Mission: Impossible - films and tv series

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  • RichardTheBruceRichardTheBruce I'm motivated by my Duty.
    Posts: 13,807
    Occupational hazard for Tom Cruise: smiling.
  • Posts: 9,847
    mtm wrote: »
    mtm wrote: »
    4 years is near enough the turnover for this series anyway. 1996, 2000, 2006, 2011, 2015 and 2018.


    I watched Fallout again (for the 5th time) a few nights ago, still holds up.

    Also, the original plan was for the 3rd entry to come out in 2004, 4 years after M:I 2.
    mtm wrote: »
    Yes, a bit like B25, there’s a whole other version of MI3, complete with different director (Joe Carnahan), which was going to happen. He’d even actually cast Kenneth Branagh, Carrie-Anne Moss and Scarlet Johansson in it.

    I didin't know about that. I like the MI3 that we had, but an alternate version with Kenneth Branagh, Carrie-Anne Moss and Scarlett Johansson? Those three names alone, pique my interest.

    I've been trying to get my hands on the script for this movie for years, but it seems to have disappeared into the ether. Very little is known about it except for a few things: Joe Carnahan's script was going to be mostly set in Africa, revolving around a private military led by Branagh. Apparently the middle act was set in a leper colony. Carnahan wanted the film to be a small, lower-budget "paranoia spy drama" in the vein of 70s films like Marathon Man. The Carrie-Ann Moss character was actually carried over into M:I-3 as the Kerri Russel character. David Fincher was going to direct, and he had described the script as "really interesting and extremely violent." Who knows what it might have been. Given the people involved, I imagine it would have been quite unique but perhaps very polarizing. I'd pretty much sell my soul to read Carnahan's screenplay!

    It's worth a listen to the Light The Fuse podcast special on the making of MI3 (one of their early episodes I think) as they visited the archives to read a lot of the material from the time including, I think, a script.
    I think from memory it's the one which opens on a plane which is crashing, which is then revealed to actually be a trick- the plane is on the ground.

    Oh, that's really cool and good to know! Thank you for that. I'll definitely check it out!

    Having had a quick listen I may have been thinking about one of their Makings Of another film: possibly Oliver Stone's MI2. I can't remember which is which! :)

    Oliver Stone was set to direct MI2? Is that really true? Good Lord, that's a new one to me! Bahahaha, I can't even imagine that.

    That would of been far better then the mess we got
  • mtmmtm United Kingdom
    Posts: 16,421
    Doing pickups on the train stuff we saw in Norway by the looks of the glimpses I've seen.
  • Fire_and_Ice_ReturnsFire_and_Ice_Returns I am trying to get away from this mountan!
    edited April 2021 Posts: 25,150
    mtm wrote: »
    Doing pickups on the train stuff we saw in Norway by the looks of the glimpses I've seen.

    That's correct, I worked in Pickering years ago when I was helping restore a 1940's Train Carraige. They have a great annual War Time weekend (pre covid) it really is like going back in time. Happy these locations will appear in a Mission Impossible film.
  • mtmmtm United Kingdom
    Posts: 16,421
    That sounds fun, I like those things, like the Goodwood Revival.

    Looks like they'd built their own carriage (or portion of) to match the Norway one so I'm not sure why they went all that way. Perhaps the scenery is a close enough match.
  • Fire_and_Ice_ReturnsFire_and_Ice_Returns I am trying to get away from this mountan!
    edited April 2021 Posts: 25,150
    mtm wrote: »
    That sounds fun, I like those things, like the Goodwood Revival.

    Looks like they'd built their own carriage (or portion of) to match the Norway one so I'm not sure why they went all that way. Perhaps the scenery is a close enough match.

    Its a rural area, I did not look at the Norway footage extensively so I am guessing you are right that it matches well.

    I will easily spot the scenes shot in Pickering when the film is released, there are some neighbouring very small villages with great character on the Whitby line from Pickering that would make great locations that have been used previously in shows like Heartbeat and The Royal.
  • Posts: 187
    Hes such a wacko but by all accounts a really nice guy and one hell of an action star. You really cannot beat what he brings to the table, can you?
  • MakeshiftPythonMakeshiftPython “Baja?!”
    Posts: 8,188
    I’ve seen better.

    Just because he puts work into the stunts doesn’t make him the king of action stars.
  • Posts: 4,617
    I think that motorbike stunt has the potential to top previous Fallout stunts because it's simple to understand, easy to relate to and a nice short time window (just like TSWLM). The opening stunt re the A400M also fits that catagory IMHO.
  • talos7talos7 New Orleans
    Posts: 8,217
    I’ve seen better.

    Just because he puts work into the stunts doesn’t make him the king of action stars.

