I went to a movie last night after work. Curt spontaneously invited me because he wanted to see the new Mission Impossible release and no one wanted to go with him. So I went – after work means going to something starting at 11 and running very late. We went to this suburban-looking theater complex that is more like American suburbanism than almost anything you can see in Korea, out on the northwestern edge of Goyang beyond the stadium. Walking back to his car in the bitter cold, I thought, except for the Korean signage, this could pass for somewhere in exurban Connecticut – parking lots, fakey cobblestone walking areas between stores fronting on parking lots, the whole deal.
The movie itself? Meh. Honestly, the best part for me was hearing the different languages that go with the exotic locales. Lots of Russian, which is interesting because I can actually understand fragments of it having studied it all those years ago. But the plot was annoyingly obsessed with trying to replay some half-hearted cold-war plot, but minus the cold war it just reads like paranoia. The action itself is, of course, thrilling. Climbing around on the outside of Burj Dubai, crashing cars straight down 30 meters and walking away because the airbags worked. It all keeps you on the edge of your seat, of course. But the acting – not really.
Afterward, Curt said to me, "Tom Cruise got old. I remember he used to be young."
"Just like us," I joked. We laughed.