Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation Review

My apologies for taking a while with the next Mission: Impossible entry. With the success of Ghost Protocol, it only made sense to keep the train moving by having Tom Cruise do an even crazier stunt. For awhile, between the last entry and this one is where Cruise had a run of box office disappointments. You had films like Oblivion and Edge of Tomorrow that were trying to do something different but not making a dent financially. Albeit Edge is one of the best sci-fi films of the 2010s and Oblivion is underrated from what I gathered. In any case, Rogue Nation is easily up there with the best franchise. 

1. The Syndicate

        It’s one of those things where the trailer easily sold me with wanting to watch the film. With that famous shot of Tom Cruise hanging on to dear life on the side of an airplane. And the fact that we see it takeoff the runway and veer was just one of those things where Cruise was certified insane as a stunt man. And it took awhile to finally watch this one, I’m weird where the sequel to this one was my first exposure and then I watched Rogue Nation. I’m peculiar what can I tell you. 

        We follow Ethan as he and the IMF have been disbanded after the events of Ghost Protocol and III. I think I put down that the sequels operate as independents, but if you’re a purist such as me, prior events are brought up at the detriment of the IMF. Ethan gets word that an alliance of former agents have banded together to dismantle the world order through assassinations. And the way he receives that news I think is one of the best reveals of the villain in the franchise so far. It’s practically needed that every entry has to have a mission brief and for Hunt to be told that the message will self-destruct. 

        Not in this one, I love how it gets subverted when the message starts off innocently enough, but soon turns antagonistic when Ethan finds out that the Syndicate is aware of him. By following them would result in his death and to the point that he’ll be disavowed of any knowledge. And I love how Ethan along with Benji now have to work within their own means to uncover the Syndicate. It’s a callback to the last entry, and I think it’s the best way since we see Hunt and Benji operate as a team. Between them and the CIA’s Brandt along with Luther is like a cat and mouse plot line where the former comes out on top. 

        We have a different female lead as Rebecca Ferguson seemingly joins the team as Ilsa. Her character is interesting where her actions lead us to think that she’s helping Ethan and helping the Syndicate. She’s sort of playing both sides but one where we’re interested with how she get one up as far as both parties are concerned. Her introduction is great since we see the physicality on display when she frees Ethan from capture. But the best scene involving her is when both her and Ethan are at the Opera. It gives us an understanding that Ethan must choose weather to kill her or stopping the rogue agents. More so that she leads Ethan along to trip him up. 

        Lastly, there’s a new level of action on display that is cranked up in this entry. It’s sort of in line with what 2 was doing but it still manages to make it more engaging without going over the top. Most of it feels gritty since we see Ethan’s physicality on display as well as with the car and motorcycle chase. The stunt work is impressive since we Ethan take out the rival cyclists all while having the car in reverse with Benji. It manages to balance being a spy film with an action film without any discombobulation. 

It’s hard to even rank which stunt in the film is the best. With every entry, there’s one stunt that practically encapsulates the film. This one has the distinction of having two. While the airplane scene is great, to the point where the digital cover has it emblazoned, I feel that the underwater stunt is also great. Ethan is tasked with going underwater in a secure vault to swap a data file. Just reading with how Cruise had to do intensive training to hold his breathe made the scene intense. More so that there’s obstacles in the way and that he gets help from Ilsa to do the swap. I think it works since it sets up a twist and inevitably leads to a car chase.

2. Christopher McQuarrie 

        I didn’t mention this before when talking about Ghost Protocol but director Christopher McQuarrie had a hand with the writing process. Though uncredited, he was brought in to tighten up the script and to shape how the stunts would appear on film. He got his start as a writer in the 90s and then transitioned to director in his debut The Way of the Gun. Him and Cruise have been frequent collaborators way back in 2008 with Valkyrie and it would stay like that as McQuarrie would helm the remainder of the Mission: Impossible films. One thing that separates him and Brad Bird is that he’s a very straightforward director. 

