is worthy of notice, mid-way through the movie, when Blomkvist has a meeting with Armansky ( a grey-haired Goran Visjnic – the man who was nearly selected ahead of Daniel Craig for the role of James Bond ).
Lisbeth Salander is now a fully-fledged feminist icon. Paradoxically, she is both victim and tormentor. Desecrating her flesh with tattoos and piercings, her appearance is deliberately, starkly scary and intimidating, designed to keep people at arm’s length. This is fully justified in the scenes with her new legal guardian when she meets him for hand-outs. His depraved sexual coercion is sickening, culminating in a bestial rape scene. She’s a complex, damaged character who earns our sympathy and approval for extreme revenge. And yes, that sensationalistic scene of hog-tied torture and blackmail is administered with a painful, metallic double-kick up the rectum.
Comparisons between Noomi Rapace and Rooney Mara in the role of Lisbeth are inevitable. But their performances are as dissimilar as their appearances. Both are equally creditable in different ways. Whilst Rapace’s performance hinged on feistiness, Rooney Mara is a revelation, showing elements of waif-like vulnerability and a willingness, albeit an inability, to engage with and trust another human being. She even sounds Swedish. But in a world as bleak as Fincher’s, there can be no love, companionship or happy ending for Lisbeth. Admittedly, the ending is less rushed than its predecessor and is given a slight twist.
Commercially, this film is an altogether different, predatory beast, rivalling the original. It’s as beautifully bleak and austerely atmospheric as those snowy, Swedish landscapes depicted in the film.
by William Marcus.
Sherlock Holmes : A Game of Shadows
At last, Sherlock Holmes’ arch nemesis, Professor James Moriarty, ( “that Napoleon of crime” ), so teasingly glimpsed as the first film’s eminence-grise, emerges from the shadows. And he is portrayed by none other than Jared Harris – son of the late, great Richard Harris.
Apart from the main draw of the villain, why is this such a successful, entertaining sequel? Yet again, many purists of Conan Doyle’s literary detective may deplore director Guy Ritchie’s irreverent pandering to populist tastes with his antithetical re-imagining of Sherlock Holmes as a sympathetic, romantic, comedic, action-hero. Many may think that he takes the liberty too far, transmogrifying the character beyond recognition : it is not enough that Holmes is a scruffy, battered, eccentric figure but he has to assume ridiculous disguises ( look out for his transparent ‘China man’ disguise, the false beard, the camouflage suit and even his appearance in drag ); there’s the familiar, old couple bickering between Holmes and Watson, belying real affection and loyalty as the ‘Bro-mance’ is layered on thick ( Holmes even calls Watson ‘a ponce’ ); Stephen Fry’s performance playing Holmes’ intellectually superior brother, Mycroft, is just Stephen Fry, calling him ‘Shirley’ and wandering around naked in one scene ( an ill-advised jape considering his unsightly flab ); and, at times, credibility is strained too far as Holmes anticipates every move from his adversary with a fantastic counter strategy to cover any eventuality ( he coats the tips of soldiers’ bullets, thereby booby-trapping a train carriage ). Noomi Rapace ( the original ‘Girl with the Dragon Tattoo’ who ‘Played with Fire’ and ‘Kicked the Hornet’s Nest’ ) plays gypsy fortune-teller, Sim and contributes very little to the proceedings, apart from topical, flavour-of-the-month casting. And still these points cannot derail an entertaining, rollicking epic that fans of the original will want to see.
Even though Downey jnr and Law are comfortable with their consummate versions of the characters, it is Harris who instantly assails your attention with his menacing civility. He never raises his voice. He simply does not have to. It is worth seeing this film alone for his flitting, scene-stealing performance. Ostensibly, he has inherited his father’s mannerisms to superlative effect : that dog-eyed, baleful stare; that soft, yet menacingly Irish brogue is the voice of his father speaking; and even the red beard cannot disguise the similarities in his wrinkled visage. His father’s greatness has been preserved and is very much in evidence. Oh, and look out for veteran actor _ ( who starred in ‘Raiders of the Lost Ark’ and an old Jeremy Brett / Sherlock Holmes t.v. episode called ‘A Scandal in Bohemia’ ) as Dr. Hoffenmyer.
As with James Bond films, the ingredients which made the original successful are replicated and enhanced : there’s that thunderously galloping score by Hans Zimmer; the slow-motion, pre-imagined strategies to the relentless fight scenes and the fast-flowing set-pieces occur frequently ( the opening fight scene intercepting an incendiary device; Watson’s stag party with its Cossack assassin; the Munitions factory and the explosive canon-fire shattering trees as they are pursued through woods ). But where the film truly excels is at its denouement, set against the backdrop of the Reichenbach Falls in Switzerland. It is a showdown between Holmes and Moriarty, lifted from Conan Doyle’s book, ‘His Last Bow’, but stunningly, breathlessly staged with a fresh twist. Watson has to foil an assassination attempt whilst Holmes and Moriarty battle with civility, at first, over a chess board. The inevitable scuffle and tumble over the Falls is the true highlight of the film. If it had ended there on this literal cliffhanger, fans would have feared for the future of the franchise. An overly reassuring epilogue clears away any doubts as to the continuation of the franchise which is a relief.