Mission: Impossible
When rating the films, I actually had Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol on a par with the original. But the dull villain in M:I-4 pulled it down a notch while M:I seems to improve on every viewing…
Pro – Every action sequence is unforgettable. The Prague opening ‘mole-hunt’ – actually, scratch that. The moment marching drums on the Paramount logo fade to Kiev, and Emilio Estevez stares at a monitor is already a highlight. DePalma manages to forge an incredible team, whereby they laugh and joke about coffee and gum. Their banter sets a high bar none of the films have met and it is shook to the core when the majority of them are wiped out. The NOC-list theft at Langley CIA raises the bar higher, with unforgettable performances from Jean Reno and Ving Rhames. Even the dated effects within the Euro-tunnel fail to dampen the quality of Ethan Hunt’s first outing. The varied, international cast and Hitchcockian-plot, as Hunt has to prove his innocence, makes this the bench mark of the series.
Con – A key character in the television series, Jim Phelps, is the villain in this episode so he won’t return. Ever. Special effects are dated, but other than the euro-tunnel, this is choreographed, close and personal hand-to-hand combat. But the technology is very much ‘of its time’. Enormous PC’s (in Langley, for one) and awful internet searching (“internet link” and an email that literally shows a digital letter fly away into the internet ether) are only the highlights of an awkward world that doesn’t exist anymore.
Simon Columb
Haaseline says
Agreed, but you could have mentioned Brian DePalma as #1 Director
Chris Hbk says
Everyone has their own opinion…
I agree that the final hour of MI4 is poor, but I would go further and say that I can rarely get through it after the Dubai scene. Renner’s acting is atrocious; “She was not, the mission, Jane!”
I also hated how they gave half the plot away with the opening credits and theme music in MI4… surely that’s a bigger crime than what you mentioned about the start of MI3?
For me;
5 – MI2; awful action filled with no substance.
4 – MI4; overrated, poor acting, too much comedy and not enough venom after the great job done by PSH in the previous instalment.
3 – MI5; only seen it once but I actually feel it could rank higher after repeat viewings… Had a good balance to it.
2 – MI; Great film, agree with all your pros and cons.
1 – MI3; I appreciate I’m in the minority with placing this at the top, but it’s so much darker and grittier. Better acting than all the others bar the first instalment, a variety of scenes, conflicts and revolations.
cjohnston says
again (as a post below articulates); opinions will and do – vary.
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.I dug what Brad Bird brought to the table with GProtocol until about twenty minutes left in the film when the wheels inexplicably fell off.
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For me, Rogue Nation is easily the BEST one out of the franchise..