I have just reviewed Mission: Impossible 1 – 3 and, carrying on my epic watch, here is my review of 4 – 6. I’m now ready for Dead Reckoning Part 1 on Monday.
The first three movies are more in the style of a comic book. The first movie had Dutch Angles that made it feel like an Adam West Batman. The second, by John Woo, was way too over the top with the style. The third by JJ, was again, very styled with his shaky camera and lots of lens flair way.
Ghost Protocol (Number 4)
Brad Bird was brought in for this instalment. Bird is known for making animated movies like The Iron Giant, The Incredibles and Ratatouille. All three of those movies are very underrated. To see him have a go at a live-action Mission: Impossible movie was great.
The story revolves around Russian nuclear codes and a guy only known as Cobalt. While Ethan and the team are extracting information on Cobalt in the Kremlin, a bomb goes off and Ethan gets the blame. Brandt, played by Jeremy Renner, joins the team as they head to Dubai. This is where Ethan has to climb the building from the outside.
This is a great action movie and the story is solid. At the end of the movie, Ethan is debriefing the team and it turns out that Brandt should have saved Ethan’s wife, but she’s not dead and it had a nice little moment.
As I said, this is a solid movie. The scene where Ethan is outside the building really made my buttocks clench. Knowing that it was Tom out there and dangling off the building just made it more impressive.
Rouge Nation (Number 5)
This is where Christopher McQuarrie took over, with the writing and direction. I think the biggest deal was he had a plan for the next few movies. Rogue Nation is about the Syndicate, a rogue British network, originally set up to kill terrorists, but ended up being taken over by one of them, Lane, played by Sean Harris. This movie introduces Alex ‘Don’t give him a gun’ Baldwin and Rebecca Ferguson.
With most movie franchises, this is where they start to go downhill, but not the Mission: Impossible movies. This fifth one is a solid movie again, with a really good story, great action and settles down to a great spy movie. This is the one where Ethan has to dive into a vault and, well, drowns. The scene is reminiscent of the computer room scene from the first one.
Fallout (Number 6)
I watched this one last night and damn it’s a good movie. Baldwin is now part of the IMF, but the CIA is interfering with operations and Walker, played by Henry Cavill, tags along. The team have lost some plutonium and needs to get it back. This one goes more into the action, with the scene in the bathroom, where Superman ‘cocks’ his arms and Tom breaks his leg while trying to jump from one building to another.
Ferguson is back and there is a hint of a love story between her and Ethan, but it doesn’t really pan out. It was handled nicely, since this is an action spy movie, if I wanted a soppy love story, I would watch Salo again.
Overall
I know I have moaned about franchise movies in the past, but the Mission: Impossible series have consistently been great. I don’t know about getting better as they go on, but they haven’t been getting worse. There’s a good story through all of them, they are all tied in nicely with each other and the action is great.
I am really looking forward to Dead Reckoning and especially on the big screen. I feel a little annoyed they have been plugging the stunts so much. Yoda said in the livestream the other day, you have seen that motorbike off a cliff scene so much, that now seeing it, with the effects added, kind of loses its appeal a little.
I’m being nitpicky. I am going into to Mission: Impossible Dead Reckoning with high hopes of a good action movie with a good story. I’m pretty sure Tom and the team won’t let me down.
The Ladies of Mission: Impossible
We live in a time where women are championed and generally made out to be better than men in every way possible. One thing the Mission: Impossible movies have always had is amazing women in them. They are tough, ruthless and kickass! It’s not all done with the ‘message’, it’s done in a great way where you can respect everyone involved.
The only exception is possibly Emmanuelle Beart from the first one, since she wasn’t very ‘actiony’ and she knew about Jim’s plan from the get-go. The same could be said for Thandie Newton from the second one, but she was still a great thief and held her own very well. The first one had Maggie Q, the fourth had Paula Patton and then Rebecca Ferguson. All of them are insanely hot and they are all great action stars in their own right.
A review of Dead Reckoning will be up early next week and I can’t wait.