On the whole, I felt the movie was a lot of brawn and no brain. And the action was great, but I didn't come out feeling wow. First of all, my expectations were dashed when I booked tickets for an Imax screen, expecting a 3D experience! :P Clearly I didn't read the poster too well. That apart, the movie was fast-paced, kept you hooked, had some punchy dialogues here and there, and around average acting from everyone else. Tom Cruise was good, I mean he was great, but somehow my response was more on the lines of, 'At this age, he's doing this stunts, that's a WOW' Maybe I'm being scathing, maybe I'm being overcritical, maybe you would like it, but I was not so happy.
The underlying plot without revealing much is that Tom Cruise was attempting to infiltrate the Kremlin for some information when it gets bombed. The primary suspect is Tom and his team. His mission (which he chooses to accept) is to convince the russians that he is not the enemy that they think him to be, but is instead an ally trying to show them that there's someone within their system who's trying to set this nuclear war that will eventually end US & Russia. That's all there is to the plot. Then there is interception, fighting, flying, running, driving, and some more fighting, driving, crashing, and some more fighting... you get the plot.
What I loved about movies like the Bourne Identity is that the story isn't black or white, the story isn't all that's depicted, the story is a lot more than that and it's revealed to you in bits and pieces that you fail to connect, only in the end do those stray bits and pieces come together. Here, the audience is completely bought it from the very beginning, they know who's the good guy and the bad guy, they know what the good guy must do, it's too simple, there's no hook. The so called 'Ghost Protocol' had the footage of a mere few seconds. It just wasn't clever enough. That's my problem.
The cinematography, most of the action sequences, and some technically brilliant scenes were great, so it does make for a one-time watch. Doesn't hold any repeat value. There's nothing else left to decipher or understand, everyone got the plot in the first 10 mins.
Oh and did you know Anil Kapoor plays the role of an Indian billionaire in this movie? Please try and ignore him. I just cannot understand how a respectable actor like him would choose to play such a terrible role in the movie. Thankfully the dancers at the Taj were doing a variation of kathak and not some harem-like dance, but seriously, what was his language! We can speak perfectly good English, 'Indian Mens like it hot' What a crap dialogue!! I was damn irritated looking at his portrayal. And even that woman, she was supposed to seduce him and all she did was talk, raise one eyebrow, totally incapable, she then fights him and gets the information they need. If her character was so weak, why not just make her a strong, one-track mind woman who goes in, takes him down and gets the information. Why the farce of her trying to seduce and then giving up... That entire sequence was just a major low in the movie for me.
I'm going with 2/5 for the movie.
Sigh.
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