MISSION IMPOSSIBLE MARATHON - Collective Review

Hello there puny humans,
after my collective review of the Fast & Furious-Franchise was well received, I decided that I had to do something like this again. When the time came to plan my annual Movie Extravaganza (a long weekend on which I watch a shit ton of films with my two best movie buddies B.A. and Lena), it was decided that we'd marathon the entire Mission: Impossible series in celebration of its sixth installment hitting theaters. So I thought what better way to revive my habit of rambling on about movies than with this franchise review. The closer the weekend of the marathon came, the more pumped I got, because the Mission movies have always been a fun and exhilarating ride. When it was finally time to sit down and start the first film, I was more than ready to dive into this awesome world of spy shenanigans and incredible stunts. Of course, I wanted to collect some stats across all of these movies once again, just as I did for Fast & Furious:

• Biggest Stunt - for the most WTF moment of the film
• MVP - for the best member(s) of cast and crew, or the best character. 
• Quality of Cruise-Running - its no secret that Tom Cruise loves to sprint at least once in a film and this score rates how well the movie showcases his sweet running skills 
• Mask Reveals - for every time a character poses as someone else behind a rubber mask (with or without the audience's knowledge)
• Hair Rating - based on school grading, we rated the beauty of Tom's varying haircuts

So, now where the formalities are out of the way. Join me on my venture into pure Tom Cruise madness:

MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE (1996)

As our quest begins, we are brought back to the 90's. A time where Mission: Impossible wasn't a multi-million dollar action franchise helmed by one of the most controversial figures in Hollywood, but simply a Brian De Palma spy thriller based on a TV Show from the 60's starring hot young movie star Tom Cruise as Ethan Hunt. And although it looks and feels different from the rest of the franchise (as I said more thrillery than actiony), it still holds up very well. Sure, everything tech and internet related is super outdated and sometimes you can't help but chuckle at the way they just throw random words at you to sound smart ("Thinking machine Laptops. I am talking about the 686 prototype with the artificial intelligence risk chip"). But man, this movie still holds up in other regards. It's super tense and with its immensely iconic Langley heist (yes, the one where Tom Cruise is hanging from wires) as well as the fight on top of the high-speed train, it set a precedent for the franchise that lead to each movie trying to one-up its predecessor with cool and amazing stunts.
Another interesting thing we notice about this movie is that it's the only film in the franchise that gives us information on Ethan Hunt's parents. It is established that his father has died and in a move that all three of us found more than shady, the IMF arrests Ethan's mother and uncle for drug trading in order to draw him out of hiding. I mean, they did think he was a mole, but still. Is this standard procedure at government agencies? Imprisoning their innocent relatives? What about all the other times in later movies, when Ethan gets disavowed by the IMF? Did they arrest his mother and uncle each time? They must be fucking tired of that shit. #justiceforethansmomanduncle

Biggest Stunt: The heist in the Langley computer room. Although a stunt involving an exploding water tank was apparently much more dangerous, this scene is such an iconic and well crafted sequence that it influenced future film makers and spawned a huge number of parodies and copycats. See it here!

MVP: Brian De Palma for asking Tom Cruise to do that aforementioned dangerous water stunt himself. We suspect that this was where he got a taste for the action and believe it to be the origin of Cruise's obsession to do the craziest shit in front of the camera.
                          
Mask Reveals: 3               Quality of Cruise-Running: 2/5             Hair Rating: D

MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE II (2000)
Now, we are getting to the film that is considered to be the worst of the franchise. I remember liking this movie the last time I saw it, but I was like 13 years old, didn't have a clue about what makes good film making and totally had the hots for Thandie Newton, so my raging teenage hormones might have clouded my judgement as well. This movie is really something. That John Woo took over the director's chair becomes apparent in the DVD menu already: White doves fly across the screen in a very short time loop over and over again. And the movie is full of all his other trademarks too (like for example slow-mo jumping and shooting two guns at the same time). This film is such a product of its time. With everyone wearing black leather jackets and sunglasses, a Limp Bizkit theme song, motorcycle jumps and cars that explode at the smallest of impacts, this movie basically screams at you that it was made at the turn of the millennium. Also Ethan's character is so very different. He suddenly is this cocky womanizing sensation seeker, which is a weird change compared to the first one. In addition, the plot is unengaging, Dougray Scott is a very generic villain and they run that mask reveal twist into the ground. I mean five mask reveals in a two hour film? That's estimates to someone ripping a rubber mask of his face every 24 minutes. It's ridiculous! However, this film has one of the funniest DVD specials, which is an interview in which Ben Stiller pretends to be Tom Cruise's stuntman Tom Crooze.

Biggest Stunt: The opening rock climb is what most people talk about, and it's cool and all. But the stunt where Tom Cruise stops a knife less than an inch in front of his eye was actually done practically, with the knife hanging on a wire and Dougray Scott putting his whole weight into that stab. That's just as dangerous as it is impressive. See it here!

MVP: Dougray Scott, that poor bastard, who had to turn down the role of Wolverine because of his commitment to this film, making him partly responsible for giving us Hugh Jackmann and one of the greates comic book films of all time: Logan.
                          
Mask Reveals: 5              Quality of Cruise-Running: 1/5             Hair Rating: B+

MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE III (2006)

The worst is behind us and so we're excited for what next. This third installment came after the longest pause the franchise ever took. Tom Cruise apparently handpicked J. J. Abrahams as a director after seeing Alias,  and was hoping he could bring his spy thriller sensibilities to the big screen. It was Abrahams' feature film debut. So even before he reinvigorated/reinvented Star Trek and Star Wars, he was the man to take Mission: Impossible  in a new direction. He makes this story an intimate one and focuses on Ethan's personal stakes rather than the whole worlds. As a result, this movie doesn't really care what gets the IMF on its mission and instead uses one of the macguffiest MacGuffins, "the rabbit's foot", of which no one really knows anything about except that the bad guys shouldn't get their hands on it.  The movie still works nonetheless. Ethan is more desperate than ever as his newly introduced wife is abducted by the vicious Owen Davian. He is played by the late Phillip Seymour Hoffman who gives an absolutely brilliant portrayal of the villain. And while the movie is intense manages to throw you some curveballs, it doesn't quite manage too stand out. Maybe because it is lacking a distinct and totally bonkers action scene, which has kind of became the trademark of the franchise. It is still a very good movie though and it deserves more appreciation than it gets. After all its the one film in the franchise that fully understands how awesome it is to see Tom Cruise run. Seriously, there is a 3 minute sequence that is basically just him running (including a 20 second long take of him in full sprint). It is absolutely magnificent!

Biggest Stunt: In a very cool and tense sequence, Ethan engages in some jumping off and then swinging onto another building shenanigans involving the Jin Mao, Oriental Pearl and Bank of China Tower. See it here!

MVP: Phillip Seymour Hoffman for his outstanding performance. "You have a wife, girlfriend? Because you know what I'm gonna do next? I'm gonna find her, whoever she is, I'm gonna find her and I'm gonna hurt her. I'm gonna make her bleed, and cry, and call out your name." Hoffman's delivery of these lines give you the chills.  
                          
Mask Reveals: 2               Quality of Cruise-Running: 6/5             Hair Rating: C+

MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE - GHOST PROTOCOL (2011)

