Aman_Goyal

Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning is bombastic to put it mildly, given all the fast-paced exposition and visually resounding action setpieces.

While after the Hitchcockian narrative of Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning, this concluding chapter somewhat may feel a bit inadequate - especially with all those lots of scenes in caves and lairs and prisons with no astoundingly risky turn - the highs are even higher than the lows seem lower. Let me tell you, everyone will be googling "Mission Impossible 8 submarine scene" a week for now.

The underwater chapter is indeed breathtaking and quite original piece of filmmaking and a nice addition to M:I franchise which saves the movie big time. That 20-minute sequence with submarine is perhaps the most original piece of action written for action-oriented narratives since 1996's Mission: Impossible's own aqua cafe sequence between Ethan and Kittdridge, directed brilliantly by Brian De Palma. The suspense as Ethan so assiduously tackled all those aquatic, James Cameron-isque challanges was palpable. The realism and authenticity added the rest.

Else, they have recycled tropes all over the place in order to pay homage - the gala which is rendered into a jail before the gathering itself is even exhibited - no fancy cars, garish costumes, stupendous decorum, dances, masks, bluetooth talk, etc. In here. I missed the trains as well.

And narratively, there also exists this thing called predictability, and it's here to stay in the movie - the biggest weakness of The Final Reckoning. The movie is, perhaps, the least memorable for its twists - or the lack thereof - when compared to all the other M:I movies in the franchise, probably tied with Mission: Impossible 2. But that's not to say it is bad, or average or even above average - no! It's hella great!!

In terms of action-based storytelling as well, this may seem like a step backwards from Mission: Impossible - Fallout. Most scenes, when considering the movie is nearly 3 hours long, is quite limited or superfluous otherwise. But all of that pays off in the final act, trust Mr. Cruise. Because that brings us to the biplane chase sequence.

After 150 minutes of absolutely no motorcycles and cars chasing each other, though plenty of Cruise sprinting, the red and yellow old-school biplanes going after each other in South African skies is something that should adequately feed all the ravenous audiences. It's suspenseful, it's engaging, it's REALLY dangerous; though the villainous Gabriel character is still bland and bad, like the previous entry.

The diversity, without throwing into our faces what their genders are, is probably the quintessential example of how these things should be done. Hannah Waddingham in charge of aircraft carrier was something that really paid off. I didn't like the "lady boy" person wearing that vest and donning horrible hairstyle in that submarine. Angela Bassett seemed a natural as a president and didn't feel forced to assume a masculine aura just because she's a female US President. Thanks to all the brilliant women in the movie to forsake that awful cliché line "you don't think a woman can do it" - you show them subtly rather than preaching non-stop about such superfluous substance like in some Marvel movie.

Overall, a decent enough Mission: Impossible movie but a brilliant actioner, nonetheless, given how the series has always fared when compared by Hollywood's standards. Kudos to Tom Cruise and Christopher McQuarrie.

7.5/10.

First, let me quote Ansu Kabia's review: >That the audience for **Ari Aster**'s folk horror might find more pleasure in this Snow White than the average child is telling, since it's almost impossible to work out who this version of the story is aimed at. Children will be bored, teens talked down to, and most adults will wonder where their Snow White is.

Exactly. Who is the target audience of this movie, I couldn't discern. Perhaps the so-called theatre kids, but definitely not kids or adults. Here's my full review: * First, ***SUBSTANCE***: The tale of** Snow White** is inherently flawed and lacks substance, and despite going rebellious this version couldn't circumvent those weaknesses let alone translating them for better. Worsening on the other hand, well... * Now, ***VISUALS***? Too vibrant and glistening. The CGI is the biggest enemy in here because it's not disguised properly, and I'm not even going to talk about the catastrophe, that is the thing that happened with little people. The forest, animals, all those wooden houses, kingdom, grass, trees, plant - they are cartoonish, imagine how the special effects looked during ***Lord of the Rings***' era and then increase the saturation and contrast - that bad. It's flabbergasting that they did not go with the darker visuals as seen in the **1937 version** where no flamboyant yellow and green was needed. I take it they wanted to push some kind of "joy" based agenda here... I don't know. But the effects don't even match ***Beauty and the Beast*** and that thing came out 8 yrs ago. Maybe, Disney really isn't lying about the budget; maybe the budget really is under $300 million.

* Next ***ACTING***: **Rachel Zegler** can sing alright, and that's the only thing I can find positive to say about her. She's clearly s theater actress and the melodrama shows and gets annoying. That hairstyle isn't helping, and of course, the dress of Snow White makes her appear worse somehow. It's inexplicable, yet conspicuous. **Gal Gadot**, on the other hand, is really not given adequate character. She's an average actress, something we have known all along, but this appearance in here was laughably bad.

* Finally, ***STORY & DIRECTION***: The sloppy themes of leadership are laughable and you can clearly see **Greta Gerwig**'s work there, who was later replaced. Like ***Barbie***, this film go to extreme lengths to reiterate that ***Snow White*** would be a better leader, like Barbies and women in *Barbie*, but like that film it never corroborates that fact by answering "why would that be?" We have seen grittier version in ***Snow White and the Huntsman***, and honestly even that was not this bad. The problem is again these visuals and all the musical numbers really not helping.

Lastly, a note to director **Marc Webb**: i love your work in '***The Amazing Spider-Man***' franchise and I loved '***500 Days of Summer***' and I appreciated '***Gifted***,' but you need to stay away from reboots. People weren't happy with *TASM* coming out even though it was a brilliantly darker retelling, but '***Snow White***' just isn't it.

Of course, what's done is done, but let's not remake '***Kimi no Na Wa***.' okay, that thing is too knew for remakes, anyways, and Hollywood's butchery will not sit well there. If you thought this so-called "right-wing" backlash was bad, you ain't seen anime fans' fury yet.

So yeah, ***Snow White*** = not worth a watch, hype, or budget; hate and boycott on the other hand... Not sure it's for kids, definitely not for adults.