Mission: Impossible - films and tv series

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  • slide_99slide_99 USA
    Posts: 698
    The under-performance is surprising. It might be the combination of the 3-hour runtime plus the fact that it's only part one of a saga.
  • MakeshiftPythonMakeshiftPython “Baja?!”
    edited July 2023 Posts: 8,201
    Zekidk wrote: »
    matt_u wrote: »
    The unexpected phenomenon of Sound of Freedom in the US will hurt too, given the fact they share the same white males demo.
    With only a budget of 15mio$, still no distribution outside the US and still grossing 50mio$ in the 1st week just in the US, this is a dark horse, that should get Hollywood thinking.

    There’s been major right wing groups buying tickets to give away for free as a way of supporting the film. Someone even showed up to a showing that was designated “sold out” despite the room being empty. So there’s some weird stuff going on with the distribution/sales on that film.

  • Creasy47Creasy47 In Cuba with Natalya.Moderator
    Posts: 41,007
    Yeah I've seen a few shots of near-empty theaters for that one, along with the end credits offering a QR code for you to scan and...spend money on more tickets for others. It's a grift through and through, no surprise some are falling for it.
  • mtmmtm United Kingdom
    edited July 2023 Posts: 16,572
    Just saw it; it's pretty brilliant, but I must admit I was hoping for something on the level of Fallout, and it's not quite there.
    For the first time I thought McQ's plotting felt a little messy, and the film is a touch ragged around the edges. Main characters get given little to do and become sidelined, the plot goes for being convoluted over elegance, despite being just about a macguffin (which switches hands so often it's almost not worth trying to follow who has it), and there's an awful lot of talking. Scenes seem to drag a touch, with endless shots of Ethan reacting to everything in a very serious way.
    I liked the idea of Grace's character, seeing someone be inducted into the IMF (in a way which actually ties in with the civilian makeup of it in the TV show) but.. I just didn't really like her. I don't know why, I didn't take to the character. Ilsa I instantly loved, Grace I'm not keen on. maybe it's her Brexity passport! :D
    Speaking of characters which didn't quite land: the pair of US agents on the trail of Ethan- they just didn't seem to get the screentime they needed- I think they were going for a mismatch buddy cop thing or something, but it felt like they didn't know what they wanted to do with them.

    Also, there's precious little in the way of heisting or Ethan drawing up clever plans; and that's the lifeblood of M:I to me. I like it when the plans go wrong and he has to improvise, that's the fun of the heist movie; but there are pretty much no big plans in this film, certainly nothing particularly clever. This one, funnily enough, is maybe the closest to being a Bond film since MI2.

    It's certainly good, and has amazing action scenes full of tension (something Bond could definitely learn from) so I'm sure I'll love it more. I've heard a lot of huge reactions to the train bit, and the latter part of that is indeed terrific, but for my money doesn't have the nail-biting escalating tension of the climax to Fallout.
    Balfe is also just noise to me, and actually manages something I didn't think was possible, but leans on the M:I theme too much. It pops up here in places it doesn't need to be, and I found myself actually getting tired of the constant bom-bom-bom ba bom-bom.
    And then Ethan gets the key in yet another bit of pickpocketing we don't even see. And that's how he wins the whole film? That's just not satisfying enough for me.

    Also, the way that Ethan finds out something in the climax which we the audience knew right from before the titles... just doesn't feel right. He should be a step ahead of us in an M:i film, not the other way around. And it's not a big enough reveal for the climax of a film, because we already knew it.

    Also: killing Ilsa. Just.. no. I think if someone had to die then I would have gone for Benji I'm afraid: he has an attachment for the audience and yet also feels a bit played out in this film. He doesn't really do anything we haven't seen before and it's in danger of being tired.
    Also: Luther just sits the climax out? Eh?

    It's good, I think I just wanted something as perfect as Fallout again, and it wasn't that.

    Reading through the thread now;
    Creasy47 wrote: »
    @goldenswissroyale,
    That retcon is clearly included to give Ethan a personal stake in wanting to hunt down Gabriel...but we get that anyway when he kills Isla. I don't know why they didn't just spare us the backstory and have him kill Ilsa earlier on. That bit is the only thing I didn't really like.

    Yes absolutely agree with this. I guess it's hard to judge everything when there's a Part 2 coming which may add more, but at this point I think you're completely right.
  • goldenswissroyalegoldenswissroyale Switzerland
    Posts: 4,489
    I had a good time with the henchwoman. Her craziness in Rome, her style in Venice and her fights in general.
    Something we never got in the Craig era, unfortunately. I miss a crazy henchwoman like Xenia in the newer Bond movies.

