john-lancia-1

It looks like the pandemics final victim is this movie. Filmed during the pandemic, with Tom Cruises insane over reactions to it (it was serious, but not scream at people serious), led this film to seem claustrophobic and overly edited. With scenes of dialogue flipping from one actor to another. Nobody in the shots with them. Clearly not in the same room with each other as they delivered their lines.

Sets were small and cheap looking at various points in the movie, no doubt due to minimal crew being on set at the same time. Things like people having a normal conversation in a plane that is flying. You can't do that. No turbulance, barely any engine sound. This was all intercut, confusingly at times, with a conversation taking place on an aircraft carrier that clearly looked like a soundstage.

Throughout the movie, its like the central characters are the only people in the world. Lots of scenery, no one around. The movies main set piece takes place with just Tom Cruise alone. Well over 15 minutes. It was good, but not like anything from the out of this world action from the last two movies.

Don't get me wrong. The action scenes were excellent as always. But the restrictions on set led to the movie feeling small and put a damper on tension of the world coming to an end. Perhaps filming should have been suspended until things got back to normal. But that's easy for me to say, I didn't have tens of millions riding on getting it completed on time. The whole situation is unfortunate.

Eddie Murphy and Pete Davidson save this movie from a horribly middling director. I've never heard of him before, but a quick look at his credits tells me why.

Without the performances and on screen chemistry of the two lead actors, this movie would be a one out of ten instead of a five out of ten. I'm not sure how this guy keeps getting work, but he must have something on some studio execs.

I'd like to go on about the movie. The writing is okay and the action sequences are passable. But its the directing and editing and some really really terrible voice over work of the bad guys when they have their helmets on that take this movie down. But its really not worth it.

If you have a netflix subscription, its a fun watch. Good thing no one hase to pay 20 bucks or more at a theater for it though. Then it would be a definite pass.

You watch this, and you can't figure out whats wrong with it. Other than the terrible script.

What's wrong with it is that it is almost completely CGI. Soulless, computerized goo. It looks great, but somethings off. The actors reactions don't seem to fit, they don't seem to be looking at anything, even though an enormous dinosaur is right in front of them.

This is the problem with movie making today. Set designers have turned into useless boobs who think that throwing up a green screen and fixing it in post can solve all their problems.

Thats why you can watch this hundred million dollar plus movie and be left wanting, and then you can watch something made by a director like Tarantino and know that you're watching a fabulous piece of filmmaking. Tarantino has real sets built. These clowns just fix everything in post. The actors never even see where they're supposed to have been.

But the script is really, really terrible. What kind of highly skilled mercenary doesn't notice a ten tonne dinosaur right behind them until it sinks its teeth into them. I'm pretty sure they farmed the writing out to a bunch of toddlers.