JJ Husker
Donor
I think they only had a couple goals with Penny Benjamin. 1- they wanted him to have a love interest and 2- they wanted another tie back to the original. Well and 3, a babe in the movie.Yeah she gave a great performance, is a bomb shell, and the idea to bring that role into play (and cast her specifically) was great.
For me though, most of the movie felt like it was trying to tell me I should care about her rather than help me actually care about her. And then the relationship development itself just felt disjointed. They apparently had off and on flings over the years that never worked out but now this time it's gonna work? They made a point to tell us that but then never go much further (IIRC). And then he goes on a potential one-way trip mission after having reconnected with this lifelong love, only to return to her apparent abandonment (couldn't even leave a note/text him?) but don't panic everyone because GOTCHA 30 sec. later she's back looking fine in front of a sports car in a weird 'surprise she does love you' moment.
She did encourage him to get back into the fold of the mission once Iceman was gone, which helped her story and their development, but then why does she just go MIA at the end? Felt like more of a trope to get me to think 'aww his gf dumped him' rather than to actually develop their love story.
I fully accept this is a Tom Cruise action movie so I wasn't expecting a great romance plot line but it just all felt a bit forced and a little awkward.
I guess in a movie like this I didn’t expect much relationship or character development for her so what they did seemed fine to me. Like you said, we wanted to eat popcorn and watch jets go pew pew at each other.