Two things strike me about this movie
1) This is totally Tom Cruise's "I'm totally not gay!" movie. I think the hardcore, extreme, vibe of the film is largely about Tom Cruise asserting his masculinity. It opens with him free climbing a mountain and the only function of the sequence seems to be to showcase the physical capabilities of Cruise. In particular his leap from one bit of mountain to another bit of mountain is just him showing off. He's increasingly physical in the movie, both in his action sequences and as a romantic lead. Some of the shot compositions with him and Thandie Newton are practically freudian. My favourite are the repeated shots of Cruise's face between Newton's cleavage whilst they're in the bath tub.
2) This feels like John Woo almost throwing a fit at the reaction to his American movies and just going full on Woo. Not sure if the overt Wooism is all his doing or if Cruise was a fan and upped the Woo factor but this is a film where Woo makes everything as Wooish as possible.
The movie itself feels like the final gasp of 90s action movies. Dougray Scott's introduction feels like a deleted sequence from the 'extreme sports' action films of the period like Drop Zone, whilst the rest of the film feels like an odd mash up of every cultural touchstone of the late mid-90s. I also love that Richard Roxbrugh is the main heavy. He's the sort of presence who usually requires a goon of his own and it kind of cements the Mission Impossible films habit of having weirdly underwhelming main villains. I like Voight and Hoffman as actors but they're never particularly menacing presences, but they're fucking legendary screen presences compared to Scott. He's supposed to be an anti-Ethan Hunt but all of his posturing just makes him feel utterly useless.
Having said that I do kind of like the movie more than I should. It's kind of fun and trashy in its own little way, and it walks a fine line between outright pastiche and operatic excess. It's a film where Anthony Hopkins walks into scene, looks incredibly pissed off, and then delivers exposition. It's a film where the major action beat is Tom Cruise leaving the romantic lead to die. It's a movie where every other shot is in slow motion and it works really well within its own confines. The action sequences in particular are really well put together, there's a rhythm and energy to them which perhaps closest represents Woo's HK output. However it's all wrapped up in a film which is kind of exceedingly silly but played with a sombre straight face.
