Shannon Nutt

No kidding. I'm sure I'm not the only one who got a little queasy just watching it in IMAX. PLEASE tell me he's cabled there and it's been photoshopped out or it's just hidden.

Dragon Tattoo

Thanks for the completely pointless post.

bluetoast

This is about 1000 feet shorter than the Burj, but still pretty badass for a day job, skip around to get a sense of what the climber is doing.

<iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/C_-7Qp7uzbQ" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

TheMovieman

Pot meet kettle.



Anyway, so that this isn't a "completely pointless" post, Cruise is insane no doubt but got to give him respect for doing his own stunts. I'm also glad to see this do well and that MI5 is in the works, hopefully the team comes back (since they have great chemistry, oh, and Paula Patton is smokin') rather than breaking in a few new agents like they've done in the past.

whotony

He said on Letterman that there was no harness and it took about four hours to get all the way up to that position.

Autotelik

How did he get up there? With the super duper special clingy gloves from the movie? That's insane and ridiculous!

FantasticVSDoom

Thoroughly enjoyed this one...Great action, Cruise and Renner were pretty bad ass, as was Patton who is also insanely hot, and Pegg had me laughing as usual. Cant wait for MI5.

Superboy

I guess i'm in the minority, because I thought this movie was fucking terrible.

Mike86

This was a pretty cool movie if you ask me. I've always liked the Mission: Impossible series (although I haven't seen 3 yet) despite not being a huge Tom Cruise fan. Gotta give him some major credit for that building stunt. That's insane ..I'm scared to death of heights so there's no way in hell I could be talked into something like that for all the money in the world.

Supermallet

And why did you think that?

Superboy

I didn't like it. Why not just leave it at that.

Then again, I don't like a lot of mainstream movies.

Supermallet

It's not much of a discussion if you don't give any reasons why.

Superboy

Most discussions about why movies are bad never turn out well. But here goes:

The acting was god-awful, the characters were completely flat and utter unmemorable, the editing was terrible, the pacing was plodding, the entire plot was self-defeating, the non-plot-specific dialogue was utter nonsense and rabble, the jokes weren't funny, the camera work for the action sequences were horrible, and the movie is a pitiful blend of two genres: action movies, where the audience is just supposed to enjoy the action, and spy movies, where the audience is supposed to be deliberately confused by the plot and the motivation of the characters. Trying to fit a spy plot into the structure of an action movie just doesn't work.

The Cow

Why bother interjecting that it was "fucking terrible" then?

Supermallet

See, now here are things that people can actually respond to.

Superboy

Because it never turns out well. It always happens in movie threads. Thought i'd just give my opinion.

I prefer to discuss good movies, and what made those movies good, in case there was anything I missed.

DJariya

I don't agree with anything you said. But, I will try to be civil and ask you a few questions:

You said you hate/refuse to see most mainstream movies.

1) What was the last big budget action film that you enjoyed?

2) Did you enjoy any of the previous 3 Mission Impossible movies? Did you watch/were familiar with the old series? I don't agree with your commentary about the plot. I thought it was a well constructed plot that even mixed a little bit of the Cold War Politics/Spy plots that were part of the old Mission Impossible series along with being an action film. It made sense to me.

3) I think you went a little overboard saying the directing was fucking terrible. I mean seriously you thought the Dubai sequences were terrible? Why did you think Brad Bird's directing was so god awful? For a guy who previously directed animation, this was a hell of a great job for his 1st live action movie. What did you think of DePalma, Woo and Abrams in the previous 3 movies directing? Did you hate them too if you watched them?

Superboy

I don't refuse to see most mainstream movies. It's really a mix of different factors, like if a crowd i'm with just wants to catch a movie, I won't be a spoil sport and just go with it.

Iron Man was probably the last one that I enjoyed though. It had memorable characters, good dialogue that wasn't just there to fill time, and for a sci-fi movie it wasn't riddled with technobabble.

When I think of "spy" movies, I think of "The spy who came in from the cold". The old mission impossible series really felt more like a techno-thriller than a spy series. It just happened to have spies in it. But this movie was clearly trying to have a spy plot, and it didn't work for me. I don't see why the same audiences that hated MI:II could love this movie, because they shared all the same flaws.

Yes, they all had terrible directing, camera work, etc etc.

Supermallet

What do you consider action films with good directing and camera work? I thought the action in the first Iron Man was incredibly bland.

Superboy

Really? I thought it was pretty effective because the movie built up to it, and the action scenes were pretty sparse. They also stemmed pretty naturally from the plot. You don't have Iron Man going around playing every day hero, he goes off and tackles problems that he knows he's responsible for and that no one else can fight.

There are a lot of good action movies out there, but #1 would probably be Speed. The movie builds and builds and builds in excitement. The camera work is fluid and dynamic, but we're never lost and we always know what's happening on screen. The characters are pretty two-dimensional, but they're not completely without charm and the movie works quickly to give us the parameters of each character - what they can and cannot do, what they're best at, and what their weaknesses are.

I don't feel the same way about MI. The characters are just as flat, but they're totally forgettable, and they don't really have clear parameters. Take Ethan for example. I know he's supposed to be heroic and all that, but is there anything he CAN'T do? it sorta makes all the supporting characters unnecessary fodder for bad jokes, ego trips, and to boost the ego of the protagonist.

Now, take a movie like True Lies. A balls-to-the-walls action movie that incorporates and satires the spy genre simultaneously. It didn't need an overly complicated and convoluted plot either.

Brack

I'll see your comment and raise you with...

Is there anything Harry Tasker can't do?

Superboy

That was the whole point of this character: there is literally NOTHING the guy can't do. That's why it's such an effective satire of spy movies. He's an expert in every language he needs to use at that exact moment, he's a computer hacker, he can tango, he's an expert marksman with any weapon (something anyone who is experienced with firearms will tell you is extremely difficult), he can ride a horse, pilot a harrier, etc etc.

That's why his two partners are the "foil" - they are buffoonish, useless, and totally inconsequential to the outcome of the movie.

BTW do you love that movie as much as I do?

crazychris88

I thought this movie was pretty decent although after the hotel sequence I think the rest of the movie kinda lagged and to me the end of the movie didn't really feel like the end. ...ANd by that I guess I mean that the 3rd act felt more like a 2nd act or something. It just belt off for some reason and I suppose i feel this had the weakest 3rd act of all 4 films in the series.
Still overall some very good sequences in the first 2 thirds or the film.
I think I would still rank the 3rd film as the zenith of the series...

Supermallet

In Iron Man, I'm talking about the camera work, the editing, and the score. They're all very pedestrian. Take the escape from the terrorist compound. It should be this pulse-pounding march to freedom, but instead all the momentum is sucked right out of it by the languid pacing and utterly generic score running behind it.

Sonic

There has to be something that he did to protect himself because there is no way he would risk his life and family with no sort of protection from falling.

In Mission Impossible 2 he had a stunt double for the rock climbing scene in the beginning of the movie. The part where he slips and jumps to the side of the rock was his stunt double. And Tom had wires all throughout that scene to prevent him from falling. The wires were CGI out.