By now, the three of us have a fully choreographed dancing routine to the Mission Impossible theme. I’m super excited. The fourth one is my favorite of the franchise. It is one of those movies I can put on any given time and I’ll have a blast. First of all, they really double down on the team aspect of the series and in every action set piece, everyone gets something to do. We also really get the globe trotting vibes as the movie switches from one distinct location to the next. Russia, the United Arabic Emirates, India, in every scene everything and everyone looks fucking cool (including Cruise with the best hair in the series yet, it just looks fantastic at that Mumbai Party scene). Another aspect I love about this movie ist hat close to all the tech the team uses fails at some point. Apart from being a clever was to create tension, this additionally makes for some great humor. This probably the funniest of all the Mission: Impossible movies. But of course you can’t talk about this movie without addressing the astonishing Burj Khalifa sequence. Tom Cruise climbing up the tallest building on earth is freaking intense to watch and one of the greatest stunts of all. But even after that, we are treated to a „spies in disguise“ scene that is as classic as it is entertaining. From there we transition directly into a brilliant fight scene between Paula Patton and Léa Seydoux, as well as a Sandstorm foot chase with high quality Cruise running. The whole sequence is just perfect action cinema. So much so, that B.A. claims it kind of ruins the finale of the film, because it can’t come close to anything happening in Dubai.

Biggest Stunt: Definitely the Burj Khalifa thing! I mean... Look at it: https://youtu.be/WoYXzLSnHVE?t=2m27s

MVP: Brad Bird for making the franchise find its footing after Abrahams gave it a fresh start, and simultaneously creating one perfect popcorn entertainment.
                          
Mask Reveals: 1               Quality of Cruise-Running: 5/5             Hair Rating: A+

MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE - ROGUE NATION (2015)
Next up is fifth entry in the franchise and the last one before we head to the theater for the great finale. This time Cruise collaborates with director Christopher McQuarrie who he previously teamed up with on the solid action-flick Jack Reacher and one of my favorite science-fiction action adventures of recent years, Edge of Tomorrow. So this can only be good. And it is. But when comparing it to Ghost Protocol I have a few issues with the film. Firstly, the action beats feel like they are in reversed order. We open the movie to the biggest stunt in the franchise yet: Tom Cruise hanging on the side of a plane while it takes of! It's absolutely bonkers. The next big action beat is a cool, big-scale, but not as realistic looking underwater sequence and then we end the movie on foot chase. Secondly, you get the feeling that McQuarrie hasn't quite figured out what to do with the individual team members and so Ving Rhames and Jeremy Renner are just kind of there, without a real purpose. However, this is not to say that Rogue Nation is a bad movie by any means. Not at all. This movie has a lot of great stuff to offer. There is an opera scene that is so beautifully shot and constructed that it is one of the visual highlights of the series. Rebecca Ferguson's Ilsa Faust is an interesting and fresh new character and the action sequences (although in reversed order) are well choreographed. Also the story is at least a tiny bit more complex than Ghost Protocol's "we need to go to the place to get the thing, then we fail and go to a different place to get another thing" plot. B.A. even prefers this movie over that fourth installment. So I guess it just comes down to personal preference.

Biggest Stunt: The aforementioned and 100% insane plane stunt. Which cements Tom Cruise as being irreplaceable for this franchise. See it here!

MVP: Tom Cruise, because he is irreplaceable for this franchise.
                          
Mask Reveals: 1.5*             Quality of Cruise-Running: 3/5             Hair Rating: C

*Technically its two, but one of them is shown in a What-If scenario so it doesn't fully count.

MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE - FALLOUT (2018)
We rush to the theater only to find a huge line and overchallenged personnel. It takes over 20 minutes until we get to buy our tickets. The cashier tells us the first 2 minutes of the film have already started and asks us whether we still want tickets or wait over two hours for the next showing. We've marathoned five movies for this moment. We are not missing one second! So the three of us make ourselves comfortable at a bar nearby and engage into a deep conversation about the uncertainty of our futures until B.A. orders to stop the depressing talk and get pumped for the upcoming movie. So we do. When we finally sit in the theater and the lights go out to signal the start of the film, a voice in the back of my head tells me to lower my expectations, because the movie could never live up to how much we hyped each other up. But the voice is wrong. Because what follows is one of the most visceral edge-of-your-seat action films I've seen. While I had hoped that the franchise would go back to the lighter tone of Brad Bird, I am not at all disappointed when the movie does the opposite. It just works on so many levels. They have mask reveals that manage surprise you, there is a premium Cruise running and I'm digging that hair-cut. And of course the action. Oh my god! It's the bomb. You get everything you can ask for. Foot chases, car chases, motorcycle chases, freaking helicopter chases, raw hand-to-hand combat, a halo jump sequence and so much more. Every single one of these scenes utilizes practical stunt work as much as possible and is meticulously designed to make your heart stop. Furthermore, this movie really feels like the culmination of the entire franchise. They continue story threads form Rogue Nation, you get the personal stakes from M:I III as well as the spy thriller feel of the original. They care about the team like in Ghost Protocol and Ethan even gets to show off his skill set from M:I II (including kicking, rock-climbing and seduction). McQuarrie even went so far to switch up his directing style for this film so that it once again feels like it was made by a new director. For a fan of the franchise, this is fantastic!

