Mission Impossible: the one best scene

Well, I bought into the hype – not always a bad thing – and took myself on a bright sunny afternoon to Devonshire Cineplex to catch the latest Tom Cruise Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning Part I.” As per my last post I decided to buy an IMAX ticket. I’m a “senior” so with tax the charge was $19.20. It had been years since I went to an IMAX film but with all the dare devil acts reportedly in this I thought this larger-than-life technical medium would deliver the, well, full impact. First, what’s the big diff? I really didn’t notice any discernible difference in watching the movie compared to a normal screen. In fact, I wondered if I was missing something – perhaps you needed those special glasses. I walked out and asked. Nope. If there was any difference it might have been that the characters and scenes appeared closer and the overall experience more intense. But it still seemed hard to tell. Now, the film itself. The whole experience seemed like James Bond on steroids. You have the exotic locales (Venice, Rome, Abu Dhabi (the airport anyway), the Austrian Alps. There are the beautiful women (Rebecca Ferguson, Hayley Atwell, Pom Klementieff, Vanessa Kirby). And there’s the over-the-top ridiculous plot, where Tom Cruise (Ethan Hunt) and the MI crew seek to get their hands on a “cruciform” key that unlocks a powerful weapon that can doom man - whoops, human - kind. The writers must have had a lot of fun with this, coming up with the dastardly “The Entity” as the ultimate evil culprit. Hell, I could have come up with that! And the dialogue is so spy movie grim and serious the actors must have cracked up after each take. What about the daring-dos?  There are several – in the airport, Rome’s streets just outside the Coliseum (don't scratch your name), a Venice bridge, Ethan’s motorcycle sky jump (practiced hundreds of times) and onboard the Orient Express. Without giving much away the Orient Express series of scenes were the most spine-tingling and creative of all. The movie clocks in at two hours and 43 minutes. It wasn’t really boring but I did look at my watch once, about three-quarters of the way through. And after all this, there’s still a second – and more? – parts to come. Did I get my IMAX money’s worth? Not particularly. Despite the enjoyable stunts and huge escapism the experience had the feel of having eaten cotton candy.