        And it’s not a bad thing since the film isn’t bland and I’ll even say that the action is noticeably better in Rogue Nation. You got the action setups, but the one thing that keeps the movie going is that character intentions constantly change due to the nature of the story. I like that both Ethan and the film’s antagonist Solomon try to one up each other but know that either side is expecting them to do what they want to achieve. It has that thriller angle that’s imbued with the espionage albeit it’s exciting when something goes wrong where Ethan has to adjust to the situation. In a way, McQuarrie changed the style of the film without losing what makes it fun. 

3. Overall 

        Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation is a great entry to the franchise. 

Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol Review

        It’s interesting to marathon a series and then talk about them. As of now, the series has just been okay as far as a franchise. Just the debut and ensuing sequels were mixed, yet it catapulted Tom Cruise into the action sphere. While some relics of the 90s faded, the series somehow survived amidst a five-year gap between III and Ghost Protocol. I mentioned that III was when the series started the ball rolling of respectability, it’s this one where it cemented as a franchise money maker. While it doesn’t have the slickness of a J.J. Abrams film, or the stylized action of John Woo, this one is a stripped-down Mission: Impossible that might be my favorite. 

1. Ghost Protocol

        After watching this one, I feel that I would’ve liked it when it came out. To think that I did watch this one a while back but was too tired to continue watching it on Showtime. With a five year gap that I mentioned, it gives the filmmakers a fresh slate on what to do with Ethan and the IMF. For starters, it starts off with a mission going wrong as an IMF agent is killed while retrieving stolen nuclear codes. Soon it spirals as Ethan and his team is tasked to retrieve the codes inside Russia. 

        Everything goes wrong as Ethan and the whole organization is framed for bombing Moscow, thus prompting the disavow that is routinely said in every mission briefing. This situation puts Ethan and his team to be on their own as they try to stop the codes from being used to launch a nuclear war. This is a completely different Mission: Impossible where everything is stripped down where the team doesn’t have the resources to stop the threat. More so that there’s a new member, William Brandt who is probably the best addition to the series. I’m willing to bet that after this scene he was selected to be Hawkeye. 

        Anyways, this film easily makes the others feel inferior due to how we see Ethan and his team adapt to being on their own and attempting to stop the latest threat. Aside from the fact that they’re on the run, but they have to utilize a limited amount of assets to get something done. And half the time, it doesn’t go well. This is one of the rare times wear the series’ signature facial disguise isn’t used. Only prosthetics are used prior to everything going on the fritz. I feel that it was visual foreshadowing that this is going to be a different entry than the prior ones. 

        And I think that’s why the film works is that the tech that the teams uses goes wrong and that they have to adjust. In the film’s iconic moments, Ethan’s gloves to scale a building malfunctions and he has to adjust using one of his bare hands. It’s the film’s secret sauce of making it successful and it’s just by seeing them use their own intellect to try to accomplish their mission. To the point where there’s a moment where they bicker at each other when one of the members accidentally kills an informant that they were initially going to interrogate. It fleshes everyone since they must succeed and that everything is just not going their way.

        With how fast paced the film goes, I must talk about the scene that practically helped the film make bank in the box office. I’m pretty sure everyone has seen just random snippets when the team is in Dubai, as Hunt scales the Burj Kalifa. Watching it out of context was just visually impressive, and it didn’t help my fear of heights whatsoever. It’s one of the series’ defining moments, and it was marketed extensively as far as I can recall. Seeing it play out in context makes the whole act even more exciting and thrilling with just how everything plays out. 

2. Brad Bird

        This is the second Brad Bird film that I talked about. Many years ago I talked about his debut film The Iron Giant. Due to the film bombing due to studio negligence, he made a name for himself in the animation side of Hollywood. He worked with Disney and Pixar to develop one of his best films The Incredibles which yielded him an Academy Award along with his following film Ratatouille. It seemed that it would be an impossible job for an animator to do live action since it’s an entirely different style of filmmaking. 