    I estimated that Atwell would be 8 years younger than Ferguson (Grace definitely looked younger than Ilsa in this one) and therefore would be less fitting for Ethan. To my surprise I had to learn from google that Atwell is two years older :-?
  • Posts: 4,617
    @mtm can't argue with any of those comments , is it possible that so much focus has been put on getting bigger and bigger stunts that they have negleted things in the plot/story area? I watched the first one again last week and it really is a good story and so rewatchable.
  • Creasy47Creasy47 In Cuba with Natalya.Moderator
    Posts: 41,007
    patb wrote: »
    @mtm can't argue with any of those comments , is it possible that so much focus has been put on getting bigger and bigger stunts that they have negleted things in the plot/story area? I watched the first one again last week and it really is a good story and so rewatchable.

    I've not felt that way with this series because I've actually really been digging these plots, this latest one especially, but I have had this concern with the John Wick films - I still love it but I feel like the story and universe building and even characters are dropping off in quality and focus because they're exclusively prioritizing trying to stage really cool looking gunfights, shots and action sequences.
  • Posts: 6,710
    I agree with your impressions, @mtm.
  • mtmmtm United Kingdom
    edited July 2023 Posts: 16,572
    patb wrote: »
    @mtm can't argue with any of those comments , is it possible that so much focus has been put on getting bigger and bigger stunts that they have negleted things in the plot/story area? I watched the first one again last week and it really is a good story and so rewatchable.

    I kind of don't mind if they do particularly because up until now they've threaded it all together so satisfyingly. But to me this one really does feel like the talking scenes are just holding the action scenes together- I haven't really felt it before, but this time I did. And honestly, the lack of a big main heist is a bit of a disappointment for me. I like my M:I films to have a bit of cleverness about them.

    They even drew attention in this one to one of the scenes in Fallout which really shouldn't have made it into the movie but was only there because they hadn't figured the plot out at the point they shot it: where the White Widow puts a price on Ilsa's head and Ethan promises to deliver her, when they're talking on the banks of the Seine. That scene goes absolutely nowhere in that film; I think they try to make up for that by mentioning it in this one, but it actually just reminds you of the slight raggedness of some of the plotting leading to dead ends.
  • edited July 2023 Posts: 4,617
    missing in action....
    This is an ellement that I missed from MR:DR. Tension but not from action. Room for the actors to "breath" and a slower pace to then nicely contrast with the next piece of action. It's this kind of scene that makes MI MI....(also, TC looking very cool)

  • Posts: 6,710
    Again, couldn’t agree more, @mtm.
  • mtmmtm United Kingdom
    Posts: 16,572
    patb wrote: »
    missing in action....
    This is an ellement that I missed from MR:DR. Tension but not from action. Room for the actors to "breath" and a slower pace to then nicely contrast with the next piece of action. It's this kind of scene that makes MI MI....


    I love that sequence, because it's an impossible mission. They're doing a heist, as a team.
    In this one the closest we get is.. maybe the
    airport scene? You'd think the train plan would be, but there's nothing more to that than Grace wearing a mask and having a meeting, which is all a bit basic- I want a bit more meat to it than that.
    And also, at least in Ghost Protocol there was a running theme of the team's equipment being unreliable ("the only thing which functioned properly on this mission was the team"), so the mask machine breaking down is part of a theme. In Fallout, Ethan can't make a mask of Lark's representative because Walker smashes him in the face with it and breaks it. But in this one, Ethan can't wear a disguise because the mask machine just randomly stops working...? No rhyme or reason, it's just convenient to make sure he has to jump off a cliff (could they not have had the Entity interfere with it in some way?). The satisfying, jigsaw-pieces-falling-into-place plotting isn't there this time.
  • CraigMooreOHMSSCraigMooreOHMSS Dublin, Ireland
    Posts: 8,230
    I enjoyed reading your views, @mtm - you brought up one thing I missed but didn't realise until you mentioned it. Nice review.
  • BennyBenny Shaken not stirredAdministrator, Moderator
    Posts: 15,163
    Great review @mtm, have to agree with you on all of it. Glad you enjoyed it old chap. Even with a few questionable moments, reading the reviews here, it appears that most if not all have really enjoyed it.
  • If its half as good as Indy 5 then I will be happy.
  • goldenswissroyalegoldenswissroyale Switzerland
    Posts: 4,489
    If its half as good as Indy 5 then I will be happy.

