3-in-One: Mission Impossible, Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, and I Hate You Dad

In the time since my last entry (I've since completed 3 video projects, which I'll need to post here), I've taken in a number of movie previews. Two of them open this weekend, so I figured I'd post a word about them. The third is a far-off project which I saw an early cut of, so here's an early look at that, too. 






1. Mission Impossible 4: Ghost Protocol

When a mission goes bad for the current MI team, Tom Cruise is broken out of prison (where he sits rotting for an unauthorized killing of a cadre of foreign nationalists), to lead the remaining crew in the search for a stolen nuclear launch device and its missing activation codes. The team is soon outed by their villainous foe, and framed for a bombing of the Kremlin. In response, the government institutes Ghost Protocol, disavowing the MI team's mission, and offering them up as scapegoats to the Russians. The MI team has to complete their mission against a nuclear terrorist and his handful of hired assassins as fugitives, and without the aid of much of their previous technology. (in theory)


For many, this will likely be the most satisfying installment in the MI series (for me, it was part 3, though this one is quite enjoyable). It feels poppy, and quick and actiony, a great departure from the tone of the rest of the series. In fact, all 4 movies now have a distinct difference in their tone, the fingerprints of their various directors showing on the final products. The first MI was more cerebral, a complex spy drama packed with intrigue. Part 2 catered to those lost in part 1, a big dumb action film full of vibrant colors and impossible stunts. Part 3 brought a more personal, darker story with Phillip Seymore Hoffman as a wonderfully sinister bad guy. Now this one... really it compares best with James Bond. Not the most recent Bonds, mind you, but some Roger Moore era stuff. The stakes are high, with nuclear war on the table, but despite that there are a lot of jokes, a ton of gadgets, and a lot of fun, globe-trotting set pieces in the mix. 


Two things to watch for in this movie: first, for the group being abandoned by the US government (and really, doesn't it seem like they're betrayed by their superiors in at least 3 of these 4 films?), they have a crazy amount of tech available. I mean, yeah, their mask machine breaks... but I dont' care how cool of a weapon-smith their black market dealer is, a view screen GPS with touch navigation in the windshield of your car? Wow. 
Seondly, I think Tom Cruise probably has brain damage by the end of the movie. He is told by a doctor, immediately following the Kremlin job, that he as a concussion. He spend the rest of the movie running around, for days straight, and bangs his head, really really hard, on quite a number of surfaces during the show. Its almost a running gag, with his cranium connecting with a plate glass window, a metal car-lift, the windshield in a car accident, numerous fists, etc. I expect MI 5 to be similar to Rocky 5, and feature Tom Cruise being forced out of the business by his doctor for the severe mental dysfunction he must be suffering. 


2. Girl With the Dragon Tattoo

David Fincher brings us an American adaptation of Stieg Larson's novel of the same title (originally titled, "Men Who Hate Women"), the second adaptation of such after the Swedish original. 
The story for this movie, likely the first in a trilogy, focuses on Mikael Blomkvist, a disgraced journalist who is brought in to solve an ages old murder mystery, in hopes of recovering the fame and fortune he lost in a recent libel suit. Thought the film opens with a focus on Mikael and his investigation, he soon finds himself stumped, and he recruits the talents of Lisbeth Salander, an unusual girl with anti-social tendencies and a photographic memory. She takes center stage in the show after the pair come together, saving the day multiples times, and redefining the image of the cinematic heroine. Using their skill sets, Lisbeth and Mikael unravel the depraved truths behind the murders, and their links to a neo-Nazi heritage. 


Viewed for its own merits, this film is pretty amazing. Fincher's direction is, as always, sharp and clear, while preserving the dark, perverse grime needed for the story's tone. There is an intense rape scene near the opening of the film that has been disturbing audiences at pre-screenings, a sign that the direction doesn't flinch, and is unafraid to do what it needs to in order to provoke an emotional response. The mystery is pretty well crafted, though it honestly takes a backseat to the examination of its two lead characters, and the relationship they develop. I suppose its pretty obvious that the story is going to go that way, since much of the opening is spent following Lisbeth around and getting a feel for the dark, unusual life she finds herself trapped in, a path that at first seems to not link up to the central plot. Her character has fascinated readers and film-goers for sometime now, and this latest version, portrayed by Rooney Mara, will be no exception. While her Lisbeth seems a bit softer, and more reactionary than the version portrayed by Noomi Rapace, she is still very different than most movie heroines, still more commanding, and despite her unusual appearance, is able to charm many audience members by sheer force of personality. 