        In fact, he wasn’t the first filmmaker to switch styles in their careers. You have others like Tim Burton and Travis Knight who have done animation prior to doing live action films. It’s a switch that seems inevitable for any animator to try but it’s not a guarantee to have it be continuing. I’ll talk about that in a bit. Anyways, Brad Bird seemed like an odd choice to handle Mission: Impossible only you can say that a section of The Incredibles showed that he could handle the espionage aspect of it. 

        To me, it feels like a live action cartoon in some sense. I know it’s an oxymoron but let me explain. With how the espionage is presented, there’s moments where the gadgets looked too fantastical. As we see when Ethan and Benji are infiltrating the Kremlin by using an elaborate projector cover. More so that it seems that Bird’s animation flair helps the action be more stylized without looking ridiculous. It’s a balance of being heightened and grounded where he manages to make it look great without having to sacrifice too much. 

        Since the film had a great box office run, it only seemed logical for Bird to have a live action filmography that’s on par with his animation. Unfortunately, it didn’t go that route as he directed Disney’s Tomorrowland and it didn’t do well financially. I haven’t seen it but it was labeled as a failure and seemingly killed his live action filmography. Inevitably, he did return with The Incredibles 2 and he has another film coming out on Netflix titled Ray Gunn. It’s unfortunate that Bird’s only great live action film is this one. 

3. Overall

        Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol is one of the best films in the series. 

Mission: Impossible III Review

        I’m back and we got about five movies left. It’s one thing to review a franchise where the first two entries are technically the worst ones. While there are some merits where there some appreciation, the fact of the matter is that the films barely coasted by just through the action and tension. The big flaws that hampered them were the slim characterization of Ethan Hunt and the overall story of getting the MacGuffin. As convoluted as the first entries were, this film marked the turning point of the series where it would get progressively better. 

1. The Rabbit’s Foot

        The first minutes of the film is the exact opposite of what we’ve seen. It’s one of those where it sets the tone of what kind of situation Ethan got himself into. Just seeing Hunt strapped into a chair and having a woman with a gun pointed to her as he’s being interrogated just makes the whole thing interesting. Right from the start we see the antagonist and just how he seemingly has Ethan by the balls. It balances the tension with the dread that we never see Ethan get put through. 

        To me, it’s one of the best openings. And it’s easily contrasted with one of the worst title sequences that we’ve seen. For anyone who marathons the series, the title sequence is supposed to be exciting with having non-sequential shots appearing as the theme song is playing. The original series did that as well to show the audience what they’re going to see but not told in chronological order. Here it’s like an after thought where the crew decided that they forgot to put something together so they just hastily cobbled up something at the last possible minute. 

        Anyways, we follow Ethan as he’s retired from the IMF. He settles down as he and his fiancé are enjoying their time together. He gets word from the IMF director that one of his former students is captured and is tasked to rescue her. Meanwhile, Ethan uncovers a new weapon that is being shopped around by a weapons trafficker named Davian. This one is completely different from the other two entries. What I mean by that is we already see a seasoned Ethan where everything clicks when he reunites with Luther and gets a new squad. 

        I like that the film goes into the action first while also blending in with the covert stuff. It makes everything exciting but also makes it so that the action isn’t over the top like the last one. To me, it manages to have the balance of being an action flick while also having it’s own covert flair without being a wannabe James Bond film. The overall feel for the movie is sort of grounded but there’s that shine to it where it looks slick. It’s an Abrams movie alright just before he went haywire with the lighting of his Star Trek films some time later. 

        While we talk about him in a moment, I feel that I should talk about the main villain in this one. All the other antagonists that we’ve seen had ties to the IMF, this one is different. Owen Davian is one bad hombre, as I mentioned earlier he manages to seemingly break Ethan as he tries to find out from him where the secret weapon is at. Philip Seymour Hoffman portrays him as a calculating and brutal man who just lays into Ethan on how he’ll kill everyone he knows and loves. He’s the main highlight of the film and one of the rare best villains in the entire series as of now. 

        Ethan’s team is also different even though Ving Rhames’ Luther is the only consistent aspect in these films. While we don’t know much about Zhen and Declan, they each carry their roles since they manage to help Ethan and executing the mission. I think my favorite part which involves all of them is when they’re in the Vatican. Just seeing it how Ethan and Declan kick off their part and then it all unfolds perfectly. It’s one of those things that was missing in the prior entries where the covert stuff wasn’t shown or done differently where it wasn’t exciting in the least bit. 

