I agree actually. It was pretty predictable. <rant>The elevator shaft 'suspended' trick? Come on man...ain't that a bit old? And the science behind it? If it was based on opposing magnetic poles then he wouldn't be following the rover when it moved would he? I also feel they tried too hard to be relevant by including tablets here and there etc. And the jokes? Simon Pegg's efforts at being funny were pretty tame. He's normally better than this </rant>

That's the thing with action movies. They never try to be different. It's always the Russians, Koreans, Chinese, Middle Easterners and some nuclear doomsday device. Casino Royale was something else. Granted, it was based on a book, but it was something else. I can't think of many other action movies that reinvented their series though, but movie number 4 would've been a good place to start.

Yup, but I guess I just went in with too high expectations, what with the 93% fresh rating on rotten tomatoes and all. I do feel MI3 was better because of the emotions involved and it wasn't a conventional stop the <insert evil country here> terrorist plot.

I disagree. There were a lot of shortcuts in the plot. In the 3rd movie we're made to understand that he got married and left this life behind, and then suddenly he's separated from his wife to protect her and conveniently able to undertake missions again. And need I mention the criminal underuse of veteran actor Anil Kapoor's talents and Simon Pegg's wit (the jokes were meh at best)? If the movie intends to be one you're not supposed to take seriously, then it succeeds. I personally had different expectations but I guess that must be just me.

Whether or not it was explained doesn't change the fact that it was a shortcut meant to retcon the ending of III so Cruise can pull more sequels out of the MI hat. The fact that Kapoor was only used as comic relief was a criminal underuse for me. He's a veteran actor, very capable of pulling off an even meatier role rather than the 2-bit 5 minute part he was given. Simon Pegg's jokes are typically deeper and more cynical with double meaning as he showed in Hot Fuzz and Shaun of the Dead. Granted he probably didn't write his lines here but it was more slapstick, situational humour; not the humour I was used to watching him deliver.

III was certainly very intense, together with the 1st, definitely my pick of the lot

The mask making thing kinda highlighted another minor issue for me though. A world famous assassin, looking to sell codes to a nuclear device for a hefty amount of money (or diamonds), did not bother to look up what the person she was selling to looked like? And vice versa?

I watched it because I wanted to. Well, now that you mention it, it wouldn't be wrong for him to retire. I saw MI3 as a good point to induct a new lead into the role. And I agree with you, Chow Yun Fat was underused in Pirates 3, another movie I had my problems with. The role Kapoor was given could've easily been pulled off by a lesser star. By the looks of it, it seems he was only included to give the team a reason to go to Mumbai and to appeal to Hindi movie fans. Simon Pegg was pretty good in Star Trek in my opinion. A movie he didn't write himself yet delivered some pretty good humour as and when it was needed. You're talking about regular people. I'm talking about an assassin and terrorist who have much more resources than the regular internet. It just doesn't make sense that they would leave so much to chance. And yeah, a Russian nuclear terrorist? James Bond called, they want their 1960s scripts back.

Let's just agree to disagree. You obviously think a light hearted sequel is good. I think it's good for a Saturday night viewing, not for a franchise.

I agree. An enjoyable roller coaster ride if you leave your brain at the door. And I kinda figured that Brandt was being molded to take over as for the first time in MI history, Hunt didn't do the signature elevator shaft suspension trick.

Hmm...was a pretty standard MI movie for me. How many times already they're gonna be accused of being double agent etc.? Action scenes were no doubt good, kinda wished they spent a bit more time on the plane stunt considering how much effort to shoot it. A good movie, but to be the best spy movie of the year it's gotta beat Spectre and U.N.C.L.E.

Do any of you guys feel that MI series losing the feel of the original MI series? Like got a team of 4-5 ppl, each one got a particular task to do in a mission. Like the first MI, when the mission went awry