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Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation
The fifth installment in a franchise that began 20 years ago - and more importantly to me the new blockbuster by Christopher McQuarrie. Writer of The Usual Suspects, you may recognize his work as a writer/director which began with The Way of the Gun and most recently Jack Reacher.
You've all seen the trailer - Tom Cruise hanging onto the side of an airplane during takeoff. Captured over 8 takes, this is the very first scene of the film!
It starts off with a massive bang and it's packed full of impressive stunts and funny one liners. Everything the populace looks for in a great summer blockbuster, this delivers!
My least favorite trademark of the franchise - masks so we never know who is who - is done here with a very very light touch and completely acceptable to my sensibilities.
Tom cruise is amazing in this film and at 53 years old gives us his most physically impressive feats including a small amount of parkour. You can tell he did a lot of training to pull off these acts.
To Recap on the GOOD - Great action, great stunts, funny jokes, this is perhaps the best of the franchise.
Now for the BAD - Breaking the 4th wall. Stuff that none of you would probably notice and that none of you probably even care about.
I saw this in IMAX 2d and for some reason a lot of Jeremy Renners scenes were grainy. Like the ISO/GAIN on the camera was up too high instead of having brighter lights like a normal hollywood film does.
How could a man that began his directing career with The Way of the Gun commit such a cardinal sin of gunplay. Automatics missing their target down a narrow hallway. What is this, underworld? Holy crap what a disappointment chris - although mitigated slightly in the following scene it was still enough to cause a drop in suspension of disbelief. Quickly forgotten as the next exciting, action packed sequence begins.
The car chase was fantastic and cruise did his own driving which makes it all the more impressive! Really cool stuff on location with practical stunts in a car chase.
The motor cycle chase.. not as much. Maybe chris mcquarrie has never ridden a motorcycle before? Anyone who has will scoff at the ending to this scene. To A further suspension of disbelief.
Regarding the underwater stunt scene - These guys are supposed to be secret agents. It always pisses me off in a movie when I am smarter than all these really smart characters. I'm not a genius so what gives?
Allow me to explain myself - Ethan Hunt is supposed to hold his breath for 3 minutes like that is a big deal? The world record for holding breath is over TWENTY MINUTES!! You don't just breathe in normal air when you do something like this, you exhale out all the co2 and you breathe in pure oxygen. Why doesn't ethan hunt know that? Am I smarter than him… I'm not supposed to be.
In fact tom cruise himself held his breath for TWICE that long while filming.. How is the worlds best super agent getting out performed by tom cruise the man? What a joke.
Sad to say but I'm pretty disappointed with chris mcquarrie. Perhaps it's a byproduct of the studio system, or simply part of the franchise influence. He is my favorite film maker and his previous films do not pull me out of the moment like this one did so many times. His writing and films are supposed to be smarter than this. But overall it was still a great summer blockbuster with a lot of laughs and really impressive stunts.
A great performance by Tom Cruise!! Dude still has it, he is better than ever.
The fifth installment in a franchise that began 20 years ago - and more importantly to me the new blockbuster by Christopher McQuarrie. Writer of The Usual Suspects, you may recognize his work as a writer/director which began with The Way of the Gun and most recently Jack Reacher.
You've all seen the trailer - Tom Cruise hanging onto the side of an airplane during takeoff. Captured over 8 takes, this is the very first scene of the film!
It starts off with a massive bang and it's packed full of impressive stunts and funny one liners. Everything the populace looks for in a great summer blockbuster, this delivers!
My least favorite trademark of the franchise - masks so we never know who is who - is done here with a very very light touch and completely acceptable to my sensibilities.
Tom cruise is amazing in this film and at 53 years old gives us his most physically impressive feats including a small amount of parkour. You can tell he did a lot of training to pull off these acts.
To Recap on the GOOD - Great action, great stunts, funny jokes, this is perhaps the best of the franchise.
Now for the BAD - Breaking the 4th wall. Stuff that none of you would probably notice and that none of you probably even care about.
I saw this in IMAX 2d and for some reason a lot of Jeremy Renners scenes were grainy. Like the ISO/GAIN on the camera was up too high instead of having brighter lights like a normal hollywood film does.
How could a man that began his directing career with The Way of the Gun commit such a cardinal sin of gunplay. Automatics missing their target down a narrow hallway. What is this, underworld? Holy crap what a disappointment chris - although mitigated slightly in the following scene it was still enough to cause a drop in suspension of disbelief. Quickly forgotten as the next exciting, action packed sequence begins.
The car chase was fantastic and cruise did his own driving which makes it all the more impressive! Really cool stuff on location with practical stunts in a car chase.
The motor cycle chase.. not as much. Maybe chris mcquarrie has never ridden a motorcycle before? Anyone who has will scoff at the ending to this scene. To A further suspension of disbelief.
Regarding the underwater stunt scene - These guys are supposed to be secret agents. It always pisses me off in a movie when I am smarter than all these really smart characters. I'm not a genius so what gives?
Allow me to explain myself - Ethan Hunt is supposed to hold his breath for 3 minutes like that is a big deal? The world record for holding breath is over TWENTY MINUTES!! You don't just breathe in normal air when you do something like this, you exhale out all the co2 and you breathe in pure oxygen. Why doesn't ethan hunt know that? Am I smarter than him… I'm not supposed to be.
In fact tom cruise himself held his breath for TWICE that long while filming.. How is the worlds best super agent getting out performed by tom cruise the man? What a joke.
Sad to say but I'm pretty disappointed with chris mcquarrie. Perhaps it's a byproduct of the studio system, or simply part of the franchise influence. He is my favorite film maker and his previous films do not pull me out of the moment like this one did so many times. His writing and films are supposed to be smarter than this. But overall it was still a great summer blockbuster with a lot of laughs and really impressive stunts.
A great performance by Tom Cruise!! Dude still has it, he is better than ever.