        The highlight within the highlight is seeing the masks being made. I can imagine someone finding the mask removal parts too out there. Like you mean to tell me that they constructed a mask that looks exactly like who the IMF are searching for, right down to the distinct voices. I’m glad that we see the masks being made like a wood carver. Luther just makes it believable when he has to tell Ethan to wait on the voice modulator to kick in. It’s great stuff is what I’m trying to say. 

2. J.J. Abrams

        Whenever this name is uttered among the geeks or nerds who follow Star Trek and Star Wars, a derisive groan is uttered or grunted. It’s one thing to watch his very first film he directed but also acknowledge just how he got his start. Most people prior to this entry know him for his work on T.V. He made shows like Felicity and Alias that were a character drama and an investigative show. Lost is where he made it big, due to the story being complex with his patented mystery box story devices. Meaning that, the story presented a mystery where it would lead to it being resolved or a curve ball throwing the story into fray. 

        With this film, you can say that he practically saved the franchise from being reduced to just action shlock. As I mentioned earlier, we didn’t get an idea as to who Ethan was as a person besides doing work for the IMF. More so that having a revolving door of directors would give the series a dysfunctional feel to them where it bordered on a psychological thriller to an action packed gun toting film. Abrams managed to ground the film by making it feel personal to Ethan with how personal his stakes is. 

        To me, it feels like it was originally going to be the last entry of the series. You can say that this wraps up the 2000s era of the franchise. Since we have Ethan seemingly retired from the IMF and he already has a fiancé. This one mission was going to test him to save his significant other and stop the villain from obtaining the secret weapon. What the film has going for is the drama that we see Ethan go through, it replaces having to see him retrieve the weapon and gives the audience something different where the characters are put into focus and having the action being retooled and believable. 

        Lastly, while Abrams wouldn’t direct another Mission: Impossible film, his production company would be associated with the franchise through his Bad Robot label. Going forward, the 2010s would be where the franchise was at it’s peak where we’d see Ethan and his team go through various locales and stopping a variety of threats. It’s one of those franchises where there’s a list of tropes of stuff that happens, but none of it feels repetitive and that we see just how much Tom Cruise alternates his hair from being short to long. And seeing him do his own stunts for our enjoyment. 

3. Overall

        Mission: Impossible III is one of the best in the 2000s era of the series. It’s the definition of a franchise rebound film. 

Mission: Impossible 2 Review

        My look into the Mission: Impossible series continues. With the financial success of the first entry, it only seemed reasonable that a sequel was inevitable. Around this time is when Tom Cruise was flexing his drama chops with films like Jerry Maguire, Magnolia and Eyes Wide Shut. Also, he had to find another director since Brian De Palma declined to return as director for the sequel. It only seemed fitting that he would find a more action oriented director to give the sequel an extra squeeze. Unfortunately, this is one is regarded as one of the worst in the series. 

1. The Chimera Virus

        One thing that I forgot to mention in closing with the first entry, every sequel is independent from each other. Meaning that nothing would carry over plot wise and that every entry is an entirely new mission for Ethan and his team. So here’s a gist of what’s the new thing that Ethan has to stop. He gets word that a new virus has been created and it has been stolen by a former agent. And that’s about the main story since it’s practically straight forward. It’s the weakest part in the whole film which I’ll get into. 

        Seeing Ethan scale and climb one of the mountains in Utah is one of the highlights in the film. Especially with how he gets the IMF mission from a pair of explosive sunglasses. From then on, we see Ethan go to Spain as he tries to recruit a former thief to help him get the virus. Thandiwe Newton plays Nyah as she’s thief that Ethan is attempting to hire for his team. I like that they have a sort of flirt for each other. Albeit it gets ridiculous where they car chase and they had to pad it out to inevitably have her join the team. 

