With Mission Impossible: The Final Reckoning opening in theaters tonight, which purports to be the last entry of the franchise (though we all know how that goes), it seemed like a good time to take stock of the seven films that preceded it. Luckily for me, that’s actually a pretty reliably entertaining endeavor, with one notable exception. I’ll find out this weekend if part eight can live up to the series’ twisty, mask-filled, stunt-heavy legacy, but let’s go back to 1996 and part 1.
Mission: Impossible
Directed by Brian De Palma the series kicks off in memorably high style. The script by the trio of David Koepp, Steve Zaillian, and Robert Towne, heavy hitters all, follows Impossible Mission Force (IMF) agent Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) as he finds himself accused of being a mole after an operation ends in disaster. He is forced to assemble a new team, which includes the only other full series regular, Luther (Ving Rhames), and figure out who is out to get him.
This is a great looking film, as one would expect from De Palma, and features some truly impressive stunt work and heist sequences, many of which would wind up becoming permanently ingrained into popular culture. Cruise is perfectly cast as the charming and capable lead and more than carries his own surrounded by an impressive roster of talented costars (Jon Voight, Emmanuelle Béart, Jean Reno, Vanessa Redgrave, Kristin Scott Thomas, Emilio Estevez, etc). This is about as good as blockbuster cinema gets and is easily one of the best action thrillers ever made. ★★★★★
rated pg-13 for some intense action violence.
Mission: Impossible II
Rarely do sequels feature such drastic drops in quality without tanking their entire franchise, but that is what happened here. This time, Ethan is tasked with tracking down rogue IMF agent Sean Ambrose (Dougray Scott), who has taken possession of a biological weapon known as Chimera along with its cure, Bellerophon. With the help of Luther, helicopter pilot Billy (John Polson), and Sean’s ex-lover Nyah (Thandiwe Newton), he’ll have to stop the virus from being released into the Sydney metro area.
For some reason, returning screenwriter Towne, working from a story by Ronald D. Moore and Brannon Braga, has decided that Agent Hunt should be less charming and more pervy, a choice that is immediately noticeable and offputting. Nevertheless, and somewhat implausibly, it seems to work on Nyah who falls for him almost immediately. Hong Kong action director John Woo takes over the reins and does stage some thrilling, physics-defying set pieces, but everything is far too campy to take seriously while simultaneously playing it too serious to be much fun. The face mask concept is drastically overused, to the point that its most pivotal moment is easily predicted. This one is so jarringly different from part one, it calls into question if the filmmakers had even bothered to watch it. ★★
rated pg-13 for intense sequences of violent action and some sensuality.
Mission: Impossible III
In an apparent attempt to make a series with virtually no continuity, J.J. Abrams and his frequent collaborators Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci are put in charge for part three. Also having been skeezed out by part two’s version of Hunt, here they make a drastic overcorrection and choose to have him retired and engaged to kindly nurse Julia (Michelle Monaghan), who has no idea of his involvement with the IMF. So, when he is called back into duty to rescue an agent he trained from arms dealer Owen Davian (a spectacularly menacing Philip Seymour Hoffman), he makes up a cover story before heading off.
That mission fails, but he and his new team, now comprised of Luther, Declan (Jonathan Rhys Meyers), and Zhen (Maggie Q), with the aid of IMF technician Benji (Simon Pegg) learn where to find the mysterious Davian and what exactly he is after. Of course, not everyone can be trusted and things quickly go south, putting Julia, the thing he cares about most, in grave danger.
Notably lacking in visual flair, this is still a marked improvement over part two. The story is fairly rote though bolstered a bit by Hunt’s emotional attachment to Julia. Abrams does pull off some truly thrilling action sequences and Hoffman is easily the best villain in the entire series, both of which make it worth watching, but it’s a fairly standard action movie in a series that even at its low point usually feels like anything but. ★★★½
rated pg-13 for intense sequences of frenetic violence and menace, disturbing images, and some sensuality.
Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol
Best known for his animation work like The Iron Giant, The Incredibles, and Ratatouille, director Brad Bird makes his live-action debut with part four, aka Ghost Protocol and really makes the series once again feel like a must-see event. This time, Ethan is broken out of a Russian prison by his new team of Jane (Paula Patton) and Benji, who has now been promoted to field agent. Their first mission goes awry when their target, Cobalt aka Kurt Hendricks (Michael Nyqvist) blows their cover and sets off a bomb, for which Ethan is of course blamed, leading to the IMF being shut down.
When a meeting with the current IMF Secretary (Tom Wilkinson) is attacked, Hunt and analyst William Brandt (Jeremy Renner) escape and join up with the team, where they then plan to infiltrate an upcoming meeting at Dubai’s Burj Khalifa skyscraper in which Hendricks is hoping to obtain the launch codes for his newly acquired nuclear weapons, leading to what is perhaps the series’ most famous scene. How they got an insurance company to underwrite it is anyone’s guess.
