Mission: Impossible III

Note: This review contains spoilers for Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning.

Despite the mixed reception to Mission Impossible 2 (M:i-2), its success would lead to a sequel, Mission: Impossible III (M:i:III). Production got off to a rocky start with the search for a director, that is until Tom Cruise suggested J. J. Abrams after binge-watching two seasons of Alias. After some initial production delays, the final release in May 2006 garnered greater critical reception and became the eighth-highest grossing film of 2006. Unfortunately, it still proved a financial failure against its budget of ~$150 million and has the (dis)honor of its place as the lowest-grossing film in the entire franchise and hurting Tom Cruise’s career until Ghost Protocol revived it. Looking at the film now, it’s a shame that it didn’t do well, as it is an improvement on its predecessors, but I wouldn’t consider it my favorite either.

Mission: Impossible 2

It’s not uncommon for a film sequel, created off the back of the original’s success, to try a more action-oriented different direction compared to the original. Such was the case with Mission: Impossible 2 (M:I-2), which even placed John Woo, best known by some for the movie Face/Off, in the director’s chair, which automatically made it a bit different from Brian De Palma’s suspense-driven Mission: Impossible (M:I). Although M:I-2 debuted to mixed reception, it’s hard to argue with the results, as it grossed $546.4 million against a ~$120 million budget, which notably made it the year 2000’s highest-grossing film. While M:I-2 certainly has its fans even now, and it’s honestly hard not to see why, the end result almost comes at the expense of what makes a good Mission: Impossible movie.

Stubs - Mission: Impossible

Mission: Impossible (1996) starring Tom Cruise, Jon Voight, Henry Czerny, Emmanuelle Béart, Jean Reno, Ving Rhames, Kristin Scott Thomas, Vanessa Redgrave Directed by Brian DePalma. Screenplay by David Koepp, Robert Towne. Based on Mission: Impossible by Bruce Geller. Produced by Tom Cruise, Paula Wagner. Run time: 110 minutes. Color. USA Action, Espionage

If you were a fan of the original TV series, Mission: Impossible (1966-1973), you were definitely interested when Paramount announced it was bringing the story to the big screen. You might have been drawn in for its star Tom Cruise, or the script by Robert Towne, or the direction by Briana DePalma, but this was a film designed to put people in seats. But if you were a fan of the original series, you might have qualms with the adaptation.

Stubs: Mission: Impossible - Fallout

Mission: Impossible - Fallout (2018) Starring Tom Cruise, Henry Cavill, Ving Rhames, Simon Pegg, Rebecca Ferguson, Sean Harris, Angela Bassett, Michelle Monaghan, Alec Baldwin Directed by Christopher McQuarrie. Screenplay by Christopher McQuarrie. Based on Mission: Impossible (TV Series) created by Bruce Geller. Produced by Tom Cruise, J. J. Abrams, David Ellison, Dana Goldberg, Don Granger, Christopher McQuarrie, Jake Myers Runtime: 147 minutes. USA Action, Espionage

If you’re looking for a negative review of the new Mission: Impossible film, Fallout, then you should look elsewhere. While not a perfect film, Fallout definitely checks all the boxes for a Summer season film. Big star, check. Lots of action, check. It’s a sequel, check. While I was a fan of the previous film, Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation (2015), I will say the new film is not only bigger but better.

For the most part, this is a continuation of Rogue Nation, taking some of the characters and themes from that film and bringing them to what seems like a conclusion, though I would have said the same thing about the last film as well. For some reason, the only main character from Rogue Nation not to make it to this film is William Brandt (Jeremy Renner). There is no explanation offered for his absence even though the character had been a fixture in the last two films, dating back to Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol (2011).

The story continues with the struggle between IMF Agent Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) and Solomon Lane (Sean Harris), a former MI6 agent who went rogue and became the supreme leader of the Syndicate, whose ambition was to shake the new world order up and somehow, through its own warped logic, save civilization by destroying it. Even though their leader has been in prison, the Syndicate has not given up on their goal.

Like James Bond films, Mission: Impossible has a penchant for foreign locales, in this case, Paris, London and, of course, Kashmir. And like Bond, Hunt is not only the object of desire of any strong and attractive woman he comes in contact with, he is also hailed as the only thing standing between us and chaos in the world.

