Our ongoing series of reviews of Tom Cruise vehicles leading up to Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning Part 1 is almost over with the release of that long-awaited sequel next month. So what better time to revisit what many consider to be THE seminal entry of the franchise? By the time this movie was released in late 2011, Cruise's star had faded somewhat as had the demand for another Mission Impossible sequel after the disappointing box office of Mission Impossible III in 2006.
But something was different this time....for one thing, this was the live action feature directorial debut of Brad Bird who over the previous 15 years had directed some of our most beloved animated films including The Incredibles, Ratatouille, and The Iron Giant. Also there was less focus on the personal life of Cruise's protagonist Ethan Hunt and more focus placed on the rest of the TEAM - the cast for this one included Jeremy Renner, Simon Pegg, and Paula Patton. We get to know them a bit more than previous entries. And.....the movie was released initially in IMAX highlighting some seemingly jaw-dropping stunts featuring The Cruise Missile seemingly risking his life this time around. So our mission - should we choose to accept it - will be to determine just what made THIS sequel so special almost 14 years ago.....
Host: Geoff Gershon
Editors: Geoff and Ella Gershon
Producer: Marlene Gershon
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Our ongoing series of reviews of Tom Cruise vehicles leading up to Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning Part 1 is almost over with the release of that long-awaited sequel next month. So what better time to revisit what many consider to be THE seminal entry of the franchise? By the time this movie was released in late 2011, Cruise's star had faded somewhat as had the demand for another Mission Impossible sequel after the disappointing box office of Mission Impossible III in 2006.
But something was different this time....for one thing, this was the live action feature directorial debut of Brad Bird who over the previous 15 years had directed some of our most beloved animated films including The Incredibles, Ratatouille, and The Iron Giant. Also there was less focus on the personal life of Cruise's protagonist Ethan Hunt and more focus placed on the rest of the TEAM - the cast for this one included Jeremy Renner, Simon Pegg, and Paula Patton. We get to know them a bit more than previous entries. And.....the movie was released initially in IMAX highlighting some seemingly jaw-dropping stunts featuring The Cruise Missile seemingly risking his life this time around. So our mission - should we choose to accept it - will be to determine just what made THIS sequel so special almost 14 years ago.....
Host: Geoff Gershon
Editors: Geoff and Ella Gershon
Producer: Marlene Gershon
https://livingforthecinema.com/
Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/Living-for-the-Cinema-Podcast-101167838847578
Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/livingforthecinema/
Letterboxd:
https://letterboxd.com/Living4Cinema/
https://livingforthecinema.com/
Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/Living-for-the-Cinema-Podcast-101167838847578
Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/livingforthecinema/
Letterboxd:
https://letterboxd.com/Living4Cinema/
“Living for the Cruise” Series: Over the past 40 years since his breakout starring role in the 1983 comedy Risky Business, one of our most enduring movie stars has been Thomas Mapother IV….otherwise known as Tom Cruise. He has excelled in a variety of genres but most recently mainly in action and just last year, he starred in the biggest hit of his career….Top Gun Maverick. Well as a follow-up this year, we will see his return to the beloved Mission Impossible franchise, once again playing IMF agent Ethan Hunt. Over the next several months, I will be revisiting one notable Cruise film each month – each from a different era of his career – culminating with the July 14th release of Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning….Part 1. (Music playing over)
MISSION IMPOSSIBLE: GHOST PROTOCOL – 2011
Directed by Brad Bird
Starring Tom Cruise, Paula Patton, Simon Pegg, Jeremy Renner, Michael Nyquist, Vladimir Mashkov, Samuli Edelmann, Ivan Shvedoff, Lea Seydoux, Anil Kapoor, Tom Wilkinson, and Josh Holloway
Genre: Spy Action Thriller (Audio clip)
How often in the history of ANY franchise has the FOURTH film seemingly blown the doors off of all predecessors? 🤔 Well...you could say that about Mad Max: Fury Road....many have said that about Fast Five (chronologically, remember it takes place BEFORE 'Tokyo Drift)....technically The Avengers was the sixth (!) film for the MCU and that seemed to qualify.....oh and many would say this is what happened with Rocky IV. (Though they would be wrong) So maybe for a franchise to finally achieve greatness this many films in isn't THAT uncommon....
