Mission Possible
I don’t have a problem tossing labels around with reckless abandon so I’ll go ahead and say that Tom Cruise is a serious wacko. You know, nutcase, wack job, weirdo, psycho, lunatic, etc. But you knew that. I can’t see his face without thinking “silent birth”, but that’s just because I’m one of those people who thinks pain should be followed with yelling. Or maybe a “motherfucker” or two. Sorry Mom. That profanity was for you.
The strange thing is that even though Tom Cruise has pushed my weird-shit-o-meter into the red zone, I’m thinking I might go see Mission Impossible 3. I can’t help it. I’m an action movie fan. It looks entertaining. And really, with J.J. Abrams of Lost and Alias fame at the helm, what did you expect? That it would suck? That the plot would be centered around an evil psychiatrist who travels the world kidnapping new mothers and forcing them to take anti-depressants? Oooh, scary.
Maybe it’s not so hard to separate an actor’s public persona from their movie roles. I watched part of Top Gun the other day (which is way gayer than Brokeback Mountain) and almost forgot that Tom Cruise is a couch jumping maniac. Did I say brainwasher of former teen soap stars? Well that too. But it is possible to set that aside for a few hours. I can watch an old Arnold Schwarzenegger movie without thinking about how his latest acting job as governor of Calee-fornia is his worst yet. And I can enjoy a movie with Sean Penn (like Mystic River) even though I know he’s a humorless jackass in real life. So it’s only fair that I set aside the fact that Tom Cruise is nuckin futs long enough to enjoy watching an all star cast blow stuff up.
Right?
