The reason that I don’t think that mission impossible is that it is essentially a repeat of the other films. Yes. I know that it is both based on a TV show that was made in the sixties it is the sixth in this movie series. I wouldn’t mind it as much if they were series tropes that were being repeated. Are they? No. Read the review and you’ll understand what I’m talking about.
The film starts with a recap of the first film. It details the events of that happens and then tells us what has happened in between films. From there we actually start with a mission to recover weapons material from the bad guys. During the course of the mission Luther, who is played by Ving Rhames, is taken, hostage. Now I do have to say that this creates an issue for me, it is an issue because another member of the team, Benji who is played by Simon Pegg, is here.
Now for those that don’t know, Benji was introduced in the third movie. He was a support operative who some daydreamed of becoming a field agent. He was helpful but also funny. Then in the fourth movie, he became an agent but was still enjoyable to watch. Then we get to the fifth film, here is where the issue begins. In the film, he was less funny and was even captured by the bad guys. This was a bit of downgrade because while the idea of having your tech guy in the field generally isn’t a good one. Worse is that while Simon Pegg hands in a good performance in all of the films, he isn’t as funny in the newer ones.
So your probably wondering how any of this matters to the current film? Well, it matters because the movie is so intent on making sure the Benji isn’t the guy that gets captured that they literally offer up a guy who is too smart to get caught. After Luther is captured Ethan Hunt, played by Tom Cruise, obviously goes to rescue him and he loses the case that he was supposed to be guarding.
Now comes two of my favorite scenes in the film. The first is when they trick an evil science to reveal his code using an elaborate deception that involves Wolf Blitzer. This feels awesome to watch because it is the only time that the film treats its audience with intelligence. You can figure out what is going to happen if you pay attention, but even if you do then it becomes fun because you see how much work was put into it. The classic masks, as well as some new trick and thinking, are used here so enjoy them, it will be the only time you have it.
The next scene is after Ethan and a man from the CIA are assigned to get the weapons back. The man from the CIA is played by Henry Cavil and that’s what I am going to call him because it is his only defining feature. The two leap from a jumbo jet and parachute into pair through a thunderstorm. This scene is awesome in both the cinematography and pacing.
Once they land here their job is to infiltrate a nightclub to knock out a bad guy to take his place at a meeting with an arms dealer, does that sound familiar. After a well-choreographed fight in a bathroom where Ethan mostly spends his time trying not to get killed and is saved, it is off to the arms dealer.
The dealer and Ethan meet, another fight ensues, and then they get away and make a deal. Ethan will get the nuclear material if he breaks somebody out of jail. This somebody just so happens to be the bad guy from the last film, Solomon Lane. Of course, this is the part of the film where Ethan and the team must work for the bad guys because for a team that always does the impossible, they always do the same thing. After they break Lane out of prison via a transport and they are nearly killed by Ethan’s kinda sorta girlfriend from the last film. She has been there throughout the movie occasionally saving Ethan’s life. There is a sense of irony then when Ethan breaks Lane out and she tries to kill lane he hits her with a car. She gets up of course and later on in the film she was completely fine with it.
From there we get our interrogation scene, the scene when the director tells them they are going to be disavowed. We even get the scene where an authority figure doesn’t believe them even though they have done nothing but prove their loyalty and capability over the years. We get another on foot chase where Ethan pursues a traitor agent, I’ll let you guess who it is.
after that, we go into our final confrontation. We get some fighting and some personal information on some of the characters. We even get a helicopter chase, crash, and then the longest fight with a bad guy. Of course, the team saves the day and all is right and the credit roll.
So what are my real problems with the film, I think that there are two. One is the fact that except for the two scenes that I described earlier, most of the scenes are repeats from the other films. The other is with the pacing in the film. It is too slow to be a complete action film and even the action parts aren’t stored properly so you are never immersed in the scene, if you were immersed it might even make the reused scenes better. The other side is that the film is to action point focused, because of this there less time spent on character development. This is just my opinion of course but if you want to watch a Mission Impossible film then pick whichever one fits your style and watch that. If you like this one though good for you, it was just a mission I couldn’t accept.
The Multiverse Man 