Will someone please explain Tom Cruise's knees?

     As a fan of admittedly dumb movies, I don't have much justification for being a cranky jerk about someone like Tom Cruise. But, this is a blog post. If I was going to not say something just because it is unnecessarily sarcastic and lacking in perspective, then it wouldn't be any fun. Unlike your typical Netflix user, I see that it is sort of ridiculous to criticize a movie that isn't serious for not being serious. And that is not what I am doing. I sort of like the Mission Impossible franchise. It is kind of what I look for on a Friday night, when all I want to do is unwind after the grind of the working week. Mindless fun with enough story to keep you watching. I even bothered to watch the most recent installment, Ghost Protocol (see link above) in the theatre, something I rarely do recently (two kids), because it was directed by Brad Bird, who understands as good as anyone exactly what I want to see in a movie. And, while I will admit that Cruise has a large portion of movie star talent, I think the biggest problem with any Tom Cruise movie is the fact that he is in it. I recall one review of Ghost Protocol encouraging people to see it because it was "so good it will make you forget how much you don't like Tom Cruise." It almost succeeded.
     I've already begun to write the type of blog post I hate. It's bitchy, and not very fun to read. But there is a modicum of a point I want to make, and a movie I do want to praise, I just have to get through some background information first. So, I'll be brief. For all of Cruise's strengths, I get a strong vibe from every one of his movies that he needs, with his producer's power, to make sure every character he plays is the center of awe for every other character in his movies. I'd provide YouTube links to demonstrate this, but there are just too many. If you saw Valkyrie you know what I mean. People pledge undying loyalty to him after knowing him for a day, after having refused to do the same for Hitler. And, they remain loyal, even after he single-handedly foils the plot to save Germany from the Nazis. You barely even realize that his character fouls things up based on the way the movie plays out. Nor, in Minority Report do you really see that his character is a drug addict. He doesn't show any flaws in these people. We are supposed to be sympathetic with him as he drowns out the pain of losing his son by violating the law, when he literally makes his living charging people with crimes they haven't actually committed. This is intentional irony in the movie, but Cruise is too earnest in his self-love to show that. In the past two Mission Impossible movies, major characters die expressing their overwhelming gratitude for having known him.

     So, yes, I am not really a fan. He only plays one character, Tom Cruise. And Tom Cruise seems to be the world's most renewable resource, as he keeps churning out more and more movies which are harder and harder to tell apart. Still, I watch them, at least some of them. The ones that promise to make me forget how much I don't like the guy.

     And the Mission Impossible movies would seem to be the genre that I like best. Sure, I like espionage movies. But that is not what I mean. Unlike James Bond movies, which I love, Mission Impossible movies have set themselves apart by always including acrobatic stunts, and a heist. This is what I like best about them. They are just as much The Sting as they are Skyfall.

     I like heist movies. Like mystery, they provide a concise, stimulating, self-contained plot. Entertainment at its best. You may have noticed that The Sting is really a con movie, which may  or may not be a heist movie, so I'll explain that. I mention it to bring up Robert Redford, because he starred in a movie that provides all the best of Mission Impossible, with the added bonus of acting. Sneakers.

     This is, judging by which criteria you use, an underrated masterpiece, or a piece of generic fluff from the early 90s. Slate recently published a series of articles on the movie that demonstrate this split in reactions. While I would love to go on about all the great things in it, I'd really rather you just watch it yourself. The one point I want to make, and this is where the Slate series and the Mission Impossible movies come in, is that it may have been the first real high-tech heist movie. Released well before most people had email addresses, the movie is praised for being (slightly) ahead of the curve for its emphasis on information and technology. People usually think of it as a hacker movie, and Slate compares it favorably to two other movies in that genre, Hackers and War Games (if you want to look these up on IMDB, you know what to do). But, it also has elements of espionage movies (the character Cosmo is basically a Bond villain, as he is an international cyber terrorist who got his start in organized crime), there are cold war references, etc. And, its climactic scene is a team of security professionals breaking through a series of technological security systems. You can correct me if I am wrong, this was the first time this was shown in a movie. Basically, three different systems are explained, and the protagonists come up with clever ways to bypass them all, sometimes involving specialized knowledge, sometimes involving physical prowess. This is exactly what the first Mission Impossible movie does, and a score of other movies and TV shows have done since. It has been developed since then. High-tech heists no longer have three discreet systems with three discreet solutions. But, my point is, this very specific Mission Impossible element was first done in Sneakers. And there is all the humor of Robert Redford with none of the frenetic machine-gun action of Tom Cruise.

     I mean, what is it with this guy? He may have been taught to run by a marionette. The object of running, to Tom Cruise, seems to be to get your knees as far away from you as possible. I think directors are not allowed to tell him how odd this looks. Otherwise, there is no explanation.
     But you tell me. Is Sneakers a great movie? Am I too hard on Tom Cruise? Keep in mind, I have not brought up his seriously bizarre personal life. This is not a gossip blog. I am trying to stick to his work.