Movie Review: Mission: Impossible Catch-Up Part I

Seeing that the (maybe) final installment of Tom Cruise's Mission: Impossible series is coming out this summer (2025 as I write), I thought I would rewatch the series. Frankly, after the third film my viewing (and memory) is spotty. I am sure I watched at least one of the subsequent films in its entirety and parts of the other films but it is all a jumble in my head. To unjumble things, I am doing this series. First up, the first three!

Mission: Impossible (1996) directed by Brian De Palma based on the television show

Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) is an agent of the Impossible Missions Force. He and the team, led by Jim Phelps (Jon Voigt), are deployed to Prague where they will catch a spy stealing and selling a list of secret agents operating in Eastern Europe. As soon as the theft happens, the situation falls apart. The entire team, except for Hunt, is wiped out in a matter of minutes. Hunt reports in to their next level supervisor, Kittridge (Henry Czerny), who reveals that the operation was a mole hunt for someone betraying IMF. Since Hunt is the only survivor, he must be the mole. Hunt knows he isn't, so he makes a daring escape and hunts down the real killer and the client who wants the list (who clearly was in contact with the actual mole).

The movie is a summer action thriller. The plot is a bit convoluted, structured in a way to highlight fantastic action sequences, of which there are many. Cruise is on top form as a charming and sincere hero caught in a messy situation. The rest of the cast is also good. The visual style has lots of dutch angles and pov shots, making it more visually appealing and intriguing. The story was high-tech in 1996, though the use of email and internet looks quaint 30 years later (do today's kids even know what a modem is?). Some of the twists and machinations are very hard to believe, but the action sequences are so exciting and well-executed that viewers have a hard time not being charmed by the whole package.

I remember fans of the TV show complaining about one of the plot twists though that did not bother me then (I had only seen occasional episodes in reruns) and the twists is cliched now. 

Recommended--this is great action fun.

Mission: Impossible II (2000) directed by John Woo

At the beginning of the movie, we see a scientist working in Australia who wants to take some medical thing to Atlanta, Georgia. He injects himself with it and only has twenty hours to make the delivery. His plane is hijacked by the bad guys who discover he only has the cure (called Belerophon) in vials, not the disease. They assumed one of the vials had the disease (called Chimera). A cure with no disease is not particularly lucrative.

Ethan Hunt has a new mission from a new supervisor (Anthony Hopkins). He's to recruit an exceptional thief, Nyah Hall (Thandie Newton), to help him find out what was stolen from Australia (they don't know about the disease/cure situation). After a sexy encounter with Hall, Ethan eventually recruits her only to find out that the supervisor wants her to get back in bed (literally) with Sean Ambrose (Dougray Scott), the rogue agent who stole the vials. Ethan also recruits old friend Luther (Ving Rhames, who was in the last movie in a minor role) and Billy (John Polson) as aids. They start worming their way into Ambrose's set up.

The movie's plot is a bit convoluted and lots of parts don't fit together. These holes are papered over with over-the-top action sequence and the high stylization of director John Woo. The movie looks great but you brain can't be in neutral, it's got to be in reverse. Even the fight sequences use all sorts of martial arts moves that look impressive (flip kicks and twists and such) and that also look very impractical for actual hand-to-hand combat. Cruise is always charming but I had a hard time connecting with any of the characters.

Not recommended--they tried too hard for style with no substance underneath to hold it up.

Mission: Impossible III (2006) co-written and directed by J. J. Abrams

Ethan Hunt has stepped back from field work and is training new recruits. He's also engaged to Julia (Michelle Monaghan), a nurse in the DC area who does not know about his real job (she thinks he works for the Department of Transportation). Ethan gets called back in by his buddy Musgrave (Billy Crudup), who wants Ethan to help extract one of the agents Ethan recommended for field work (Keri Russell). Ethan joins the team to extract her from the clutches of underworld ne'er-do-well Davian (Phillip Seymour Hoffman). The plan goes awry. Now Ethan is in a struggle with Davian to stop him (1) from selling a horrible weapon and (2) from getting revenge by killing Julia.