        The villain is Sean Ambrose who’s a former IMF agent that turned rogue. He’s probably one of the worst villains so far since he has that attitude where he’s kind of like a cartoon villain and not so much of a legit threat in the context of the movie. What it’s lacking to make the movie more interesting is a secondary antagonist to throw a wrench into Ethan’s plan. We instead get a henchman but it’s kind of weird that he gets close to Ambrose that he’s a straight up confidant in some cases. 

        Luther is back, but we also get another agent named Billy who is a transport guy. I’ve read that Cruise initially felt bad for killing off Emilio Esteves’ character and that John Woo and Cruise tried to find some way to bring the dead character back. Billy was just there and there’s really nothing interesting about him. It wouldn’t be until the next entry where Ethan has a stable crew but we’ll get into it when we get into it. 

        I think the big thing that’s lacking aside from the main plot progressing is that there’s a clear lack of characterization among everybody. One would think that we would have a moment where we see Ethan be vulnerable since it’s shown that he has a fling with Nyah. The action is amped up we gun fights popping off near the end of the movie. Which I think with how it’s handled is an opposite of the prior entry with Ethan dual wielding pistols to take out the bad guys. Like the film is bordering on the edge of ridiculousness and seriousness. 

2. John Woo

        This is the first John Woo film that I’ve seen. His track record is one that it demands commendation since he gave the action genre new breath and style. He became known for the Hong Kong action cinema that was popular during the 80s and 90s. Notably, his films The Killer and Hard Boiled are one of his best and one of the best action films in general. Later on, he directed the John Travolta and Nicolas Cage film Face/Off. It’s from that film where it can be assumed that Cruise wanted him to bring the sequel that certain style of action that was lacking in the first entry. 

        Woo is primarily known for action and for his motifs of flying birds or dove’s during action. Interpret it as over the top, but this is one of the few times where a franchise would have individual director motifs imbued in the film. The one thing that’s lacking is the overall characterization and having an interesting story. Like the action can only hold the movie together but it becomes just visual eye candy when it seems that Ethan isn’t in control with the plot. What I mean is that his new recruit does most of the espionage since Nyah has some ties with the main bad guy.

        I feel that in some way that Woo attempted to have his Mission: Impossible film be a sort of American-ized James Bond film. You have moments of a romance going on which was probably the series’ first attempt to have a Bond Girl-esque character in the story. Car chase and a motorcycle chase that feels over the top instead of an elaborate action set piece that the series started off with. It’s not a good movie with what I’m trying to get at, but I feel that it’s necessary to show the series at it’s low and it’s inevitable rebound. 

3. Overall

        Mission: Impossible 2 is not a good movie, it’s skippable if you want to casually watch the series. 

Mission: Impossible Review

        It’s summer once again, I’m surprised that I haven’t discussed the Mission: Impossible franchise. Since I only got two months of Summer, I think it’s appropriate to talk about this one. I think with any franchise that I get exposed to, one of the sequels is my first exposure. And then watching everything backwards, I swear it’s this franchise where I watch the series backwards instead of going to the very first entry. Well, consider the first through the fourth entries as my first opinions since I haven’t seen either of them. So let’s get started. 

1. Ethan Hunt

        To give you guys perspective of how this came to be, I got to establish that there was a lot of 60s and 70s nostalgia during the 90s. Much like the 2010s was beset by 80s nostalgia with Stranger Things to name a few, the 90s had multiple films that were based on old tv shows. You had ones like The Brady Bunch and The Flintstones to name a few since there were to cater with the Baby Boomers at the time. Even other stuff like Dazed and Confused and That 70s Show that caters to a fond look at the past. And it seems that with each succeeding decade, there’s usually a yearning of the past when things tend to be complicated in the present. 

        With this film, it’s an adaptation of the 60s series of the same name and the sequel series that aired during the 80s. The show has the viewers following the Impossible Mission Force, stick with me on this one, as they attempt to thwart corrupt governments among many various threats that pose a danger to the agency. One would think that it was only created after the popularity of James Bond, but in fact that the series was inspired by the actions of former FBI agent Robert Maheu. In total the series in its entirety ran for nine seasons and it made sense that Cruise wanted to adapt it since he was a fan of the series growing up. 

