so with these best and worst videos, i oftencover franchises that have very different variations in quality throughout. with some extreme highs and some extreme lows. and today is no exception. today i’m gonna be talking about all 5 missionimpossible movies going in order of release. also, i will be talking about these movieswill full spoilers, so if you haven’t seen some of these, you can skip around to eachmovie as there are time stamps in the description down below. alright then, let’s get into it.
mission: impossibleso let’s start off with the 1996 classic, mission: impossible. this movie was pretty huge when it came out,but i however was not around to see that unfold back then. so i can sit here today and answer the question:does it still hold up? yeah, it really does in almost every way. not flawless, but still really great. the cast is really solid. tom cruise who was still an up and comingaction star when this came out is great here,
one his best performances in any of the missionimpossible movies. ving rhames is really funny in this, jon voightis really good, pretty much everyone does a great job even if a few performances area bit over the top. the music is of course amazing and super iconic,every time that classic mission impossible theme kicks in i can’t help but smile. the directing is also really great. this was directed by brian de palma, who you’llknow from stuff like scarface and the original carrie, and he brings a lot of really solidand unique stuff to this movie in terms of how it’s shot, in particular the scene whereethan’s talking to the cia guy after his
team’s been murdered. that’s another thing, this movie is fullof twists and turns, and some of them, yeah maybe you can see them coming. but the part where his entire crew dies inthe first action scene, i honestly did not know that going in and that surprised me. through these twists and also just the tensionfilled scenes which we’ll get to in a sec, the movie does a great job of building suspensethroughout, it’s probably the most suspenseful mission impossible movie. it’s a kind of psychological thriller ina few parts, which i think is an interesting
choice for this kind of fun action movie. the movie’s well paced, it doesn’t goon for too long, it’s funny sometimes,and really, it’s just a lot of fun to watch. the mission impossible stuff in it, specificallythat big famous mission impossible heist, is amazing. that scene is spectacular, and as we’llget to later, i love all this kind of undercover secret mission planning ahead spy gadget stuff. that kind of stuff comes more into play inlater movies, but it’s still present here and i really enjoyed it.
the visual effects are also really great especiallyfor 1996, although some of those mission impossible masks look a little….interesting these days. as far as what doesn’t really work aboutthis movie, well it came out in the mid-90s so it is a little bit dated, at least in theterms of the tech they use. the actual straight ahead action, like fistfights and all that, there isn’t a ton of it, but it isn’t particularly great. with the exception of some of the sutns andall the stuff on the train at the end which is pretty great, both visual effects wiseand one-liner wise. *red light* i don’t really know if i can call this aproblem with the movie, and it’s not really
the movie’s fault, but i think one of thedownfalls of this movie is the fact that it is the first mission impossible, and so itcan’t really mission impossible it up too much, with ridiculous tom cruise running ortotally insane fun gadgets and what not. my point is, i personally prefer the laterfilms where the movies don’t take themselves as seriously. that’s just my preference. however, the relatively more serious takeactually really works for what this movie wants to be, it doesn't’ feel annoyinglymelodramatic or anything, and there are still a lot of cool spy action moments.
in conclusion, mission: impossible is a fun,tense, exciting start to a franchise that still holds up today. is it the best mission: impossible, no. but it’s still a really entertaining moviethat if you haven’t already seen, i think is worth your time. i’ll give mission: impossible an 8.6/10. mission: impossible 2ok. now we’ve arrived to a really, really awfulmovie that i kind of love. mission: impossible 2 is so bad that i personallyfound it extremely hilarious.
i had such a blast watching this movie, cuzit’s going for so much and achieves so little in the process, besides being really damnfunny to me. ok, i’ll be honest, while i’m writingthis video, i have like three whole pages of notes for this movie and i legit do notknow where to start. so let’s just go in order of how the movieplays out for now. so there are quite a few times in this moviewhere i burst out laughing, and the first one of these comes in the opening scene whenthe bad guy disguised as tom cruise does this. *clip* i mean, that’s just great on itsown. for the record, the limp bizkit rock coverof the mission impossible theme made me laugh
every time it played. it’s so over the top trying to be hardcorethat i kind of love it. just from the first couple of scenes of themovie you can tell that the writing is really bad and just super corny here, and the directingis not very good, definitely not as good as the first movie. i haven’t seen any john woo movies, buti know from pop culture and what not the tropes of a john woo movie, and this entire movieis just the epitome of that. the movie then cuts to the famous “tom cruiseis climbing a mountain because he’s tom cruiseâ€....scene.