Tom Cruise does many of his own stunts in Mission: Impossible - Fallout.

A place where this out does Bond are the stunts. Cruise, who does many of his own, is a real risk taker and it is unusual to see a major star doing his own reckless stunt work. At least it looks reckless, I’m sure there are above and beyond precautions to ensure his safety, as well as the continuation of the franchise. In the end, they still look very, very dangerous and daring.

The acting is for the most part pretty good. Since this group has acted together before, there is a real sense of camaraderie amongst the cast. There is a playfulness to the relationship between Luther Stickell (Ving Rhames) and Benjamin "Benji" Dunn (Simon Pegg) which only works since we’ve seen them together through several films.

Getting the band together again, in this case, "Benji" (Simon Pegg), Ilsa (Rebecca Ferguson,
Ethan (Cruise), and Luther (Ving Rhames) in Mission: Impossible - Fallout.

I know there has been the ongoing talk of a female Bond and if it is okay that she’s Swedish, I would recommend Rebecca Ferguson (Ilsa Faust), who has the beauty of Ingrid Bergman and the toughness, on screen, of Bruce Willis’ John McClane. And she can, obviously, play an English character.

Alec Baldwin is a fine actor who has done much more challenging roles in his time than the Trump impersonation he is now probably best known for these days. It's also good to see Henry Cavill do something more on screen than play the one-dimensional Superman that he's been in the DCEU Justice League franchise.

Having the same director and writer as Rogue Nation, Christopher McQuarrie helps give the franchise a consistency that others, like Die Hard, sorely lack. I would hope, that should there be another sequel in the series, and there probably will be, they should stick with McQuarrie at the helm.

As a writer, myself, there are a couple of plot holes that the film doesn’t try to hide. (I’m sensitive to things I couldn’t get away with in my own work.) There are actually fewer in this film than there were in predecessors but like any summer film, you have to overlook those and go with the ride. And Mission: Impossible – Fallout is quite a ride. Sit back and enjoy.

Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol

Before I begin my review, I should state that I am quite unfamiliar with the Mission: Impossible franchise. I have not seen the original 1966-1973 television series, nor the 1988-1990 revival. I also haven't seen any of the other three Mission: Impossible movies with Tom Cruise, so I can't say how close it is to the show or how it compares to the other movies. Despite this unfamiliarity, after watching a screening at Paramount, I thought Ghost Protocol was actually enjoyable, even if a few things stood out.

Because the movie has yet to be released, I will try to express my opinion without spoiling too much. I will say that the plot is surprisingly easier to follow than plenty of other action movies out there, and this film has plenty of action in it. Brad Bird does an amazing job directing this movie, as he has done in the past, and except for one bit of exposition near the end of Act 3, you don't have to have seen any previous Mission: Impossible material in order to have a good time.

Though I'm not a huge Tom Cruise fan, I thought his and everyone else's acting was pretty good; none of the dialogue really felt forced and lead to some suspenseful moments throughout. I've seen a lot of action scenes before, and I thought some of them here were actually pretty creative, including the one you see in advertisements where Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) uses special gloves to climb the side of a building, and I especially praise an inventive chase sequence taking place inside a sand storm, which I will not explain the context of since that's essentially spoiler territory.

While this is a good movie, there are a few things I thought stood out from the overall product, aside from aforementioned bit of exposition at the end. Near the beginning of the movie, there's a scene involving a series of explosions at the Kremlin, which looked very obviously fake to me. When I say this, I mean the explosions in the scene, done in CGI, didn't appear to be realistic enough since to me they completely stood out from the shot they were placed over. There's also one character we see at the beginning of the movie who doesn't appear again until the third act, and even though they had some level of importance, I felt they were practically unnecessary to the overall plot. Despite these minor complaints, the film still turned out rather well.

Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol is a movie I would recommend to anyone unfamiliar with Mission: Impossible, since I enjoyed it as someone in that position, or to anyone who follows Brad Bird's career. If you have any sort of curiosity about this movie, or you're just someone looking for a good action flick this holiday season but wish to pass up Tintin, Ghost Protocol is the movie for you.