    His skill as an actor, which is Oscar caliber, and the level of his physical acting and stunt work absolutely earns him the title of "King". He brings the total package; no one else comes close.

  • Fire_and_Ice_ReturnsFire_and_Ice_Returns I am trying to get away from this mountan!
    Posts: 25,150

    talos7 wrote: »
    I’ve seen better.

    Just because he puts work into the stunts doesn’t make him the king of action stars.

    His skill as an actor, which is Oscar caliber, and the level of his physical acting and stunt work absolutely earns him the title of "King". He brings the total package; no one else comes close.

    Totally agree and Tom is still doing it at 58 years young, I am in my mid 40's and Tom inspires me.
  • mtmmtm United Kingdom
    Posts: 16,421
    patb wrote: »
    I think that motorbike stunt has the potential to top previous Fallout stunts because it's simple to understand, easy to relate to and a nice short time window (just like TSWLM). The opening stunt re the A400M also fits that catagory IMHO.

    It does although I short of struggle to work out what the character is up to in it! :) Will he have built the ramp or will we just not see it, and if Ethan built the ramp why not just hire a plane? I'm sure there will be lots of good reasons why in the film! :)
  • talos7talos7 New Orleans
    Posts: 8,217
    The ramp will be replaced by landscape, a mountain or cliff.
  • mtmmtm United Kingdom
    Posts: 16,421
    talos7 wrote: »
    The ramp will be replaced by landscape, a mountain or cliff.

    Yes I expect so. Which is a bit of a shame in a way because the ramp is one of the more spectacular bits of the stunt!
    If Cruise had had a wobble and gone off the side of the ramp, he'd have been toast.
  • Creasy47Creasy47 In Cuba with Natalya.Moderator
    Posts: 40,976
    talos7 wrote: »
    I’ve seen better.

    Just because he puts work into the stunts doesn’t make him the king of action stars.

    His skill as an actor, which is Oscar caliber, and the level of his physical acting and stunt work absolutely earns him the title of "King". He brings the total package; no one else comes close.

    100%.
  • Posts: 4,617
    I can only think that he has to get down to the bottom of the valley very quickly (to rendezvous with the train?) or a way to escape as he is being chased. Either way, it should be stunning.
  • Creasy47Creasy47 In Cuba with Natalya.Moderator
    Posts: 40,976
    I need a trailer for this ASAP. I fear it'll take even longer to debut now that the film has been pushed to a release date 13 months from now, and McQuarrie didn't seem confident that one was even close to being finished about a month ago.
  • MakeshiftPythonMakeshiftPython “Baja?!”
    edited April 2021 Posts: 8,188
    talos7 wrote: »
    I’ve seen better.

    Just because he puts work into the stunts doesn’t make him the king of action stars.

    His skill as an actor, which is Oscar caliber, and the level of his physical acting and stunt work absolutely earns him the title of "King". He brings the total package; no one else comes close.

    When it comes to Cruise bringing something Oscar calibre, it is NOT in these films. His performances in movies like RAIN MAN, JERRY MAGUIRE, and MAGNOLIA is where he’s at his most interesting because he’s not just running around sets or riding motorcycles. Frankly, I miss that Tom Cruise, and am kind of dismayed that these franchise films have come to define his current career rather than just be something he did on occasion between more interesting films. His recent films are fun for what they are. In a way, this is basically Tom Cruise in midlife crisis mode. Instead of buying a Ferrari, it’s hanging onto flying planes.
  • mtmmtm United Kingdom
    Posts: 16,421
    patb wrote: »
    I can only think that he has to get down to the bottom of the valley very quickly (to rendezvous with the train?) or a way to escape as he is being chased. Either way, it should be stunning.

    Yes indeed. It might be hard to explain why he would be being chased on a motorbike with a parachute on his back(!) but I'm sure it will all make sense when we see it :)
    talos7 wrote: »
    I’ve seen better.

    Just because he puts work into the stunts doesn’t make him the king of action stars.

    His skill as an actor, which is Oscar caliber, and the level of his physical acting and stunt work absolutely earns him the title of "King". He brings the total package; no one else comes close.

    When it comes to Cruise bringing something Oscar calibre, it is NOT in these films. His performances in movies like RAIN MAN, JERRY MAGUIRE, and MAGNOLIA is where he’s at his most interesting because he’s not just running around sets or riding motorcycles. Frankly, I miss that Tom Cruise, and am kind of dismayed that these franchise films have come to define his current career rather than just be something he did on occasion between more interesting films. His recent films are fun for what they are. In a way, this is basically Tom Cruise in midlife crisis mode. Instead of buying a Ferrari, it’s hanging onto flying planes.

    I think he's just doing these while he can, the latter part of his career will doubtless see a return to character roles again.
  • talos7talos7 New Orleans
    Posts: 8,217
    One way or another he is an Oscar caliber actor and has brought that talent to this franchise which has elevated it.
  • edited April 2021 Posts: 12,837
    I’ve seen better.

