The Mission: Impossible franchise seemed to running on empty following the lackluster and very confusing third movie, which was the first movie J.J. Abrams directed. In my opinion, this is the weakest mostly because I feel it was made as a conclusion rather than just a regular entry. Also, casting Philip Seymour Hoffman as the main villain was a mistake. Hoffman may have been a good actor, but he is wrong here.
Most people hated the second one, which was directed by John Woo. It suffered the fate of being released a little over a year after The Matrix. So, many people who had never heard of Woo left talking about how it had ripped off The Matrix.No, it was actually The Wachowskis seemed to rip off Woo and many other filmmakers. I basically had to argue with people that Woo had been making movies in the 1980s like this, even showing them the movies I had on VHS tapes.
Each M:I movie is different, such as the Mad Max movies seem to follow a different style. The first one was more like an espionage/spy thriller while the second one was more of an action/adventure with a touch of sci-fi. But it wasn’t until Brad Bird made the fourth movie with the subtitle Ghost Protocol that the movie began to take on more of a feel reminiscent of the TV series. One of the criticism of the first three movies was how they were mostly geared toward Tom Cruise’s Ethan Hunt.
And then Cruise allowed Christopher McQuarrie to continue the directing, which has helped move the franchise along in the last few entries. Cruise and McQuarrie have worked together numerous times since Valkyrie. The seventh entry with the subtitle Dead Reckoning – Part One, finally hints that we might learn some more about Ethan. Since its beginning in 1996, Ethan has functioned as a “First to go, last to know” mentality as a man who sees that he needs to do his part.
But the movie shows us some history of Ethan’s younger life, bringing back Eugene Kittridge (Henry Czerny) who Ethan has a checkered history with. The plot revolves around Ethan and his team including regulars such as computer hacker, Luther Stickell (Ving Rhames), and technical field agent, Benji Dunn (Simon Pegg), trying to obtain a special half-key for a Russian artificial intelligence called “The Entity.” It’s another MacGuffin for the team to get back together doing covert operations. I’ve watched the movie twice and can’t really explain this advanced AI.
But that’s not really the plot this time around. Hunt, along with Stickell and Dunn, got their hands full this time. Mostly, they are kinda working mostly on their own because of typical politics in the American intelligence and security agencies. Ethan tells Kittridge he intends to destroy the Entity especially after the supervisor put out a hit on Ilsa Faust (Rebecca Ferguson), a disavowed MI6 agent.
A lot of action takes place at the Abu Dhabi Airport where Ethan comes across Grace (Hayley Atwell), an impressive thief, who reluctantly becomes an ally for him. Then Ethan thinks he sees Gabriel (Esai Morales) who is a powerful terrorist and a person who Ethan has a past with as well, but it doesn’t reveal much of what this is. I can’t really explain much else because there’s so much here that it would ruin the fun. This is the longest M:I movie at about two hours and 43 minutes with credits.
And I hate to sound like the people I used to argue with, but McQaurrie goes for a more John Wick visual style as the movie spans the Middle East, Venice and the Orient. But there’s a beauty to the scenes that McQuarrie films that such a filmmaker who hasn’t already established himself as a wonderful action director would be seen as copying. McQuarrie, who thankfully has been able to shake off his prior association with troubled filmmaker Bryan Singer, might just be one of the most underrated filmmakers working today.
His first movie The Way of the Gun almost plays like a gritty action comedy satire of the popular Quentin Tarantino ripoffs of the era. And even though there was a lot of criticism for the casting of the 5-foot-7 Cruise as the titular character in Jack Reacher, the movie worked as a nice action thriller with a twist that works. But it’s the M:I movies where McQuarrie has left his mark. They are some of the most impressive action movies of the last 10 years.
Even more impressive is how Ethan, Luther and Benji have become a team that works so good. It all has to do with the chemistry Cruise, Rhames and Pegg have brought to the roles. Pegg, himself, has gone from being more of a comical relief in Ghost Protocol to an agent who can kick ass in the field during one tense scene where he must diffuse a bomb. The return of Ferguson and addition of Atwell work as well because Mission: Impossible isn’t just for the Boys’ Club. Part of the problem with the previous installments was how the other team members seemed to be just one-off characters.
Speaking of the Boys’ Club, Ethan, Luther and Benji are trying to keep the keys from being sold to Alanna Mitsopolis (Vanessa Kirby) who happens to be the daughter of Max from the first movie played by the late Vanessa Redgrave. And Pom Klementieff appears as Paris, a French assassin hired by Gabriel. Paris is supposed to be a reference to the mysterious character played by Leonard Nimoy in the TV series (even though the franchise is a continuation of sorts of the TV series).
Whether or not the movie franchise exists in the TV universe is something of no importance anymore. It really doesn’t matter. The 1996 movie directed by Brian DePalma may have been heavily influenced by the TV series and arose controversy for turning Jim Phelps (played by Jon Voight) into the villian. A new century and new worldwide threats has turned the franchise into a different direction. I’d argue that every movie since the mediocre third movie has only gotten better.
More important, Cruise at 61 is really finally starting to show his age as Ethan has to argue with Benji about doing a difficult stunt that the younger Ethan would’ve done without hesitation. I mean, Ethan (and Cruise) has free solo climbed mountains in Utah, climbed up the outside of the Burj Khalifa skyscraper in Dubai and even held on for dear life on the side of a plane taking off. But he can’t stay young forever. When Ethan broke in to the CIA headquarters at Langley, Cruise was in his early 30s. I can’t say what it is, but Ethan finally looks a little stunned when he has to pull off a surprise stunt.
And while most movie franchises seem to always pull that “Past coming back to haunt” plot device, it doesn’t dwell on it much. With the WGA and SGA-AFTRA strike delaying production of the second Dead Reckoning (even there’s talk of changing the name), the release has been pushed back to 2025 when Cruise will be 63. Yet, neither him nor McQuarrie now saw they want to end the series.
Unfortunately, the box office might be the deciding factor. Dead Reckoning cost about $291 million and looks it but it only made about $567 worldwide. It also had the misfortune of being released one week before the Barbie/Oppenheimer phenomenon. While Top Gun: Maverick made almost $1.5 billion worldwide, it’s very possible the “Part One” was a deciding factor. The movie does end on a cliffhanger that some viewers might find upsetting especially after sitting through a movie for more than two and a half hours. But it’s one helluva ride despite the destination.
What do you think? Please comment.
Zane Says 