Bibulous burlesque of the espionage thriller, wherein the video-game action, the hail of bullets, the blossoms of fire, the flurry of fists, pose no threat to the impervious superspy, protected by the patron saint of stuntmen, free to behave like a total sociopath, a textbook charming one for sure, but unfeeling, unconcerned, detached, absent. Tom Cruise, playing to the crowd instead of to his “romantic” interest, seeks to regain his former stature by acting as if he were twenty-two again, blissfully ignorant of mortality. And admittedly his congenital incapacity to pass as a normal human being is no handicap in the present circumstances. Cameron Diaz, said romantic interest, appears to have been cast more for name recognition than chemistry. That, and the bluest eyes on God’s green earth. The paraded beautiful people, beautiful places (Salzburg, Seville, a South Seas isle), and beautiful photography all combine to sustain an unabashed shallowness in which no mental midget need fear getting his ankles wet. With Peter Sarsgaard and Paul Dano; directed by James Mangold. (2010) — Duncan Shepherd
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