Perhaps only the news that Jeremy Renner will co-star with Tom Cruise in Mission Impossible 4 as a way of handing off the franchise from the older man to the younger could compel me to see the movie. I love me some Jeremy Renner, but I find Cruise almost impossible to stomach these days, both because of the bombast of his acting (Julia Roberts juts her chin when she's angry and tenses up her neck, Cruise brings the crazy-eye when he's trying to confound someone or make a point) and the blank and slightly repellant facade he presents in real life. It's hard to rewatch even snippets of Mission Impossible and remember that those eyes going a certain way didn't once single something I didn't want any part of:
It's a silly, over-the-top movie, but by today's standards, it was kind of lean, and mean. And Cruise's paranoia and passion seemed plausible and justifiable. It seems like a long time ago. Even Jon Voigt was a tough dude, rather than the irascible foil he plays in the National Treasure movies, proof that movies can get dumber, louder and more complicated all the time.