Rapace has the better performance, IMO, but the
superior tattoo is on Mara. Seriously who designed
that thing?

Of course, its impossible to not compare this film to the original Swedish version from 2009. Personally, I prefer that version. While I'm a great fan of Fincher's direction, generally, I found that a lot of scenes here lacked impact or emotion. He seemed to movie from scene to scene in order to construct the narrative, but didn't linger on moments of emotional depth long enough for most to really register. They cut off almost jarringly. As already mentioned, his Lisbeth is slightly softened, her relationship with Mikael more romantic, where as it remains at that awkward point between love and sexy-friendship, undefined, in the original. What is most interesting, though, are what scenes are given greater focus, and what are excised in order to give them that extra screen-time. Both opening and ending sequences seem to have greater prevalence here, Mikael's libel trial and Lisbeth's end movie run as a blonde bombshell seem to have been extended and explained in more depth. Lost to the cutting-room floor and many scenes involving the Vanger family have been shortened or removed. Because of this, the mystery seems looser, more ambiguous, and its resolution more rushed. All the scenes that pertained to the two Vanger girls looking alike are gone, and the ending changed to be rid of the necessity of those sequences. In many ways, I felt that the revelation of the killer is weakened by these losses, and the Vanger family, who I felt I knew intimately by the end of the Swedish movie, remain rather an unknown entity in this version. 


Despite the fact that I really enjoyed the US version, if I had to pick one, I'd stick to the original. Still, I hope Rooney Mara's career opens up from this film much the way Noomi Rapace's did (see Prometheus and Sherlock Holmes 2 for more of her), as I find her quite charming. 


3. I Hate You Dad (working title, possibly "Donny's Boy")

The cast of...whatever this movie will be called.
Oh yeah, Vanilla Ice is all over this one...

This last one is the next movie from Adam Sandler and Happy-Madison productions. Going in, I was so, so afraid I'd been invited to the next Jack and Jill or some other horrible mess of a film. Instead I was treated to, for better or for worse, some old school Sandler comedy. 


The story is that of Donny, um.... somthing... well I've forgotten his last name, but anyway he's 14 when he sleeps with his school teacher, Mrs. McGarricle, played young by Eva Martino and old by Susan Sarandon, both of them smokin' hot ladies. He knocks her up, and at age 18, gains custody of their son, who he names Han Solo. The teacher is found guilty of statutory rape and goes to jail, leaving the young boy a single, and inept, father, living on wealth accrued by selling his life story to various gossip rags. The bulk of the film takes place 20+ years later, with Sandler playing adult Donny, who is out of cash, about to go to jail for tax evasion, and estranged from his son. He goes to his son, played by Andy Samberg, seeking financial aid and finds that young Han is about to get married, a ceremony he wasn't invited to. The crude Donny then seeks to get back into his son's life, with the usual shenanigans that would involve.


There's nothing really surprising about this movie. At all. Its a pretty typical, paint by the numbers, father/son reuniting comedy heart-warmer, with the one twist that the father is just barely older than the son. Sandler does, however, go back to his crude roots, dropping foul language and dick jokes all over the place, which is sure to please fans of his original films. Despite the lack of any twists or turns, I found myself enjoying the movie pretty well. I dont' go into Adam Sandler movies expecting to be intellectually stimulated. I expect to go into a movie loaded with sex jokes, cursing old ladies, sports stars and retired/failed comedian cameos, and an endless supply of 80's nostalgia references. This movie has them in spades. In fact, if you're under 25, you might not get a lot of the references, unless you spend a lot of time watching old TV shows online. 


If there was anything weak in the film, it was Samberg. I was interested to see how the old SNL star, and its new lifeblood would play off of each other on the screen. Instead, Samberg played the straight man to Sandler's Falstaff, and doesn't bring any of his uniquely bizarre comedy to the mix. He even mugs to the camera a scant few times. This kinda hurts the film, because Samberg comes off as a whiny asshole. He's a decent comedian, but a terrible straight man, not likable in the least. 


Its not a great film, but I think its a better effort than many of Sandler's other outings, and more familiar to his original fans than things like Jack & Jill and Grown-ups. It did remind me of this skit, from Whitest Kids You Know, also: