Mission: Impossible Franchise (1996-?)

Discussions of specific films and franchises.
Post Reply
Message
Author

User avatar
willoneill
Joined: Wed Mar 18, 2009 10:10 am
Location: Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

Re: Mission(s): Impossible (DePalma/Woo/Abrams/Bird/McQuarri

#52 Post by willoneill » Mon Jan 26, 2015 9:22 pm

The last movie I remember being bumped up like that was I Am Legend, which did its visual effects no favours. But that probably isn't an issue for M:I-5.

User avatar
Ribs
Joined: Fri Jun 13, 2014 1:14 pm

Re: Mission(s): Impossible (DePalma/Woo/Abrams/Bird/McQuarri

#53 Post by Ribs » Mon Jan 26, 2015 9:35 pm

Yeah, I kind of hate that Star Wars is scaring away any of the exciting blockbustery movies from the end of the year. I'm sure we'll still get the usual prestige, Oscary movies but its cleared the way of two entertaining-enough crowdpleasers (Inferno being the other one) already (and I'm sure there's more delays to come).

It's a problem that could end up with a similar result to what happened in the gaming industry a few years ago, where Call of Duty kept breaking the record for most money earned by an entertainment product in a single day every year and so slowly big game releases have moved to year-round rather than localizing almost entirely in the last quarter solely to avoid the competition.

flyonthewall2983
Joined: Mon Jun 27, 2005 3:31 pm
Location: Indiana
Contact:

Re: Mission(s): Impossible (DePalma/Woo/Abrams/Bird/McQuarri

#54 Post by flyonthewall2983 » Mon Jan 26, 2015 11:08 pm

The next Bond film should be set for November as usual, too.

User avatar
Ribs
Joined: Fri Jun 13, 2014 1:14 pm

Re: Mission(s): Impossible (DePalma/Woo/Abrams/Bird/McQuarri

#55 Post by Ribs » Tue Jan 27, 2015 12:15 am

I dunno, based on what I've read of the script and the fact they're getting all of Skyfall's team together again screams to me they're trying to make awards bait this time (as Skyfall was *this* close to getting serious nods at the Oscars last year) so it might not be quite a traditional blockbuster (though given they're spending 150% of Skyfall's money on it they might instead be going full-hog appeal to everyone stupid action film which I'd appreciate for other reasons). The fact it will just be that, Hunger Games, and Star Wars is going to make the year seem weirdly sparse.

(There's the single *other* case the homage to classic Carpenter, Midnight Special (a Thanksgiving release) that I think will be gunning to be the surprise hit big-budget blockbuster of the holiday season but I'm feeling wary that it wouldn't be delayed so as to not have to deal with the Star Wars threat whatsoever)


User avatar
swo17
Bloodthirsty Butcher
Joined: Tue Apr 15, 2008 10:25 am
Location: SLC, UT

Re: Mission(s): Impossible (DePalma/Woo/Abrams/Bird/McQuarri

#57 Post by swo17 » Fri Feb 20, 2015 6:27 pm

Everyone stands in a circle and pulls off their face mask to reveal that they each actually are and always have been the person standing to their left, duh

User avatar
Feiereisel
Joined: Fri Aug 16, 2013 9:41 am

Re: Mission(s): Impossible (DePalma/Woo/Abrams/Bird/McQuarri

#58 Post by Feiereisel » Fri Feb 20, 2015 6:50 pm

Am I the only one hoping for a Blazing Saddles-style meta-ending where Cruise et al. frantically attempt to bang out twenty pages of script while the theme blares in the background?

User avatar
domino harvey
Dot Com Dom
Joined: Wed Jan 11, 2006 2:42 pm

Re: Mission(s): Impossible (DePalma/Woo/Abrams/Bird/McQuarri

#59 Post by domino harvey » Sun Aug 09, 2015 11:34 am

So, anyone see the fifth one? It's received great reviews and seems in line to be another success at the box office

User avatar
tenia
Ask Me About My Bassoon
Joined: Wed Apr 29, 2009 11:13 am

Re: Mission(s): Impossible (DePalma/Woo/Abrams/Bird/McQuarri

#60 Post by tenia » Sun Aug 09, 2015 1:16 pm

I prefered the 4th one which seemed more balanced to me characters-wise. Ving Rhames, especially, feels extremely useless (to the profit of Simon Pegg), while Renner and Baldwin subplot doesn't feel well integrated. Also, the last 20 min felt overlong, with the usual "is he with us or against us ?" feeling tired after the 10th change of mind.

However, Rogue Nation is fun and quite well done. While the 1st fistfight isn't well edited, the rest of the movie is well shot and edited, the whole sequence in Vienna being a wonder.

93% at RT seems very high but understandable looking at how RT computes reviews, but the 7.5/10 average seems about right.

User avatar
lacritfan
Life is one big kevyip
Joined: Wed Dec 05, 2007 6:39 pm
Location: Los Angeles

Re: Mission(s): Impossible (DePalma/Woo/Abrams/Bird/McQuarri

#61 Post by lacritfan » Sun Aug 09, 2015 1:20 pm

Caught it yesterday, it's a solid fun action movie. Stunt scenes are more down to earth as opposed to huge set pieces like III's bridge attack and skyscraper swing; great motorcycle chase. Smartest marketing they did was leaking the video of Cruise harnessed to the airplane.

MVP goes to Simon Pegg, his scenes and some winks to the audience made the movie for me. Ving Rhames seemed tacked on; Jeremy Renner and Alec Baldwin seem a little lost; Rebecca Ferguson is an attractive enough female lead. They definitely could've had a better villain.

Saw it for $6.25 first show so it felt like a bargain, if I had paid $15 would've felt like a bit much.

User avatar
cdnchris
Site Admin
Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2004 2:45 pm
Location: Washington
Contact:

Re: Mission(s): Impossible (DePalma/Woo/Abrams/Bird/McQuarri

#62 Post by cdnchris » Sun Aug 09, 2015 2:27 pm

It's good fun. Cruise let's his costars show him up and he has some fun with the role and isn't so dead serious. The action scenes and stunt work were solid. But I agree with tenia that the last 20 minutes or so kind of wear out and I was waiting for it to end. But otherwise I enjoyed it.

User avatar
lacritfan
Life is one big kevyip
Joined: Wed Dec 05, 2007 6:39 pm
Location: Los Angeles

Re: Mission(s): Impossible (DePalma/Woo/Abrams/Bird/McQuarri

#63 Post by lacritfan » Sun Aug 09, 2015 3:45 pm

Also thought it was interesting that along with Bad Robot two of the production companies were the China Movie Channel and Alibaba Pictures (which I'm guessing is owned by the "Amazon of China" Alibaba). Wondering if that's a way of thwarting Chinese piracy if two of the investors were Chinese companies?

User avatar
tenia
Ask Me About My Bassoon
Joined: Wed Apr 29, 2009 11:13 am

Re: Mission(s): Impossible (DePalma/Woo/Abrams/Bird/McQuarri

#64 Post by tenia » Sun Aug 09, 2015 4:18 pm

I think it's just the next step of opening up to the Chinese market : gerting directly finances by them.

User avatar
whaleallright
Joined: Sun Sep 25, 2005 12:56 am

Re: Mission(s): Impossible (DePalma/Woo/Abrams/Bird/McQuarri

#65 Post by whaleallright » Mon Aug 10, 2015 6:47 pm

The American Cinematographer article on this one is decent, and worth a read. The DP, Robert Elswit, notes that they wanted to avoid the Bourne-style long lenses, whip pans, etc. Almost refreshingly for a contemporary blockbuster franchise, the creative personnel admit to making a "movie-star movie" and don't claim to seek a "gritty" approach. (Although: do I detect a rising backlash against the extremes of the Shaky-cam style among contemporary mainstream filmmakers?)

The article is revealing in showing how thoroughly Cruise is in control of this franchise. As an example: it was Cruise's decision, not Elswit's or McQuarrie's, to shoot on film rather than digital.

One last note: I expected that, since the film was co-financed by two Chinese companies, it would prominently feature Chinese locations and actors, as has been the case with some other prominent co-productions (e.g. Looper). But I don't recall any Chinese locations, and the sole Chinese actress gets all of three or four token lines. She isn't even playing a Chinese (she's a CIA agent working for Alec Baldwin's character). This suggests that the Chinese producers avoided a heavy hand in influencing the direction of the franchise.

User avatar
The Fanciful Norwegian
Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2004 2:24 pm
Location: Teegeeack

Re: Mission(s): Impossible (DePalma/Woo/Abrams/Bird/McQuarri

#66 Post by The Fanciful Norwegian » Tue Aug 11, 2015 1:42 am

jonah.77 wrote:One last note: I expected that, since the film was co-financed by two Chinese companies, it would prominently feature Chinese locations and actors, as has been the case with some other prominent co-productions (e.g. Looper). But I don't recall any Chinese locations, and the sole Chinese actress gets all of three or four token lines. She isn't even playing a Chinese (she's a CIA agent working for Alec Baldwin's character). This suggests that the Chinese producers avoided a heavy hand in influencing the direction of the franchise.
There are different levels of co-production status in China. The two big ones are "joint" co-productions and "assisted" co-productions. The former are treated as domestic films and are very rare among Hollywood co-productions, due to the significant amount of "Chinese elements" required. Looper and Iron Man 3 tried and failed to get this status, even though both films went to the extreme of shooting additional scenes in China specifically for the Chinese version. Transformers 4 is the only Hollywood tentpole to get full joint co-production status, and it showed in how it was treated in China, where it got a prime summer release date during a period when Hollywood films are normally barred. MI:5 clearly isn't getting the same sort of treatment, as evidenced by the fact that it won't be out in China until early September. In fact I'm willing to bet it has no official co-production status at all and is simply an "informal" co-production, like Furious 7 and Southpaw earlier this year. There's still advantages to doing this, since the studio spreads the risk around and a Chinese partner means the movie will get more of a marketing push there—all the more so if there's Chinese stars involved, though there's invariably a backlash when Chinese audiences discover how tokenistic the "Chinese elements" tend to be. (Furious 7 and Southpaw had no Chinese elements at all, though F7 was supposedly going to do some filming in China before Walker's death led to a change in plans.) Avoiding official co-production status also means they don't have to deal with as much red tape, like submitting a script or synopsis for pre-approval by the censors. I wouldn't be surprised if most Hollywood tentpoles have some level of Chinese co-production involvement within a few years, whether it's official co-production status or just investment from Chinese companies.

User avatar
whaleallright
Joined: Sun Sep 25, 2005 12:56 am

Re: Mission(s): Impossible (DePalma/Woo/Abrams/Bird/McQuarri

#67 Post by whaleallright » Tue Aug 11, 2015 3:04 am

Thanks, that was extremely useful info. I admit I haven't been following the recent developments in Chinese-American co-production closely enough.

User avatar
thirtyframesasecond
Joined: Mon Apr 02, 2007 1:48 pm

Re: Mission(s): Impossible (DePalma/Woo/Abrams/Bird/McQuarri

#68 Post by thirtyframesasecond » Fri Aug 28, 2015 4:52 pm

Saw MI:5 this afternoon. It was a toss-up between this and the Man from Uncle and I reckon I made the right choice. I'd be intrigued to know what Rhames' contract is like for these films? Did he sign up for mandatory cameos when negotiating the first movie? Now Simon Pegg's here, his character feels pretty redundant. Still, it's a way to pay the mortgage.

MI:5 feels like a return to the first movie, maybe it's the credits and the London location. It doesn't feel as flashy, although the Morocco bike pursuit and Cruise's astonishing plane stunt (and the underwater one!) are your normal Cruise showboating. McQuarrie writes a lot of humour in too, which belies the usual po-faced nature of the franchise. They also wrote in a decent female part for once, though Cruise should've known Ilsa Faust was going to be trouble! I wondered whether Ilsa was a Casablanca reference. Rebecca Ferguson looks plenty like Ingrid Bergman! Sean Harris too is a great go-to bad guy. He does intense like no-one. Watch Southcliffe!

I was thinking, when was the last time Tom Cruise 'acted'? His Summer blockbusters are perfectly decent on the whole, but you can't even contemplate him playing a proper dramatic part these days. I mean like a real Oscar-bait part.

flyonthewall2983
Joined: Mon Jun 27, 2005 3:31 pm
Location: Indiana
Contact:

Re: Mission(s): Impossible (DePalma/Woo/Abrams/Bird/McQuarri

#69 Post by flyonthewall2983 » Fri Aug 28, 2015 5:10 pm

He should have been nominated for Collateral.

User avatar
hearthesilence
Joined: Fri Mar 04, 2005 4:22 am
Location: NYC

Re: Mission(s): Impossible (DePalma/Woo/Abrams/Bird/McQuarri

#70 Post by hearthesilence » Fri Aug 28, 2015 5:11 pm

Magnolia is still his best performance

jojo
Joined: Thu Jun 05, 2008 1:47 pm

Re: Mission(s): Impossible (DePalma/Woo/Abrams/Bird/McQuarri

#71 Post by jojo » Sat Aug 29, 2015 5:40 pm

thirtyframesasecond wrote: McQuarrie writes a lot of humour in too, which belies the usual po-faced nature of the franchise.
I actually thought this was a little grittier and grimmer than the last MI by Brad Bird, which had more camaraderie and teamwork (and is the only MI that gets closest to the spirit of the original MI TV series). On the whole, the past few MIs have been light hearted alternatives to the Craig Bonds in terms of current spy movies. There was a lot of Jack Reacher in this one, with its loud, bone-crunching sound effects and more emphasis on hand to hand brutality than the standard MI run and gun action (although there's still plenty of that here).

User avatar
domino harvey
Dot Com Dom
Joined: Wed Jan 11, 2006 2:42 pm

Re: Mission(s): Impossible (DePalma/Woo/Abrams/Bird/McQuarri

#72 Post by domino harvey » Mon Dec 28, 2015 2:11 am

As evidenced by my posts in this thread, I'm not the biggest M:I fan, but at this point I refuse to acknowledge the sunk cost factor and knew I'd get around to seeing the fifth entry regardless. And thank God I did, as this is probably as good an entry in the series as I can imagine-- this is not just the best Mission: Impossible film, it's the best spy-based action film I've ever seen (admittedly a genre I don't usually have much patience for, though). Part of the film's effectiveness is due to the central conceit of the film, which is ingenious:
SpoilerShow
If the good guys are so good in these kind of films and always find a way to do whatever it is they set out to do, why not manipulate them into inadvertently doing the impossible tasks for the bad guys? It's clever and factors in the usual complaints and skews the crutches these type of films embody-- win/win for everyone!
I thought Jack Reacher was okay and hated the Usual Suspects, but I wasn't prepared for McQuarrie's work here, which is surprisingly adept and well-handled to the visual wit needed to make the wonderful set pieces come alive. And though the film is filled with smart plot mechanations and novel tweaks on the familiar, it also features one of the best action set pieces I've ever seen, set inside the Vienna Opera House and played out with such visual wit and grace that I felt compelled to applaud and laugh in delight throughout. Lots of smiling and incredulous laughter abounded while watching this film, and I'm only sorry I missed seeing it with an audience. If McQuarrie's back for the inevitable sixth entry, I won't make that mistake again.


User avatar
Trees
Joined: Sun Sep 27, 2015 4:04 pm

Re: Mission(s): Impossible (DePalma/Woo/Abrams/Bird/McQuarri

#74 Post by Trees » Mon Dec 28, 2015 5:58 pm

It was more entertaining than SPECTRE, that's for sure. Sad that Bond has become so morose.


Post Reply