No matter because I can distinctly remember this being a sequel coming out back in 2011 (which was a year PACKED with big sequels no less) that pretty much shocked EVERYONE when they first saw it....myself included. :o I kinda dug the first two in theaters and had not even bothered to see the third one for several years after it came out on DVD. The MAIN reason I was seeing this on opening weekend on IMAX was just to be able to see the much-hyped opening sequence for The Dark Knight Rises...I WAS kind of intrigued to see director Brad Bird's live action debut but expectations were still pretty minimal. I didn't even really like the trailer which just seemed to rely WAY too much on that Eminem song to drive it and....there was barely ANY appearance of Sawyer in it. (Holloway going to the big screen was just a big deal for me at the time.)
So imagine my surprised delight to see the sheer joy and invention of that opening prison escape sequence....all set to "A Kick in the Head." It ALMOST resembles an opening musical number for just how well-choreographed and playfully it is shot and performed.....and with Tom Cruise at the center as Fred Astaire in a wife-beater, unafraid to punch dudes who are bigger than him no less. :) Simon Pegg is also bringing it as the guy in the van....all exasperated as he sees Ethan slyly maneuver his way through a prison riot only to double-back to get some one else out....and then the fuse is lit and we're off!
And the film never slows down from there. You have that early Kremlin sequence: Pegg's doing his bantering sidekick bit, Cruise looks kinda silly with the fake mustache, and....I STILL laugh out loud every time I see that stetched image of Pegg's face just suddenly flash on the projection screen they're using to cover themselves in that hallway. But....it's still a tense sequence masterfully executed with a tragic ending which occurs because "Cobalt" got the drop on them. This IS another impossible mission mind you and the director isn't afraid to let things go wrong with them suffering the consequences....and with no deus ex machina to save the day.
Ethan and his team are continuously falling behind on this mission and that's part of the fun. :) Speaking of Renner, he's pretty great not only handling the action well but doing some nice subtle comedy throughout - watching him psyche himself up into jumping down into that wind tunnel during the climax in Mumbai is definitely a highlight. Pegg does his job well as the techie with his own generous brand of physical comedy.
The overall climax in Mumbai of course ends in a pretty inspired way with Cruise and Michael Nyquist (playing Cobalt) pretty much playing a large scale version of Hot Potato within that giant vertical parking garage....it gets pretty brutal and tense, though you always have to wonder as to HOW some one like Nyquist (great actor but still) is possibly able to hold his own with Cruise. 🤔 Not only that sequence but of course the foot chase in Dubai - just no possible way this dude could out-run The Cruise Missile.😛 Along those lines, the weakest part of this movie is likely the villain....which isn't to say that Nyquist is BAD, he's just not given much to do. We don't even see any kind of verbal interaction between him and Hunt which is just strange for a spy genre piece like this. From what I understand, there were some critical scenes fleshing out Cobalt which were left on the cutting room floor and that feels very apparent.
I can kind of understand since the rest of this film is of course almost an embarrassment of riches - no bad scenes, no weak performances, sharp dialogue, and just a beautifully orchestrated forward momentum which takes you right through to the end with our team now taking stock of things having beers in the Seattle harbor. It's very much a self-consciously TV action drama pilot kind of ending but in this context, it just works...considering the TV roots of this franchise. But make no mistake, this is a MOVIE in the purest sense, it was made for the IMAX screen but still retains its joys watching it any format.
Cruise-iest Moment (Tom Cruise has become SUCH an otherworldly star to the point where many have often speculated as to whether he in fact a REAL living, breathing human being. This would be the moment in this film which most brings this speculation to light….):
Overall with a couple of minor exceptions, Cruise gives a relatively natural subdued performance here – this is probably the first of the Mission Impossible series where his Ethan Hunt is mostly a man of action and that serves the movie very well. However towards the end of that first act extended setpiece at the Kremlin, he has ONE particular Cruisey moment which always makes me laugh a bit. You see he has been playing this whole setpiece heavily disguised as a Russian military officer including that aforementioned mustache. At this point in the sequence, Ethan has just found out that the computer files they were hoping to secure have already been stolen by Cobalt….so the next move is to get out of there as SOON as possible! We see Ethan run out through various tunnels and once he gets outside, he does this impressively fluid costume change while walking briskly. It’s occurs SO quickly, I’m not quite sure how he’s able to change his clothes while walking and it DOES feel unnatural as we see him moving this string pull at the shoulder area to replace his shirt.
And what’s funny is that the get-up we then see him in is just SUCH an obvious ploy to look like an American tourist, you have to wonder why he even bothered: he’s wearing a black leather jacket over a bright white Bruce Springstein T-shit with an American flag on it and blue jeans….nope not inconspicuous at all. Even funnier…..Cruise doesn’t look ANY more comfortable wearing the garb of this prototypical All-American tourist than he did as a Russian military officer.
Best Needledrop (best song cue or score used throughout runtime of film):
It’s tempting to choose classic needle-drop stalwart “A Kick In the Head” over that cold open sequence but yeah….this IS a Mission Impossible movie after all and at the end of the day, I’m still just a sucker for that original catchy theme originally created by the legendary Lalo Schifrin. And it’s recreated elegantly for the opening credits sequence by composer Michael Giacchino who has done his share of big time scores including recently for The Batman and the recent Star Trek films as well.
He's not really doing anything new here with it but it sounds effective and what’s even better is that this is the rare occasion when the theme is kicked off with the image of an actual FUSE being LIT which was the conceit of the original show. (Audio clip) And what follows is a nice sorta-precap montage of every major action sequence to follow in the movie – which is all intercut with the flame burning down that fuse – and every sequence is shot in a careful way so as not to spoil anything major….in essence this is just a cleverly constructed trailer for the movie WITHIN the opening credits. (Audio clip)
Wasted Talent (most under-utilized talent involved with film):
One of the more notable members of the IMF team in this sequel is Jane played by Paula Patton. Props to her for making the most of a relatively underwritten role with some nice action AND emotional beats. That quick, mean fight between her and future Bond-girl Lea Sedoux is a nice little show-stopper and the way it ends....I love that Bird WENT there after setting the stakes a couple of scenes prior watching Hunt struggle out there. :o I'm still at a loss as to why Patton hasn't returned to this franchise since then....she's kind of the heart of this movie and I would have liked to have seen her continuing to traverse the globe with the IMF gang. (Audio clip)
Trailer Moment (scene or moment that best describes this movie):
Obviously the high-water mark of the film (and likely the franchise) STILL remains that extended Dubai sequence....and I'm including from the time Ethan's face starts to drop when Benji tells him he has to go outside along the side of the Burj Khalifa all the way through when he watches Cobalt hitch a ride escaping him yet again in the middle of that sandstorm. It's just 25 minutes of pure gold! And as impressive as the stuntwork is alongside that skyscraper, what REALLY sells that sequence the most is Cruise's silent acting - he's both scared AND annoyed that he has to do this, the exasperation we see on his face whenever those gloves start to malfunction is just priceless.....as is the fun back-and-forth between him and Jeremy Renner, resulting in what might be THE funniest "No SHIT!" uttered in recent history. 🤭
MVP (person or people most responsible for the success of this film):
Before directing this sequel, Brad Bird had already built up an impressive career in animation, helming some of THE best animated movies of the modern era including The Incredibles, The Iron Giant, and Ratatouille. With this being his first live action feature, Bird was certainly taking some pages out the playback of the previous MI director, also producer here....JJ Abrams. Abrams just LOVES moving his stories forward via incident. 😆 If the major characters are just sitting down to talk at any given point, you can bet that momentarily....SOMETHING is gonna explode or some one's gonna get shot to break up the scene. And while there's a good amount of that here, Bird just does it all much more artfully - he'll allow something just silly to break up a scene.....like a 3D face mask printer which suddenly malfunctions....or for the message self-destruct to occur 30 seconds late. ;) This thing MOVES but it's much more organic....and while he maintains a generally playful tone throughout, it never lessens the stakes of some just TRULY impressive action and suspense setpieces throughout.
It's SO tempting to anoint Cruise for this category and it’s a close call as this was VERY much a turning point for his career as it kicked off this current stage of death-defying stuntwork becoming so important to his brand as a movie star. The Burj Kalifa sequence was a gamechanger and it was all over the marketing for this movie too. And yet in totality, this movie is actually a full-on team-oriented romp where just about every one in the cast shines and has their moments – this was also THE first film in the Mission Impossible franchise to successfully pull off that team vibe for its entire runtime as the previous films focused much more on the character of Ethan Hunt even from a personal standpoint. If you go back to the original core concept of the original TV show, it was almost first and foremost about the MISSION and the IMF TEAM….not Ethan Hunt nor Jim Phelps who was the default lead played by Pater Graves. For being THE first director to successfully pull this off for the franchise and for bringing such flair and confidence to every action or suspense set piece, Brad Bird has to be the MVP.
Final Rating: 4.5 stars out of 5
Of the franchise overall, I'm torn between considering this OR 'Rogue Nation the top entry....it's close and 'Fallout isn't far behind either.
Streaming on Paramount Plus
And that ends another SELF-DESTRUCTING review!