Screenwriters André Nemec and Josh Appelbaum (with uncredited help by future series director Christopher McQuarrie) seem to actually understand what made the first film so successful and what could be taken from its follow-ups, leading to a near perfect installment. The plot is complex without becoming too convoluted and the action is some of the series’ best and most spectacular. It’s impossible not to be entertained. ★★★★½
rated pg-13 for sequeces of intense action and violence.
Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation
McQuarrie steps into the driver’s seat for part five and will remain there for the rest of the series, a move that helps it to really find its groove and establish a consistent tone and lore. It’s a welcome change from the whiplash-inducing shifts of the early entries and gets the audience further invested in the outcome.
Hunt now finds himself tracking a group known as the Syndicate, made up of former secret agents from around the world and led by Solomon Lane (Sean Harris). Meanwhile, CIA director Alan Hunley (Alec Baldwin) convinces the US government to permanently shutter the IMF, allowing him to absorb its members into his own agency and sanction Hunt. Benji is less than thrilled by that development and leaps at the chance to help Ethan, which leads to Hunley sending agents to take the pair out, in turn causing Brandt to recruit Luther to help get to them before the CIA can. All while Ethan and Benji, along with MI6 agent Ilsa Faust (Rebecca Ferguson) continue to chase after Solomon and the Syndicate before they can launch a global series of terror attacks.
This may be one of the franchise’s most enjoyably twisty plots, keeping audiences guessing at nearly every character’s true allegiance throughout. The stunts are still impressive, though they can’t help but feel tame in comparison to those in part four. McQuarrie proves to be a great fit for the series, fully understanding what we want to see from it, which becomes even more apparent in the ensuing installments. ★★★★
rated pg-13 for sequences of action and violence, and brief partial nudity.
Mission: Impossible – Fallout
Soloman Lane may have been captured, but the remaining members of the Syndicate have reformed as the Apostles and made themselves available to conduct terror-for-hire operations. Learning that the group has been contracted to obtain three plutonium cores for nuclear bombs, Ethan, Luther, and Benji attempt to intervene but are unsuccessful.
New CIA director Erika Sloane (Angela Bassett) orders the IMF to allow her agent, August Walker (Henry Cavill) to accompany them as they attempt to follow the cores, though his involvement seems to only hamper the operation at every turn, nearly costing Ethan his life before Ilsa unexpectedly arrives and saves him. Hunt and company persist however, tracking the cores towards their ultimate buyer in the hopes of preventing a large-scale nuclear attack.
Six movies in and we are treated to another high-water mark for the series. Walker’s ineptly arrogant machismo can be grating at times which might be the point, but otherwise I can’t think of a single complaint. McQuarrie perfectly melds a twisty spy-movie plot with spectacular and outrageous action sequences to generate maximum suspense. With cinematographer Rob Hardy he even manages to bring some of De Palma’s eye for style back into the proceedings. Other modern action blockbusters aspire to be as great as this. ★★★★★
rated pg-13 for violence and intense sequences of action, and for brief strong language.
Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning
It was unlikely that this movie would be able to reach the glorious heights of its predecessor, and it doesn’t, especially since it’s technically only the first half of a story. But that doesn’t stop it from being highly entertaining anyway, as the series continues its recent run of reliably enthralling action spectaculars.
A rogue AI known as the Entity has managed to infiltrate the networks of every nation, threatening the integrity of all the world’s data and intelligence. Hunt, along with Ilsa, Luther, and Benji are tasked with obtaining two keys that are rumored to somehow allow control of the program, initially at the order of the United States, though later to prevent any one person or group from gaining it. Of course, the AI knows what Ethan is planning and has itself tasked an old enemy of his named Gabriel (Esai Morales) with hampering his efforts as it sets about trying to achieve its own unknown but certainly catastrophic goals.
Put into production before AI truly erupted into the global consciousness, Dead Reckoning feels incredibly timely. Sure, we’re a long way off from seeing one that could do anything approaching what the Entity is capable of here, but we are seeing the technology already prove a real threat to the very nature of truth, making some plot points feel eerily prescient.
Cruise is beginning to really show his age here, but he can still tussle, flip, climb, jump, and fly with the best of them in a series of stunt sequences that recall previous franchise highlights but with their own unique twists, leading up to a train bound finale that proves especially memorable. Some of the plot developments can feel a touch convenient, but it’s still satisfying and tense. Perhaps it will improve in my estimation when paired with Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning, but for now it feels like something is still missing. ★★★★
rated pg-13 for intense sequences of violence and action, some language, and suggestive material.
Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning
★★★★★ = Excellent | ★★★★ = Very Good | ★★★ = Good | ★★ = Fair | ★ = Poor
-
-
-
-
-