        I think we’re all caught up with the ins and outs of the whole perspective, now I can talk about the film. So we follow Cruise’s Ethan Hunt as he’s under the direction of IMF team leader Jim Phelps. His team’s been assigned to stop a mole of stealing info on IMF agents, unfortunately his team is killed including Phelps. With Hunt being accused, he sets out to clear his name by enlisting other disavowed agents to find the actual perpetrator. Story wise, it’s clear what’s going on as Ethan tries to avoid his arrest. 

        What makes Hunt interesting is that he manages to be active enough where he goes through the means of expungement. I like that he manages to set in motion of meeting a weapons dealer who would benefit of having the list. More so that he is very tactical when dealing with his next steps. I like that he does his own investigation to piece together some irregularities that his boss Phelps mentioned just prior to his team’s demise. I think the most important aspect that makes Hunt an interesting character is just the athletic means he goes through to get the Agents list. 

        Any mention of the film series or just watching a compilation of Tom Cruise’s stunts always includes the scene where Hunt goes to Langley, Virginia to make a copy of the list to smoke out the mole. That whole scene is full of tension as it’s established in a prior scene that the entire computer room is rigged with sensors that detect temperature, weight and sound as one employee has access to the room. And I love how Hunt, along with other agents Luther and Claire make it so that the employee is temporarily disposed so that Hunt can do his mission. Especially with Krieger gripping the rope as Ethan is repelled down. 

2. Brian De Palma 

        There’s that scene and the famous train sequence involving a helicopter that represents the whole film. Everything else in the film is convoluted plot wise. This is the second De Palma film that I covered aside from Carrie. His motifs are mostly thriller driven, to the point where in the past, he’s been accused of ripping off Hitchcock. Since the series has been prided with espionage, it made sense to have him do an adaptation where his motifs are present. You got moments where Ethan is interrogated by the IMF director. The camera angles has it tilted where Ethan’s world is turned since he’s been accused. 

        While there’s some action sequences, it’s a very conservative film that mostly leans in on the espionage aspect rather than have any shootouts. I think it’s a me thing where I was exposed to the later sequels and not having the time to see the series from the beginning. What I will say is that I think the main thing that brings the film down is the overall plot. It’s one thing where the expression “the suspension of disbelief” is thrown around to justify a massive logic leap. With this one, I found it hard that the IMF director would think that Ethan killed his own team. More so that it can get a bit confusing just following what’s going on since Hunt emails a weapons dealer that he just happens to know. 

        I think what’s more tragic is that this is the last De Palma film to be a big blockbuster. That’s not to say that he his movies ebbed and flowed, he did but he made many profitable films in a span of three decades. He was part of the new crop of American Directors that broke out in the 70s, along with Spielberg and Coppola to name a few. It wasn’t until after this film that he would experience a massive dip in quality that affected his films. The majority didn’t get any critical praise and most of them bombed financially. 

3. Legacy

        While this film was one of the highest grossing films during it’s release, most of the original cast didn’t like the adaptation. The point of contention was that the main character in the series was portrayed as a villain in the movie. One of the cast members even walked out of the film during it’s premiere. It can be explainable that the adaptation was taking some liberties so that it wouldn’t be exactly what was presented in the past. In some way, I think it was Cruise’s idea that he would be the lead in the future sequels by having to get rid of the original main character. I think it’s a good conspiracy but it hasn’t been confirmed. 

        From this point forward, the series would have a revolving door of other directors that would direct a sequel. De Palma declined to participate in the sequel since he believed that what he made was more than enough for one film. Specifically, he didn’t like the idea of sequels. Aside from that, it’s interesting to see the other director’s style be shown in the sequels as it seemingly continues to show just how much Cruise can be put through stunt wise. And I think this is the rare franchise where the first entries weren’t good but the ensuing sequels get progressively better. 

4. Overall

        Mission: Impossible isn’t the best Cruise or De Palma film, but an essential for a marathon of the series.