    I enjoyed it twice as much as Indy 5. The latter was good but definitely less entertaining than MI7, imo. Better action, more fun, faster pace.
  • edited July 2023 Posts: 6,710
    Sometimes I wanted to appreciate the production in the Orient Express and I couldn't because of the excess of dutch angles. Honestly, I think I saw more nostrils in this film than in any other. I can't understand how people say this was a beautifully shot film. Sure, there is some candy in there, but honestly, there's no David Lean in that desert, no John McTiernan in that sub, even no De Palma in that meeting room. And McQuarrie has no personal flair. He is but an instrument of his dynamic with Cruise. And I absolutely loved his work in Fallout. So, saying this is expressing my disappointment. This is still a fun entry, but I won't be rewatching this as much as the last three or the first film. I still love Cruise, and I do love this franchise, but DRp1 is simply not what people are making it to be. I think we have lost touch with what is quality cinema in the last years. The way things are going, it's increasingly difficult to stay positive about the future of cinema.

    Honestly, my hopes for a Summer quality film are now with Nolan, one of the last true filmmakers.
  • Posts: 3,327
    @mtm Yes pretty spot on with your review. I really enjoyed the film (probably more than I did Indy 5) but it certainly still had it's flaws, which you've properly highlighted.

    Fortunately the action scenes are so well done (particularly the ending on the train) that it just about makes up for the occasional flaws throughout.
  • Posts: 6,710
    Fortunately the action scenes are so well done (particularly the ending on the train) that it just about makes up for the occasional flaws throughout.

    For me, the car chase and the train final sequence were the highlights of the film. But that's the point, they made the film, those two sets. And a film must have more to it than action sets. This one almost had more to it than its action sequences, but, IMO, it didn't deliver in cinematography and narrative, even though the
    AI
    angle is very pertinent and not to badly executed.

    All and all, it really was fun and I was on the edge of my seat. It is relentless. But not a major work of action cinema like Fallout was. And it all was a bit too mechanical, devoid of sexiness and panache like, for example, Ghost Protocol was. That one was full of panache. So was Rogue Nation.
  • matt_umatt_u better known as Mr. Roark
    Posts: 4,343
    I loved the use of Dutch angles in this one.

    $235M global launch.
  • Posts: 6,710
    matt_u wrote: »
    I loved the use of Dutch angles in this one.

    Don’t get me wrong, my friend, I love a dutch angle now and then, but someone is bound to count them in this film and produce a ridiculous number. They were simply too many.
  • Posts: 1,497
    MI 7 is an international hit. Sorry to disappoint withbthis reality to those who get off on others failure. U know who u are.
  • Posts: 6,710
    ColonelSun wrote: »
    MI 7 is an international hit. Sorry to disappoint withbthis reality to those who get off on others failure. U know who u are.

    Not me. I’m hoping it makes tons of money so that Cruise can keep making these and other movies. Like I said, I’m a fan. Even more so nowadays.
  • Mendes4LyfeMendes4Lyfe The long road ahead
    Posts: 8,437
    ColonelSun wrote: »
    MI 7 is an international hit. Sorry to disappoint withbthis reality to those who get off on others failure. U know who u are.

    Film is pulling insane numbers and seeing people disingenuously frame it as a failure is honestly disheartening.
  • MakeshiftPythonMakeshiftPython “Baja?!”
    Posts: 8,201
    Yeah, but does it have a chance of topping SKYFALL?
  • Posts: 3,327
    Yeah, but does it have a chance of topping SKYFALL?

    In today's climate, I'm not sure many films have a chance of topping that anymore.
  • Mendes4LyfeMendes4Lyfe The long road ahead
    Posts: 8,437
    Yeah, but does it have a chance of topping SKYFALL?

    In today's climate, I'm not sure many films have a chance of topping that anymore.

    Top Gun Maverick wiped the floor with Skyfall :D
  • MakeshiftPythonMakeshiftPython “Baja?!”
    Posts: 8,201
    Yeah, but that’s TOP GUN. That’s a different beast from the M:I films.
  • Posts: 3,278
    If its half as good as Indy 5 then I will be happy.
    Indy 5 is better penned and has more action setpieces, but the two big action setpieces in MI:7 are more fun and better shot.
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