Pom Klementieff

Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning

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Tom Cruise hanging of a biplane

Almost three hours of Tom Cruise running around and hanging off things, doing stunts a man in his mid-60s probably shouldn’t do. Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning is madly over-indulgent and yet, after playing a blinder in seven straight movies, can’t we allow Cruise and co a victory lap? It is a greatest-hits package in many respects, a Dad Rock arena tour of the highlights. As Cruise’s Ethan Hunt (though aren’t they really the same person?) and his M:I team embark on a mission to stop AI taking over the whole world, we are fed reminders of past glories in little “previously on M:I” flashbacks. Philip Seymour Hoffman, Jon Voight and Léa Seydoux … Read more

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3

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The Guardians ready for actions

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 wraps up the grungey offshoot of the Marvel Cinematic Universe with grace and style, as well as big bangs and some good jokes. There’s a touch of cinematic pathos in there too, as if GOTG3 is also to some extent saying goodbye to the big superhero movie as a cultural meme. The MCU, after all, is running out of puff. It’s the film that nearly didn’t get made in its current form. Writer/director James Gunn, very much the presiding mind in all the GOTG movies, got fired early on in the production process – some old Tweets came back to bite him – but ended up being … Read more

Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One

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Hayley Atwell and Tom Cruise

Two hours 43 minutes of pure entertainment is what Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One delivers. The only real question it’s raised by the end of its breathless 200-odd minutes is how is Part Two going to top it? There’s even a plot, the usual one of something that needs tracking down, Ethan Hunt and his team working in the shadowy “disavowed” realm, good bad guys ostensibly from their own side and bad bad guys keen to get their hands on the thing, which this time around is a key that will disarm a rogue AI superbrain with plans for world domination. Tom Cruise plays Ethan Hunt. Now looking decidedly middle aged … Read more