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That is true, the whole series has taken that direction. Personally I felt that when they added a sense of humour to Ethan in Ghost Protocol his personality was finally complete (and it improved him so much: I think he's really quite boring in MI3), and that's the Ethan we still have after a few films of what he's actually like being in flux, but I agree that his character in terms of his story and what drives him was mostly shaped by 3.
On another thread another forum user was saying that the M:I films are about Hunt, moreso than Skyfall is about Bond and I just think that's so wrong. They've never been about hero-worshipping Hunt as a character (Cruise perhaps) and they've rarely been interested in Hunt even though he drives the plot: they're more interested in the plot and the action, whereas Bond films are about throwing this rather magnetic and iconic character into a variety of situations, and his solutions to them tell us more about him and worship him a bit more. 3 and Fallout are perhaps the exceptions where they've tried to be about what drives Ethan a little more.
Yep good point, I didn't quite connect that even now you say it it feels very right. I think it even makes a similar glass tinkly noise.
That should be a better sequence than it is: doing the Temple of Doom dancefloor antidote bit but with cars on a highway sounds like a great idea, doesn't it?
Rhys Meyers has mainly played in smaller, independent productions recently, hasn't he? The last role I saw him in was the Norwegian WW2 drama The 12th Man, where he played a German Sturmbannführer.
At the time, MI3 felt fresh, you got to get a little more personal with Hunt before that was a standard trope of every single action film. Julia wasn't just a token love interest like he had in 2. Abrahams was a good choice to take this on, coming at the end of his successful series Alias, one of the most refreshing TV spy sagas in years, and it carries vibes from that.
It's a natural progression for Hunt as he is more of a leader and mentor and not just a point guy. I've said previously how much I like the Maggie Q and Rhys Meyers characters. They don't stand out particularly, but you get a youthful energy from them to complement veterans Hunt and Luther, a huge improvement on 2's lack of teamwork. It's sad they didn't keep them as they had potential to grow. And Pegg was fine being Hunt's inside guy. Taking him into the field was the downfall.
For me, Davian still stands as the series' best overall villain, much more interesting than the Trevelyan clone from 2, Hendrix from GP and Lane. Lane never comes off as the Blofeld wannabe they try to make him. Davian's threats are convincing and Hoffman does a great job although, physically, he doesn't seem to be a threat, similar to Gert Frobe as Goldfinger.
I also love the Vatican scene, one of the finest scenes of suspense and thrills in the series and why the series is much more than just great stunts. And I have to mention, opposed to what others are saying, I think it's refreshing we didn't have the standard break-in scene and focused on the parachute stunt, which I find underrated. Not revealing what the rabbit's foot is is another good move. Rather than some lame, contrived device or whatever as Bond films often do, leave it mysterious. Hitchcock often got away with McGuffins like that.
While it won't top many lists, 3 really did set a good path for the MI series to evolve and the huge over-the-top stunts and casts that followed shouldn't leave it unappreciated.
One thing I won't deny is how great PSH is as Davian. He's larger than life and his acting is superb, as always.
The Biocyte break-in and following shootout was cool .
Did he? I'm not arguing with that, I can't think of any off the top of my head. I'm sure he did.
Yes I'm with you on all of those points. I think PSH is great in the film, but ultimately he's just a middle man in the plot and he's not even the main threat. The main bad guy gets shot kind of accidentally, although it's nicely satisfying that the person whose life he risks so cavalierly does it and she doesn't even know who she's killed.
I just like M:I to be about Ethan or the IMF team twisting the odds in their favour by doing something clever (that ideally we don't even know about). MI3 is just a bit too much of a standard Harrison Ford 'Where's my wife?!' plot for me. The IMF team just disappear entirely for the climax, and that's the only M:I movie where that happens.
Huh.
https://www.thefirstnews.com/article/culture-ministry-faces-dilemma-over-mission-impossible-bridge-14467
"Poland's Ministry of Culture and National Heritage is scratching its head over the fate of an old bridge film-makers want to blow up during filming for the seventh 'Mission Impossible' movie.
The lucrative movie franchise starring Tom Cruise is due to be filmed in part in Poland, where the makers want to make use of a 111-year-old bride in the village of Pilchowice in the southern province of Silesia.
Deputy Culture Minister Paweł Lewandowski seemed unperturbed by the issue however: "I would not be fixated on the fact that the Pilchowicki Bridge is a monument," he told the Wirtualna Polska portal. "It stands in ruins and has no value. Not all old things are monuments. The law clearly states that a monument is only that which has social, artistic or scientific value. In art and culture, that value only emerges when there is a relation between the cultural object and people. So if an object is unused, unavailable, it has no such value. Therefore it is not a monument. (...) And only a small part of it will be destroyed during filming."
