It pandered to the lowest form of cliche (followed closely second by the silly sandstorm). Really, I can't believe this is a Mission Impossible film and not Disney a cartoon (wait...maybe by the former association of its director, it actually is).
See I do not think adhering to a cliche is a bad thing persae, otherwise all genra films (i.e. Rom-Com, horror, musical, etc) would never work. The sandstorm was over the top and would never happen this way in Dubai or any other city, but it made for a great visual and a suspenseful action scene. Anyway, I don't see the brilliant first portion up to the "sandstorm" undone by it and the subsequent India portion (which was fine by me anyway). So to summarize what I liked and disliked about the film:
What I liked the most
1. Budapest opening
2. All the Russian segment from start to finish
3. Burj Khalifah action
4. Great team chemistry between
Tom Cruise, Paula Patton, and
Simon Pegg. I would say this is the best team effort in all four installments.
5. Sense of humor and the constant failure of the gadgets that lead to hilarity sometimes and also made for great suspense.
6. Final car parking action scene was inventive.
Cons.
1. Boring bad guy, with very boring motivations (he is just crazy as opposed to
PSH who was motivated by money an power hunger in the third film)
2. Dissapointing and wasted
Jermey Renner3. Predictable and mechanical plot
4. Heavy reliance on CG, which was not very good in many portions.