    Just because he puts work into the stunts doesn’t make him the king of action stars.

    Yeah, he’s a brilliant stuntman, and fair play to him for keeping this franchise going so long. But I wouldn’t call him the king of action stars. Jackie Chan did the same sort of death defying stunts, but with a great deal more personality and a lot less ego (he’d never have vetoed a stunt because you couldn’t see his face, as Cruise did with a proposed wingsuit sequence).

    And as for the films, they’re fun. But I wouldn’t call them the best in the genre. I think there’s two approaches you can take with an action film. You can go all out and focus on nothing but action, and tell the story through that. Or you can try and do something a bit more, and actually give us a story and characters to care about when things slow down.

    The modern version of MI is sort of caught in the middle of those two approaches for me. It’s not pure action porn that tells a good, simple story through its insane stuntwork, like say, The Raid, or Fury Road, or a lot of martial arts films. But nor does it really have much interesting going on in those slower parts between the action scenes, like in Die Hard, or Point Break, or the best Bond films. So, instead, we’re left with films that are so clearly about the stunts, and that’s the selling point. But there’s still an endlessly convoluted and generic plot, a bunch of one note side characters, and (apart from the third one) a painfully forgettable villain taking up screentime between them.

    I loved Ghost Protocol at the time for how fresh it felt, but the franchise as a whole hasn’t built off that reboot enough imo. The stunts have gotten bigger, but the formula has gotten stale for me. Fallout to be fair seemed to try and give Hunt a bit more character. But still, give me a Bond film any day.
  • mtmmtm United Kingdom
    edited April 2021 Posts: 16,421
    I’ve seen better.

    Just because he puts work into the stunts doesn’t make him the king of action stars.

    Yeah, he’s a brilliant stuntman, and fair play to him for keeping this franchise going so long. But I wouldn’t call him the king of action stars. Jackie Chan did the same sort of death defying stunts, but with a great deal more personality and a lot less ego (he’d never have vetoed a stunt because you couldn’t see his face, as Cruise did with a proposed wingsuit sequence).

    That's a massively twisted version. It's the director and writer of the films Chris MacQuarrie who jokily tells stories (on many interviews and podcasts, they're all available out there) about how he -not Cruise- has dismissed that wingsuit idea when it's been pitched to him many times as a 'killer stunt' he could put in his movies, because he doesn't see the point in risking Cruise's life if you can't even tell it's him. Distorting that to become about ego is not fair at all.
    And yeah, there is little point on selling the movie on a big stunt performed by Cruise (which how they do sell them) if you can't see it is Cruise. That's just logical. And if you ask me, it does massively improve the action. That helicopter sequence is absolutely thrilling, and having Cruise and Cavill actually in there, giving full performances, pumps up that tension hugely.
    Cruise is an actor- if you can't see him acting during the stunt then there's not much point.
    I think even Jackie would admit that Cruise is a better actor than he is :D


    Regardless I think in Fallout there are two shots where Ethan is played by a stuntman. One is the top view of him dropping out of the window before he runs across Blackfriars bridge (because you wouldn't be able to tell if it was Cruise doing it) and I forget the other. That includes all of the driving sequences.
    I'm not aware of Jackie letting stuntmen take any of his shots away from him in his HK movies- or he would certainly tell everyone he did them all. How's that for ego? ;)

    And as for the films, they’re fun. But I wouldn’t call them the best in the genre. I think there’s two approaches you can take with an action film. You can go all out and focus on nothing but action, and tell the story through that. Or you can try and do something a bit more, and actually give us a story and characters to care about when things slow down.

    I would call them the best because they're so perfectly balanced and structured, and the stories drive forward in an incredibly satisfying way, giving everyone just the right motivation and putting all elements in the right place. Compare the structure of Fallout to Spectre.

  • talos7talos7 New Orleans
    Posts: 8,217
    We all have affinities and biases for and against certain actors ; this can’t help effect how we see them and their films.
  • Posts: 12,837
    mtm wrote: »
    I’ve seen better.

    Just because he puts work into the stunts doesn’t make him the king of action stars.

    Yeah, he’s a brilliant stuntman, and fair play to him for keeping this franchise going so long. But I wouldn’t call him the king of action stars. Jackie Chan did the same sort of death defying stunts, but with a great deal more personality and a lot less ego (he’d never have vetoed a stunt because you couldn’t see his face, as Cruise did with a proposed wingsuit sequence).