This sequel takes a big twist with the story. Ethan is semi-retired and trying to go back to a normal life. Of course, that's not what fans want to see, so he gets drawn back in for action and intrigue. The plot does a good job balancing the two tensions and Cruise gives a much more vulnerable and identifiable performance as a more weary and love-motivated character. He's still Ethan Hunt, but he is much more human. Hoffman is good as the villain, more menacing in his attitude. The supporting cast is very good, with standout performances by Laurence Fishburn as the IMF director and Simon Pegg as an IMF tech (his role becomes recurring like Ving Rhames's Luther). 

Recommended--this is a fun jaunt with some heart to it.

Movie Review: 10 Cloverfield Lane (2016)

10 Cloverfield Lane (2016) directed by Dan Trachtenberg

Michelle (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) flees from her fiance. As she is driving at night, another car runs her off the road. She wakes up in a concrete room. She's chained to the wall and has a IV in her arm. She soon finds out she was saved by Howard (John Goodman), who brought her to the bunker and has saved her from certain death. He built this survival shelter under his farm and is waiting for the fallout to dissipate from whatever biological or nuclear attack has happened in the outside world. Michelle only has his word for it. And that of fellow bunkermate Emmet (John Gallagher Jr.). Emmet claims to know Howard, hinting Howard is both a survivalist and a conspiracy theorist. What is Michelle to believe?

The story unwinds in a tense fashion. Howard definitely isn't right in the head but is he the good kind of crazy or the bad kind? Goodman's performance keeps viewers guessing. As a character, Howard clearly sees himself as good but Michelle is unsure. She wants to get out and has more than one riveting escape attempt. More details are revealed about Howard throughout the film, making it a satisfying mystery since most questions are answered by the end. Michelle is a likable and intelligent heroine well played by Winstead.

The movie has a very superficial relationship to Cloverfield. Occasional hints at connections can be caught by astute viewers but they don't amount to much and are only a distraction from this story. Both movies are thrilling but I found this one much more satisfying. The characters here are more interesting and likable than in Cloverfield. The story is more believable and more tense, making it a much better movie.

Movie Review: Cloverfield (2008)

Cloverfield (2008) directed by Mark Reeves

Rob's friends are throwing him a farewell party in Manhattan. They are all late 20s/early 30s types. Rob's ex-girlfriend Beth shows up but things don't go well. She leaves after some curt words are exchanged. As Rob's best friend and his brother talk to him about it out on the balcony, the building shakes precariously. Turns out Rob should have left New York earlier because some monster is attacking the city. Rob decides to go after Beth. The only problem is she lives in the direction where the monster is attacking.

The movie is a "found footage" film. In this case, the footage is a tape from Rob's camera documenting the farewell party, which turns into a chronicle of their experience of the attack. The tape has some old video when Rob took Beth to Coney Island the month before, giving the characters a little more background and empathy. Unfortunately, it looks like there are some edits (like most of the testimonials from the party?) that blow the attempt at realism and immediacy. I never got fully invested in the film like I did with Blair Witch Project or Paranormal Activity. I started wondering if the Coney Island bits, which made sense narratively, would really be so perfectly lined up in random spots on the tape. So the found footage was a problem for me.

The other problem I had was all the hints at what's really going on. I had the impression that there was a larger, more interesting story and we were stuck following this group of semi-interesting, semi-sympathetic characters. The ultimate ending for Rob and Beth is touching if not surprising. I was expecting more from the talent behind the film (produced by J. J. Abrams and written by Drew Goddard). Some moments are startling and beautiful and terrifying but quite a bit of the film looks like stuff borrowed from other, better films.

I was surprised by how mediocre this film is. It would have been less distracting without the found footage gimmick and a better story was probably going on somewhere else in Manhattan. The isn't bad; I am still going to watch 10 Cloverfield Lane, which hopefully is the better story.