Biggest Stunt: The entire movie? Can I say that? No? Okay, then I guess I'd settle for the crazy helicopter climb + chase. I still can't believe Cruise actually did this. You can get a glimpse of its awesomeness right here.

MVP: Whoever cut together that first trailer for this film. It's amazing. Apart from perfectly nailing the tone of the actual film, it gave us the Henry Cavill fist reloading sound effect and got "Friction" by Imagine Dragons forever stuck in my head. See for yourself!
                          
Mask Reveals: 2               Quality of Cruise-Running: 5/5             Hair Rating: A-

RÉSUMÉ:

We did it. Wow! What a wild ride. I can honestly say that this was one of the funnest movie marathons I've ever done (and I've done a few).  Considering this franchise has so far had 6 installments spread over two decades with 5 different directors bringing their individual perspective to each movie, it is impressive how high-quality these films are. Each of them is great in its own way. Even the second one which is definitely a trashy mess can be enjoyed for that very same reason. While talking about Mission: Impossible we can't help but compare it to the Fast & Furious franchise. Both franchises started as a standalone film and evolved into a long-running series that  reinvented itself through a change of directors and audience's tastes. So unlike Bond, who basically came with a box of catch phrases and tropes, these franchises had to figure out their trademarks on the go. Yes, there was a time when we didn't connect Fast & Furious so strongly with the word "Family" or a habit of drinking Corona Extra. And Mission have only recently started to wonder when Benji will finally get his mask. But what is most apparent is that these two franchises have found their niche in constantly outdoing themselves by featuring a greater and crazier action set-piece in every installment. However, while Fast & Furious replaces their amazing professional stunt team in post-production so that it looks like the actors were taking the wheel, the Mission: Impossible movies are entirely on Cruise control (see what I did there?).  His decision to do all of his own stunts with as little CGI as possible is what truly makes these movies special. He learned to fly a helicopter, he trained himself to be able to hold his breath for six full minutes underwater, he let a real knife get as close as an inch to his eyes, he climbed the tallest building on earth, he held onto an airplane as it took off, he literally put life in danger just to make these films more exciting. Whether you call this madness or genius, this type of commitment is unparalleled.  Only cinema legend Buster Keaton could compete with Cruise for the title of the greatest "I do my own stunts"-actors of all time. And it pays off in the end result. Of course we know that Ethan Hunt is not going to die in the movie, but when you clearly see an actual human being hanging on to a helicopter in mid-air or barely dodging on-coming traffic on his motorcycle, your body sends out distress signals nonetheless. It is breathtaking.
And it would be reason enough to love these films. However, on top of that (with the exception of maybe M:I 2),  the series never forgets its characters and what they have been through. I constantly return to this franchise because I get mind-blowing action, sure. But I also get excited for each new movie because I want to see what Luther is up to, how Benji is doing, if Brandt finally gets is time to shine and whether Ethan will someday have had enough. I personally hope he never does.

So, this is it, my in-depth review of the "Mission: Impossible Marathon". It was endlessly fun, and I want to thank my good friends for joining me on this venture, keeping the stats and doing our dorky "Mission: Impossible Theme" dance. And to every one else I say: Go watch Mission: Impossible! I know that Tom Cruise is a totally insane man. But it is this very insanity that makes these movies crazy good.

Sincerely,
Your Cinemartian