Kenneth Starr is up to his nefarious, chaos-causing deeds again. No, he hasn't thrown the country into turmoil over another sex scandal. It's even worse.
Starr caused Houston — the fourth-largest city in the country and a pretty cosmopolitan place (rodeo obsession aside) — to miss one of the greatest upsets in NCAA Tournament history. While 95 percent of the country watched Northern Iowa knock off the overwhelming favorite to win this year's national title, Kansas, Houstonians were stuck with Baylor-Old Dominion.
Why? I say it's all because of Kenneth Starr.
If Starr hadn't made national headlines when he was announced as Baylor's president, CBS' dimwitted decision makers wouldn't have a developed a very inflated notion of what the Baptist school means to Houston. Someone in the network's control room would have pointed out that Waco is more than three-hours drive and several light years in society removed from Houston. Someone would brought up the fact there's not this great majority of souls obsessed with the Baylor Bears around here.
And, we would have seen NCAA magic.
Instead — because of Kenny — Houston was treated to almost every mind-numbing second of the Baylor's 76-68 win over Old Dominion and not a single cut-in to the game that everyone will be talking about for the rest of the tournament until less than a minute remained.
Kansas was this year's super team and Northern Iowa (though a ninth seed) wasn't picked to even slightly scare the Jayhawks by anyone who doesn't have an endless row of cornstalks in their backyard. People watch the NCAAs just to see a game like this every four or five years. Instead, Houston gets Baylor, Baylor and more Baylor.
Yes, Starr is still ensuring that people do not have a good time.
Tom Cruise, Simon Pegg, and Hayley Atwell in Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning.
Over the course of 30 years and eight films, the Mission: Impossible series has proven to be the most reliable of any action movie franchise. Not all of them are equally good, but with Tom Cruise in the lead as Ethan Hunt, they can be counted on for at least a couple of mind-blowing stunt sequences per film, enough to keep fans clamoring for more.
Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning has the feel of being the last film in the series, and not just because the 62-year-old Cruise is getting up there in age. Following up closely on the events of 2023’s Dead Reckoning Part One (Part Two changed to The Final Reckoning for unknown reasons), the film has Hunt trying to stop an A.I. villain known as The Entity from taking over the world’s collective stash of nuclear weapons.
To do so, Hunt and his cobbled-together team — Luther (Ving Rhames), Benji (Simon Pegg), Grace (Hayley Atwell), and Paris (Pom Klementieff) — must hopscotch around the world, tracking villain Gabriel (Esai Morales) and trying to figure out a way to get The Entity’s source code, which is located on a sunken Russian submarine. Oh, and they also have to evade capture by a disgruntled U.S. government, led by now-President Erika Sloane (Angela Bassett).
Written and directed by Christopher McQuarrie and co-written by Erik Jendresen, the film might just be the most convoluted one in the series so far. The filmmakers layer on tons of exposition, with lots of flashbacks to previous events in the series to explicate the events of the present, as well as providing unexpected connections to previous films. The plan for stopping The Entity and the references to the past are so dense that the first half of the film is relatively boring.
Things pick up in the final 90 minutes of the three-hour film, mostly because that’s when the majority of the action takes place. More than other entries in the series, the film considers the geopolitical implications of Hunt’s actions, and he has to negotiate with a variety of high-powered people to do what he deems best. While his efforts are somewhat preposterous, even by the standards of the series, they lead to a bunch of fun sequences that provide levity among the world-changing drama.
Ultimately, what makes the film succeed are its action scenes. Cruise has done stunts on planes/helicopters before in the series, but what he does during a biplane sequence toward the end of the film is almost beyond belief. Yes, he’s attached to the plane with harnesses that are digitally erased, but he’s still doing it hundreds of feet in the air at great bodily risk considering. While the series has always featured spectacular stunt sequences, this one deserves to be near the top of the list.
The flashbacks to scenes from throughout the series underscore just how much Cruise has changed in the past 30 years, but also emphasize how amazing it is that he’s still willing to sacrifice his body as much as does to make these films. No other actor goes as far as he does to entertain the masses, and the events of the story even give him opportunities to show off his dramatic acting skills.
The supporting cast is more packed than usual, and all of them enhance the film. In addition to Hunt’s team, the President has a group of advisers that includes actors like Henry Czerny, Holt McCallany, Nick Offerman, and Janet McTeer. Other recognizable faces like Hannah Waddingham (Ted Lasso), Trammell Tillman (Severance), and Katy O’Brian (Love Lies Bleeding) show up for impactful roles.
Whether or not this is the last film in the current incarnation of the series, The Final Reckoning has a lot to offer longtime fans, with action set pieces that remains some of the best Hollywood has to offer. The story may be completely baffling, but with Cruise and other appealing actors leading the way, there’s more than enough great entertainment to go around.
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Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning opens in theaters on May 23.
