Reviews

I can't imagine how this got past the studio bosses, or who took a look at the finished screenplay (after all the rewrites and different writers) and said "This is great!

Tired spy story remake, bad plot with huge holes in it; the title is never even explained. Terrible "witty" dialogue that no one would say in real life, and a body count in the hundreds.

However the main, huge, turnoff for me was the "running joke" of the Diaz character being drugged, undressed and dressed, to wake up in another country because "she wasn't handling" the carnage well. Drugging and dragging an unconscious woman without her permission and consent across borders is not "romantic", it's human trafficking. It just makes Tom Cruise and his movie character more creepy.

As for the rest, imagine a joke told by someone with no sense of humor, and romance between two cardboard figures. For those who like such things, there are lots of gunshots, dead bodies and explosions.

I saw this last night by chance on the TV. It was excellent! It was wonderful to see a totally absorbing movie, with breathtaking suspense based not on endless explosions and car chases, but brava performances by talented actors with a great and insightful script.

The historical setting is very well done showing both the grimy violent of the time, and the contradictions of politics and faith in the inner workings of the Vatican.

But the main joy is the intelligent acting and clear characterizations of the contending cardinals.

Just a note: for those who don't know their history, the main character, Rodrigo Borgia went on to became Pope Alexander VI, the father of Cesare and Lucrezia Borgia by the woman portrayed as his mistress in the film. He was the most controversial of the secular popes of the Renaissance.

Wonderful film, see it if you can.