I think they were just not very good at their jobs; you have certain tiers of competence and skill-sets in hired thuggery. Seriously though, while as a performer Tom Cruise isn't my cup of tea Chris McQuarrie did at least bring a nice old-school vibe with the fight scenes and the car chase, no intrusive musical scores or hyperactive editing and wacky camera tricks, just a steady camera pulled back just far enough to get a look at the scenes and longer takes that allow you see the fight choreography.
Hey if Werner Herzog is in it, I'll watch it. I have nothing against Mr. Cruise personally and I actually liked Ghost Protocol. Tom Cruise demanded to do his own stunts, including the scenes outside near the top of the Burj Dubai, and Brad Bird's script was fun and fast paced. He might be bat shit crazy, but he's my kind of bat shit crazy.
This movie did an excellent job of getting down that Dan Brown/mass market novelist texture of said novelist researched a bunch of stuff for his book and really wants to let you know he researched it so the main character (an awesome version of the novelist) just spouts off these random facts in a cool, unconcerned fashion. It drove me up the wall.