    That's a massively twisted version. It's the director and writer of the films Chris MacQuarrie who jokily tells stories (on many interviews and podcasts, they're all available out there) about how he -not Cruise- has dismissed that wingsuit idea when it's been pitched to him many times as a 'killer stunt' he could put in his movies, because he doesn't see the point in risking Cruise's life if you can't even tell it's him. Distorting that to become about ego is not fair at all.
    And yeah, there is little point on selling the movie on a big stunt performed by Cruise (which how they do sell them) if you can't see it is Cruise. That's just logical. And if you ask me, it does massively improve the action. That helicopter sequence is absolutely thrilling, and having Cruise and Cavill actually in there, giving full performances, pumps up that tension hugely.
    Cruise is an actor- if you can't see him acting during the stunt then there's not much point.
    I think even Jackie would admit that Cruise is a better actor than he is :D


    Regardless I think in Fallout there are two shots where Ethan is played by a stuntman. One is the top view of him dropping out of the window before he runs across Blackfriars bridge (because you wouldn't be able to tell if it was Cruise doing it) and I forget the other. That includes all of the driving sequences.
    I'm not aware of Jackie letting stuntmen take any of his shots away from him in his HK movies- or he would certainly tell everyone he did them all. How's that for ego? ;)

    And as for the films, they’re fun. But I wouldn’t call them the best in the genre. I think there’s two approaches you can take with an action film. You can go all out and focus on nothing but action, and tell the story through that. Or you can try and do something a bit more, and actually give us a story and characters to care about when things slow down.

    I would call them the best because they're so perfectly balanced and structured, and the stories drive forward in an incredibly satisfying way, giving everyone just the right motivation and putting all elements in the right place. Compare the structure of Fallout to Spectre.

    Sorry, wasn’t trying to twist it, I genuinely misremembered. But yeah, they are very well put together films, and it does seem like Cruise is the driving force behind that. And they are very good for what they are. I just wish I enjoyed the films more when the action stops. I love the stuntwork, but I struggle to care about the plot and characters.

    Funnily enough Bond has had the opposite problem lately imo. I thought SF and SP did the quieter stuff very well, but were disappointing action wise. NTTD seems like a step up on that front though. Maybe the last couple of MI films have given them a bit of a kick up the arse there.
    talos7 wrote: »
    We all have affinities and biases for and against certain actors ; this can’t help effect how we see them and their films.

    Yeah I have to admit I’m not his biggest fan. He’s a good actor. The MI films are fun, and he’s been brilliant in other things (Collateral and Tropic Thunder in particular are favourites of mine). But that scientology doc that came out a few years ago put me right off him.
  • I’ve seen better.

    Just because he puts work into the stunts doesn’t make him the king of action stars.

    Yeah, he’s a brilliant stuntman, and fair play to him for keeping this franchise going so long. But I wouldn’t call him the king of action stars. Jackie Chan did the same sort of death defying stunts, but with a great deal more personality and a lot less ego (he’d never have vetoed a stunt because you couldn’t see his face, as Cruise did with a proposed wingsuit sequence).

    And as for the films, they’re fun. But I wouldn’t call them the best in the genre. I think there’s two approaches you can take with an action film. You can go all out and focus on nothing but action, and tell the story through that. Or you can try and do something a bit more, and actually give us a story and characters to care about when things slow down.

    The modern version of MI is sort of caught in the middle of those two approaches for me. It’s not pure action porn that tells a good, simple story through its insane stuntwork, like say, The Raid, or Fury Road, or a lot of martial arts films. But nor does it really have much interesting going on in those slower parts between the action scenes, like in Die Hard, or Point Break, or the best Bond films. So, instead, we’re left with films that are so clearly about the stunts, and that’s the selling point. But there’s still an endlessly convoluted and generic plot, a bunch of one note side characters, and (apart from the third one) a painfully forgettable villain taking up screentime between them.

    I loved Ghost Protocol at the time for how fresh it felt, but the franchise as a whole hasn’t built off that reboot enough imo. The stunts have gotten bigger, but the formula has gotten stale for me. Fallout to be fair seemed to try and give Hunt a bit more character. But still, give me a Bond film any day.

    I'm actually going through the M:I films again at the moment and I agree about the two approaches. The first one is very plot driven with actually not a lot of action, it's more of a classic espioange thriller. M:I 2 is all action with Ethan becoming more of the singular hero and then in the third one it feels like they tried to strike a balance between the two approaches.
  • Creasy47Creasy47 In Cuba with Natalya.Moderator
    Posts: 40,976
    Seems filming with this train bit has already wrapped but they'll be returning shortly for more. In the meantime, director McQuarrie has shared a new image on his Instagram:

  • Creasy47 wrote: »
    Seems filming with this train bit has already wrapped but they'll be returning shortly for more. In the meantime, director McQuarrie has shared a new image on his Instagram:


    Octopussy vibes.
  • mtmmtm United Kingdom
    Posts: 16,421
    Looks fun, thanks.
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