I'm going to start out by saying I've never been a big fan of the Mission: Impossible films. I remember seeing the first and being taken aback how the film basically killed off the entire cast early on, which felt like such a blatant ego move on Cruise's part to take a team movie set up and turn it into a star vehicle. I also found that early in the series the films felt disjointed, like little history mattered from film to film. Sure the Bond series worked on this formula for decades and often super hero movies of an earlier age would move in similar ways. But it wasn't my preferred way for a franchise to operate. Certainly we we have now seen the MCU has taken the opposite too far so we can't even enjoy the films without an encyclopedic knowledge of every film that has come before. But I think my preference is for a bit more balance. The M:I films have gotten better about building an ensemble and building off what has happened from film to film, yet they still feel like vanity projects for their star more than narratives that we all care about. Truly people look forward to the set pieces and stunts, not to wonder what will happen next for our intrepid hero. From back when this started and all the way through to today the Mission: Impossible series always felt like it was just about making the biggest spectacle at the time and being a vehicle for Cruise more than it felt like it was about telling a story. So I went into this rewatch skeptical but honestly hopeful I could find some threads to enjoy as we build up to what will likely be some of the biggest films of 2023 and 2024 with the "final" (haha) chapters in this series.
The first film starts out great with its TV style opening and tributes to all the fun gimmicks of the old series. I appreciated that this wasn't a reboot but a continuation of the legacy of the series. It acknowledged that all we saw on the TV series before happened and this was a part of that world. I know many old fans felt betrayed they made a hero character a villain but I thought it was a bold move. The story is enjoyably over the top and designed to be as twisty and turny as possible. De Palma really leans into his heavily stylistic approach so the whole thing has an unreal feeling, intentionally absurd, paying homage to the 60s era silliness of the source material but setting it in a modern aesthetic. The series moves away from this feeling over time which is too bad because truly it is a lot of fun.
But as I said there is an underlying vanity project feeling to this. Cruise was at the top of his career at this time having come off a bunch of big movies and about to head into Oscar territory with Jerry Maguire. He wanted to be James Bond and so he uses this project as his ticket to that kind of thing ensuring no one else is essential to the story except him. He is young and very pretty and the epitome of a movie star. But I usually prefer to have more from my movies than just a star vehicle and the balance was off for me.
Mission: Impossible remains an iconic film. The suspension scene is still one of the most famous and copied moments in cinema. Despite all its self-indulgence, or perhaps because of it, the whole thing works and I wonder what the film series would have been like if they had stuck to this approach.
Mission: Impossible
Starring: Tom Cruise, Jon Voigt, Emmanuelle Béart, Ving Rhames, Venessa Redgrave, Jean Reno, Kristin Scott Thomas, Emilio Estevez, Henry Czerny
Director Brian De Palma
Writers: David Koepp, Robert Towne
The second film in this series saps almost any of the unique vibes that the first one had to make what feels like a very standard 90s action movie (which came out in 2000). Gone is any pretext of a team movie as anyone who helps Cruise is pretty much sidelined. This is all about Cruise and what a star he is. Long haired and cool like he's Legolas killing the Mûmakil in Return of the King and stepping off it without messing his hair. Most of the cast is forgettable and Newton is miscast as a damsel in distress. Worst of all it's boring through a lot of the middle. 2 feels the most generic of any of them. By Woo standards, the film feels subdued, with less of his signature camera magic that one might expect. Also they rip off scenes and plot points from the first. I'm actually surprised I didn't stop watching the series after this one.
Mission: Impossible 2
Starring: Tom Cruise, Dougray Scott, Thandiewe Newton, Richard Roxburgh, Brendan Gleeson, Ving Rhames
Director: John Woo
Writer: Robert Towne
For some unknown reason the movie's name switched from Arabic numerals to Roman?? III has some things going for it including the great Philip Seymour Hoffman in a campy villain role, which was something he was great at. It also starts to move the series back towards a team-theme by utilizing Rhames more, not killing off all of Cruise's teammates, and adding in Pegg who ends up sticking around for much of the remaining series. I still find III a bit dull and cliched but not so much as 2. Honestly the whole plot of this film is one big MacGuffin which the film actually acknowledges in its final scene when the "rabbit's foot" is revealed to not have any in story consequences at all. For me this first trilogy is the weakest of the series and probably why it was hard for me to embrace it at all with such a weak-to-average start. Things start to get better from here on out though. Abrams may have directed one of my favourite Star Wars movies and one of my favourite Star Trek movies, but not one of my favourite M:I movies.
Mission: Impossible III
Starring: Tom Cruise, Ving Rhames, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Michelle Monaghan, Maggie Q, Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Billy Crudup, Keri Russell, Simon Pegg, Lawrence Fishburne, Greg Grunberg, Aaron Paul
Director: JJ Abrams
Writers: Alex Kurtzman, Roberto Orci, JJ Abrams
Here's my hot take: Ghost Protocol is the best M:I movie. It works both as a stand alone story and as part of a series. It both picks up threads from the past, builds a team feeling, and sets up future instalments of the series while also being the kind of film one can watch with no knowledge of the past movies. You get all you need from it to enjoy it. Even if you never watch another M:I film Ghost Protocol works completely self contained. It starts out with the title sequence idea I like, harkening back to the first film, and it's story is compelling throughout with the kind of set pieces that M:I is famous for. I kinda wish Paula Patton stuck around as she has such great screen presence. How she isn't a bigger start I'll never know. For me Ghost Protocol is all I want in this series and if I had to pick only one to watch ever again this would be it.
Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol
Starring: Tom Cruise, Jeremy Renner, Simon Pegg, Paula Patton, Michael Nyqvist, Léa Seydoux, Josh Holloway, Anil Kapoor, Tom Wilkinson, Ving Rhames, Michelle Monaghan
Director: Brad Bird
Writers: Josh Appelbaum, André Nemec
I enjoyed that at this point the M:I franchise sees itself as a series and not just opportunities for Cruise to boost his brand. With Rogue Nation they have begun to be invested in world building, connective tissue, and character development. I don't necessarily buy Hunt's motivations (a weak point for me) as his connection to Monaghan's character has little to no weight. By bringing in Cruise acolyte McQuarrie they start quite a partnership which benefits the series for the next few movies which have found an enjoyable groove which still maintains Cruise's signature stunt spectacle but builds in a bit more story, even if that story remains generally rather thin.
Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation
Starring: Tom Cruis, Jeremy Renner, Simon Peg, Rebecca Ferguson, Ving Rhames, Sean Harris, Zhang Jingchu, Tom Hollander, Alec Baldwin
Writer/Director: Christopher McQuarrie
Fallout continues the McQuarrie/Cruise partnership and narrative. I still find the story a bit on the weak side with this chapter's twists a bit on the obvious side and the emotional stakes a bit on the low end. But rewatching it I was a bit more forgiving then when it first came out. I enjoyed how it's building on the stories from previous movies. I also can't deny the film's set pieces are downright stunning. The addition of Rebecca Ferguson is inspired and her character remains one of the more interesting aspects of the ongoing story. While the resolution all comes together a bit too pat, it remains a very watchable and enjoyable action film.
Mission: Impossible - Fallout
Starring: Tom Cruise, Henry Cavill, Simon Pegg, Ving Rhames, Rebecca Ferguson, Sean Harris, Angela Bassett, Vanessa Kirby, Michelle Monaghan, Alex Baldwin, Wes Bentley, Wolf Blitzer
Writer/Director: Christopher McQuarrie
This is certainly a series which has got better over time and as we lead into Dead Reckoning Parts 1 & 2, I hope they find a solid way to give this series a great send off... or perhaps just its star. Will they have the courage to make non-Cruise M:I movies post 2024 or we will be watching Mission: Impossible and the Dial of Destiny in 20 years? My recommendations for the future are to get more twisty and unpredictable again (like the first) and create a real sense of not knowing what to expect with rotating teams of agents taking on the world's greatest terrorists. M:I isn't James Bond or Indiana Jones. You could quite conceivably change the lead spy and continue the story in a myriad of ways (technically that's what the first film did). It just depends if Cruise if ever willing to let this go.
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