Movie Review: Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015)--No Spoilers

Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015) directed by J. J. Abrams

A new evil has arisen in the galaxy, the First Order. They are on the verge of kicking out the new Republic which has been supporting the Resistance (led by General Leia Organa) to the First Order's influence. Key players in the First Order are using the Dark Side of the Force and storm troopers, so everyone (people in the story and us watching the movie) knows they are bad. The Resistance is trying to find Luke Skywalker. He mysteriously disappeared many years ago but an old friend of Leia's has a map showing where he went. The hope is he can restore order to the galaxy since there are no good Jedi around, only the evil ones. The map is given to a cute droid on a desert planet in the middle of a battle. The droid falls in with a local scavenger and a storm trooper who quits the First Order. Both people help get the droid back to the Resistance, a tough assignment if there ever was one.

The plot unfolds at a good pace and has the right blend of seriousness and humor to keep things enjoyable and exciting if not always believable. The movie has too many visual references to the previous movies but I didn't find them annoying. They just made things too predictable (so maybe they were slightly annoying). Harrison Ford is in fine form as Han Solo and the rest of the cast is also good. The main villain, Kylo Ren, is appropriately menacing even if he is a little too similar to Darth Vader (who the character is trying to emulate). Abrams restrained himself from putting in all those silly lens flares that are in the Star Trek movies and Super 8, for which I am grateful. The Star Wars franchise is a better fit for him as a director since it is more about action and fights and mystical mumbo-jumbo.

This is not a great film but it is great fun. Among the Star Wars movies, it's tied with Return of the Jedi, which is lightyears above any of the prequels. Given more time (and more viewings) I could figure out which is the better film.

Movie Review: Super 8 (2011)

Super 8 (2011) written and directed by J. J. Abrams

During the summer of 1979, a group of boys led by Charles want to make a Super 8 short film for a competition. On the last day of school they recruit Alice to play the detective's wife in their film. They all sneak out at night to film a scene by the railway station. During the shoot, a train comes by. The train is derailed by a pickup truck and everything goes flying everywhere. After running around in a panic, the kids see their science teacher in the truck. He warns them about the dangerous cargo and starts waving a gun around, which is enough to scare them off. But not before gathering all their equipment, including the camera that's been running the whole time.

The kids try to resume a normal life but it turns out the train was a special Air Force train and the military has moved in to clean up the incident. But as people and dogs and mechanical equipment start disappearing, questions start mounting. What was really on the train? What's on the film they took? Will the kids finish their movie in time? What about the other big secret?

What other big secret? The movie opens with a shot of a local factor where their "No Accidents in X Days" sign is changed back to "1." Deputy Jackson Lamb's wife died there leaving him and son Joe alone. Joe is the sensitive one of the film makers--he does the make-up and makes miniatures too. He's excited when Charles recruits Alice and they have a growing interest in each other. Alice's dad doesn't want Joe around his daughter and Joe's dad has similar feelings about Alice though it is not really clear why. For me, the Joe/Alice plot line is the most interesting part of the movie.

The monster part of the movie is much less interesting. All the exposition about the monster is saved till the end but when it comes the information doesn't explain its actions earlier in the movie. Why is it stealing only certain specific items? Other than creating a spooky atmosphere, why does the monster's presence cause lights and other electrical and mechanical things to go crazy? The action sequences are exciting but they don't add together to make a coherent story. The military is depicted as a bunch of generic cartoonish baddies which makes them less compelling as villains.

The movie is clearly a homage to 1980s science fiction movies, especially the work of Steven Spielberg (who is a producer on the film). Viewers see bits taken from Close Encounters of the Third Kind and E. T. The monster's face reminded me of Predator and its lair was reminiscent of Aliens. Viewers don't really see the monster till the end of the film as in Jaws. Things like that are fun to spot but they are also reminders of much better films.

I wish the film maker's had made the Joe/Alice story the main focus of the film and just used the train wreck and monster running around as background rather than a competing narrative. What could have been a great film is just a mediocre genre piece.