Mission Impossible: Worst to Best
Now worst is a relative term for least favorite. Mission Impossible II is by no means a bad movie. But my least favorite of out of the five Mission Impossible films is this one. It tones down the team aspect of the film, and acts more of a Ethan Hunt spin off movie, featuring scenes with Ethan Hunt's team. We find Ethan pulled off vacation to stop a madman from selling a deadly virus to be unleashed on everyone only to sell a cure thus making money. What? That seems so pointless. Why would someone unleash a virus that would only be counteracted by being cured later. The real impossible mission was to make that premise, that has been seen many times, seem fresh. The result was a plot that makes no sense, which is one of the many problems I have with the film. Some critics criticized the original for having no style or flash and called the movie flat. The studio "solved" those problems by recruiting cinematic director John Wu, whose penchant for over the top battles, stylized shots, and a certain amount of slow motion, gave the movie style, but no substance. The overall result was a messy film that certainly had ideas, but when brought to focus seemed pointless. Response to the film was mixed, being the one and only Mission Impossible film to be certified rotten on the Rotten Tomatoes website earning a 57% score and while it's the highest grossing film domestically, it's total actually gives it the number three spot of the entire franchise.
When transferring a tv show to the silver screen, you have to tread carefully. Especially if that show has been dead for over twenty years. I haven't seen any of the original tv show episodes, but assuming they faithfully adapted the film, they did a great job. A lot of twist and turns ensue in the plot as Ethan is framed for the murders of his team, not to mention a mole in the IMF. He then goes into hiding to reveal the true mole. The masks bring a lot of those twists, which would become one of the many staples of the franchise. Tom Cruise makes for a fantastic lead as his role in the franchise has been a bright spot when things hit rock bottom in his personal life and his career. It's a slower film than its siblings, and focuses more on the cat and mouse aspect and less on the action and gunplay. By far the total value of the film is the iconic scene of Ethan being lowered into the CIA vault, as suspense and hilarity are brought to pass. The action filled climax where a helicopter goes toe-to-toe with with a train is both equally fun, yet stupid. One things for sure. I'll never look at gum the same way again. "RED LIGHT! GREEN LIGHT!" The film wasn't a huge success. A lot of people had their critiques about the film, but it did provide a way that the franchise could live on and thrive, releasing four more films, and a fifth one the way.
When there's something strange, with your series. Who you gonna call? J.J Abrams. That's a Ghostbusters reference for you, I'm off topic. Not only did they give him the project to direct, but this was his directorial debut. His only previous credit for creating the hit show, Lost. J.J Abrams also makes it no secret that he is responsible for this film, because it features his signature styles of filming, such as muted or darker and bluer color palate, stylistic violence, and lens flares, which he would be brought to franchises like Star Trek and Star Wars. Speaking of tv. If you're a fan of the tv show called Psych, you're gonna love this. If you aren't I suggest you watch the show. You'll have a great time. Anyways the connection I want to make is the fact that when Hunt is being taken down by the IMF guys outside the hospital, you'll see that the one to talk first is none other than good old Carlton Lassiter. The film has a working mix of action and slower moments, but one of the things that set the film apart from the rest of the franchise is the villain, who is the best villain of the series. The late Philip Seymour Hoffman, whose character name is Owen Davian, is the best part of this film. His scenes with Ethan Hunt are so intense and so fun to witness that they are the best thing about the film. The best scene of the film is where Ethan dangles Owen out the hatch of the plane and is threatening to cut the zip ties that are keeping Owen from falling out hanger. Simon Pegg's Benji is introduced to the franchise and is one of the best characters of the series. I even considered this for a further position, but because some of the J.J Abrams filming styles and the two better films than this, keep the film from going further. As great as it was though, it's the least successful of the franchise.
2. Mission Impossible: Rouge NationThe latest film of the franchise is pure fun. The villain isn't the best of the franchise, but I appreciate the film none the same. This is probably the most action packed of the franchise with assassination attempt at the opera, suspenseful yet funny car on motorcycle chases, Ethan holds his breath to infiltrate an underwater vault, final conclusion gun fights and knife fights, and Tom Cruise strapping himself to the side of an actual plane that flew around for a period of time. A little in house nod to the reason of this ranking is that the director of this film, Christopher McQuarrie, was also responsible for directing the first Jack Reacher film. Alec Baldwin is also added as he seems to be a villain, he later becomes the head of the IMF franchise. Updating Simon Pegg to a more important role was a great decision to make on the part of the filmmakers. Rebecca Ferguson is the best female lead this franchise has had ever. She keeps up with Cruise and even comes close to surpassing him. I had to watch it a second time to understand it more, but that was a minor thing. Critics compared this film to some of Alfred Hitchcock's best work such as Rear Window, which was a great comparison. Hunt's mission this time around is to hunt (pun intended) and find proof that a rouge agency called The Syndicate, which is a secret, sanctioned, but at the same time unsanctioned, agency buried deep beneath the British agency. The action is spectacular. Smaller moments are fun as well and the story is engaging from the first moment. The only reason that it doesn't make the top spot is that it shares some of the same plot elements from Captain America: The Winter Soldier, and that November, Spectre came out and it too has somewhat of the same elements too. That's the only critique I can make.
Brad Bird takes a break from directing amazing animated films, such as The Incredibles, to try his hand at directing live action work. Mission accomplished. Some of you may call me biased a bit, considering the fact that I am a huge Pixar fan and he has done Pixar films that I like, and say that MI:4 is at the top spot, because it's directed by a Pixar director. I say to you no. That is not the reason. I have my reasons why this is the top spot. Sure there's a week villain at play, but other than that it's a great film, and I have critics and box office results to back me up. The plot sees the entire IMF disavowed, because they have been framed for the bombing of the Kremlin, and Ethan, Benji, and new comers William Brand, and Jane Carter are left on their own with no support to help them. Side note Jeremy Renner was originally added to replace Cruise as the lead, because of the rough patch Cruise's career was going through. Luckily that didn't happen and Cruise earned his stay by the following. He did his own stunts. Not only that, but he actually hung on the outside of the tallest building in the world. Speaking of the tallest building of the world, it was really nice to see the Burj Khalifa six months before I would go to Saudi Arabia. But before I went to Saudi, I had to fly directly to Dubai, and then to Saudi. I remember seeing that scene in the theater with my dad and my brother and being wowed. The action works, the smaller moments work, and the actors are great. This is the most successful of the entire franchise, both critically and financially, which is awesome. Brad Bird did such a great job making this film, that I'm kinda sad that he didn't stay in live action. But hey, making The Incredibles 2 is an awesome consolation prize.
So that's my ranking of the five current Mission Impossible films. What's yours? Let me know down in the comments section below, as well as what you'd like to see be done in this blog. I'm open to any suggestions you may have so fire away in the comments. I'm working on some more posts that you'll see in the very near future. I hoped you liked this. This was a long one coming, so I wonder if you liked the results. I'm curious to hear your ranking. Anyways, thanks for reading. I'm the film fanatic, bye-bye.
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