"We have a new law on audio-visual incentives," the deputy minister continued. "If a large American producer wants to come to us, we are waiting for him with open arms."
The bottom line, as so often, is money. The ministry lacks the legal authority to guarantee funds for the bridge's renovation. But if the filming is set to go ahead, Lewandowski said his ministry will do everything to ensure that funds from PKP's revitalisation money are made available for the ancient structure. He also believes the Hollywood fim makers may provide money to rebuild the bridge.
The bridge is set to feature in Libra's tralier and it is believed that star Tom Cruise will actively promote Poland. There are even plans to turn to locality into a film-related tourist attraction after filming.
Those plans my be scuppered, however, by the intentions of the Silesian Monument Conserver to list the bridge as a mounument, something the Culture Ministry has no control over.
That's certainly one way to catch audiences by surprise.
The Rauma Line:
Given this and the story about them wanting to blow up the Polish train bridge, I'm guessing either VII or VIII will have a sequence involving an out of control locomotive.
Good points. This is one of the big (of many) differences between Hunt and Bond; if you take away Hunt's ideals then there's not much left to him because he values his ideals above all else. The films have toyed with that idea since the third film, with a failed marriage (through no particular fault of his own other than a wish to protect his wife) and his mirror image in Ilsa first longing to be free and then accepting that they both never will be. Hunt's 'missions' are his vice - everything about him is about the challenge, whereas Bond, while he's more of a pessimist in terms of idealogy, he has more to him - to his character - than his work. They obviously have explored similar themes in the Craig era, but it's fair to say that they didn't really do it as well (certainly in SP) as McQuarrie/Cruise did in the last couple of films despite Hunt being a bit of a blank canvas in comparison to Bond.
He was quite good in that, too. A very strange choice for that part but he pulled it off quite well.
Yes, that looks like it might be a possibility. On the Rauma Line there's also this train bridge (Kylling Bridge):
I watched the film a year or so after the initial release, not knowing Rhys Meyers was in it. I was quite surprised when he appeared as a German nazi!
Yeah, Hunt will become an all-time iconic spy, but only because he's been around for so long and played by the same actor for the whole time. I don't think any other actor will ever play Ethan Hunt after Cruise because there's really not anything all that worth bringing back about him. He's a perfect spy and a perfect guy, and slightly boringly so. James Bond, Jason Bourne, Indiana Jones etc. are characters that are interesting enough on their own to mean that if it hasn't happened already, they will be recast and reinvented.
I don't think that Hunt being a slightly uninteresting character is a problem though: it's just not what the films are about and that's fine.
... Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation was released in cinemas.
Great theatrical experience with that one. It was also the first time I saw the Spectre trailer on the big screen and was blown away and super giddy.
Best film of the series, going to watch this tonight.
Cool. I have taken that line more than once.
I haven't had the opportunity to do so myself. Hopefully I will one day!
That's my opinion too :)
I kind of veer between which I prefer out of that and Ghost Protocol. I was of the mind Rogue was better (it's got Ilsa, that great ending, the opera) but I might just come around to Ghost because it just zips along and I love the lightness of it... I don't know! :)
I do often forget which is which though. I wish they had more unique names! :)
Not only were they excellent and fun films, I saw them in the cinema at memorable times. I took my daughter to see GP the week my dad passed away. It was a welcome distraction and a good escape during a very difficult time for us.
RN came out during the summer of 2015 at a very good time and the family went to that as well, so it's the experience as much as the films in some cases.
Age appropriate to the lead actor.
Ah yes I know what you mean: I've definitely got some films with associations like that. They sound like important times for you.
Yes that's fair enough, it's a real shame he's barely in it because they have an excellent actor playing him. His evil plan is also a bit average too.
One thing that did knock it down a few points was that I only noticed on my last watch that the big plan at the end to seduce the Indian billionaire and turn off his mainframe by flying into it doesn't work, so it's all a massive waste of time! :)
I was enjoying hearing how they had to lots of little reshoots to get the plot working at the end of the shoot and did it in a really bargain basement way: like the end scene where they're all sat on the pier at night talking about how it went had a load of closeups added which they had to shoot in the local park at night with some fairy lights strung up in the tree behind out of focus! :D
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8583971/Tom-Cruise-throws-helicopter-10-000ft.html
Given that he was contractually obligated to work on Eyes on Wide Shut for over two years, I suppose he must be used to the feeling of being under unofficial imprisonment in the UK by now. lol