Mission: Impossible Film Recap

It may be worth it in the long run, but initially these missions may be difficult to accept.

Mission: Impossible has become one of the most enduring series of films ever, despite a merely moderate reception, diminishing returns, and straying so far from the TV series that it was based on in the first place. My own personal feeling about the franchise are mixed as well, and as it has happened, I've just seen. This review will mainly cover the first three films, before I write a full review for the fourth.

The first film was a decent, not great, spy romp, that suffered from the flaw of attempting to be too smart for its own damn good. The movie went for convolution and mind-numbing plot turns at all costs, including losing my interest in the story and characters. Tom Cruise's Ethan Hunt was merely a device, not a character, and the rest of the group (with the possibly exception of Ving Rhames' tough techie Luther Stickell) didn't fare any better. Jon Voight's IMF head/villain was forgettable at best, and Emmanuelle Beart as his wife even more than him. The plot was impossible to fully decipher, and as a result, became just plain boring. It's a damn shame that revered screenwriters like Robert Towne (Chinatown) and Steven Zaillian (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo) were unable to bring something more remarkable out of this (Though I expected no more from co-writer David Koepp, the half-good half-hack behind the idiotic dialogue of The Lost World and Spider-Man).  However, the direction of Scarface'sBrian De Palma (despite being the ABSOLUTE WRONG CHOICE for this series) manages to give the proceedings a steady, fast-paced hand, that manages to keep it both entertaining and intriguing enough to squeak a passing grade. Though only by a tiny little bit. My star rating for the original Mission: Impossible: 3/5 stars

Mission: Impossible II, despite being largely fast-paced, well-directed, well-scored, and exciting, falters in the exact opposite way of its predecessor. De Palma was replaced in the director's chair by John Woo, a man less known for his gripping spy thrillers and more for his straightforward, yet exceedingly well-done, action fare like Face/Off, The Killer, and Hard Boiled. Robert Towne returned as screenwriter, adapting a story by Ronald D. Moore and Brannon Braga. I feel I should note that Moore and Braga wrote the script for Star Trek Generations. What does THAT tell you about their scripting prowess? (And yes, I know they wrote First Contact, but I feel that most of that praise goes to the direction of Jonathan Frakes) Towne, under Woo's guidance, fails to deliver yet again, as as opposed to the failures of the first film's script, it's sequel fails for being too damn STUPID instead of trying too hard to be smart. In sharp contrast, the second film is a dumb, dumb, DUMB action movie, that completely ignores 85% of the first film's conventions, and sets out on its own, more-tread path, with a plot, cast, and script that makes it feel less like an M:I sequel, and more like a poor ripoff of a John Woo movie that happens to be directed by the man himself. The poor cast doesn't help either. Cruise plays Hunt completely different this time around, erasing the minimal character development from the first and actually dumbing him down more. Thandie Newton is unsuitable for her part and isn't given much to do with what she could bring to it, and there's a reason Dougray Scott isn't known for his prolific career as being a big-budget movie villain. Hunt's IMF team is even less memorable this time around, with only Rhames getting away unscathed. However, I'd still call it the first film's equal, as the movie is still ultimately more satisfying, if only for its empty thrills. My star rating for Mission: Impossible II: 3/5 stars.

After two veteran directors were given the helm to the first two films, first-time director J. J. Abrams of Alias and Lost TV fame was put in charge of Mission: Impossible III. And what be most shocking of all is that he handily bests the two vet's efforts, and delivers the most satisfying film in the first trilogy. Mission: Impossible III takes the best qualities of its predecessors, and merges them together to create a coherent, well-written, action-packed, and FUN summer blockbuster. Instead of Robert Towne writing the script, Abrams turned to his in-house writers, Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman (who, regretfully, also wrote Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, but hey, Abrams helped write the shit script that eventually became Michael Bay's other turd sandwich, Armageddon, back in the day), and they manage to easily beat the efforts of the veterans, taking the best qualities of the first two M:I films and eliminating the majority (not all, not by a long shot) of the flaws. They also, finally, attempt to write Ethan Hunt an actual character, and this allows Cruise to give a better performance overall this time around. Maggie Q, Billy Crudup, Keri Russell, and Jonathan Rhys-Meyers also fare better than Hunt's previous IMF members, Rhames continues to deliver solid work, Michelle Monaghan does OK as Hunt's wife, and even Simon Pegg gets a couple of good comic relief scenes as IMF tech guy Benji Dunn. Still, Philip Seymour Hoffman absolutely steals the show here. Hoffman is an actor of quality which this series was sorely lacking up till him, and his Owen Davian is FUCKING SCARY. He casually speaks of murdering Hunt's wife in the most painful and humiliating way possible, and still retains his usual Hoffman quirks while delivering the best performance in the entire series. Still, M:I-III ain't anywhere near perfect. The script, despite being better than its predecessors, trades in plot incoherence for cornball comedy (when mounting the top of a wall, Cruise actually utters "HUMPTY DUMPTY SAT ON A WALL". The movie also drags in the third act, only picking up once reaching the climax foretold in the first scene. And despite these improvements, it must be noted that it still is absurd as hell. It's not as stupid as M:I-II, but it also lacks the ambition, however failed, that the original had. So, it's the best of the first three, but there was still plenty of room for improvement. Mission: Impossible III gets 3.5/5 stars.

Ghost Protocol review incoming very soon, possibly tonight.