here he gets a message delivered by sunglasseswhich are delivered by a missile which is delivered by a helicopter on top of this mountain. i know the mission impossible movies are famousfor kind of having ridiculous mission delivering systems, but like this just doesn’t makesense, all this seems inconvenient. this movie feels almost like a mission impossibleparody in some ways. *clip of him throwing the sunglasses*another problem that you’ll notice with this movie early on is ethan hunt is not atall the same character as he was in the last movie. and not in a sequel way where the characterhas progressed naturally into this better
version from the last movie, this is justweirdly not the same guy. *“do you mind if i’m on topâ€*. like….what it is this? it feels weirdly like they’re trying tomake ethan hunt james bond in this and it really doesn’t work. speaking of which, the cast is….weird….inthis. some of the performances are really cartoonyand not very good. tom cruise tom cruises it up a lot in thismovie, he has great flowing hair, and no matter the situation, he’s always smiling likethe insane serial killer maybe maybe not ghost
worshipping muppet man that he is, which ijust find amusing. the girl in this, nyah, she isn’t awful. anthony hopkins isn’t terrible, he’s alright. besides this line *mission difficult* yeahthat’s just cinematic gold right there. the villain, played by not-wolverine is prettybad, and there’s the weird love triangle between him, tom cruise and the main girl,which just does not need to be here. like i do not come to a mission impossiblemovie for love triangles. these characters are also not only highlytrained spies but also just, you know, adults, but sometimes in this movie they act how,like, high schoolers would act in these situations.
ving rhames and this australian guy just kindof show up a third throw the movie, like ethan hunt, luther doesn’t really feel like thesame character from the last movie besides the fact that he….hacks stuff. pretty much everything else in this moviemisses the mark too. the editing is awful in this, just look atthis scene. *zoom on tom cruise’s face*. there are continuity errors, the movie’splot is often times confusing and doesn’t make a ton of sense. the reason for this is that the original cutof this movie was about an hour and a half
longer, and r rated, so a lot of stuff wascut out of this. while some visual effects are ok, some visualeffects are actually worse than the first movie, that mask effect i noticed in particularis someone worse than it was before. also, can i just say, there are so many goddamnmasks in this movie, like by the third one i was ready to scream at my computer. the action here is really bad and does nothold up. again, from what i know about him, it’sall very john woo-y. there’s tons of slow motion and zoom pansand over the top sound effects and wielding two guns at once and packs of birds and allthat.
the hand to hand stuff is really bad, it takeslike 8 cuts for one jump kick to happen. *tom cruise walking with dove* oh my god. you gotta at least admire how much this moviecommits to the ridiculousness. the music generally is terrible in this, imentioned the limp bizkit stuff before and the rock mi theme, but when that’s not playingit’s just the most generic, sitcom-esque music. as previously mentioned the movie is reallypoorly written and the actors cannot pull off some of this dialogue. *damn you’re beautiful* *pained sigh* *spankme line* like….wha-.....what am i even doing
here. also, when the movie’s actually trying tobe funny, it doesn’t really work. the movie’s plot is also pretty bad, it’svery predictable. like when ethan and that one bad guy walkin, having never seen this part of the movie, i was like, they’re definitely, 100% wearingmasks here. also, when he shoots the obviously not ethanand that battle royale-ish music starts playing….i mean, there’s nothing really to say at thispoint. *clip*i will admit, the climax of this movie, while equally as dumb as the rest of it, was stillquite entertaining to me.
a few of the gadgets especially towards theend were kind of cool, i do still have a soft spot for this spy gadget infiltration kindof stuff that we’ll get more into later. look, i could’ve honestly written another10 minute piece just on how stupid this climax is, but i feel like i’d just be repeatingmyself. either you’ve seen this movie and you knowhow stupid it is, or you can assume based on what i’ve said so far and what you’reseeing now that this climax is pretty freaking stupid. to be honest that final fight between tomcruise and dougray scott isn’t that bad, it’s very obviously choreographed, but it’sthe closest thing to an actual unironic good
action scene in this movie, i like the knifeeye bit at the end, that was pretty good. how scott dies though at the end, again, it’sstupid and it’s pretty anticlimactic, you know what, i’m done talking about this movie. look, i know this review was a bit all overthe place, but so is this movie. mission impossible 2 is literally laughablybad, i had a great time with this movie cuz it’s so dumb, it thoroughly entertainedme throughout. i’ll give mi2 a 5/10. mission: impossible 3so after mission impossible 2, paramount i guess realized that the franchise needed amajor shift in both tone and quality, and
so j.j. abrams was hired to do the third entry. and oh man did they shift in tone, becausethis by far the darkest mission impossible this is how the last movie opened *mountainclimbing clip* this is how this movie opened *wife getting shot in the leg*. last movie *goofy clip* this movie *countedto ten clip*. besides that, this movie is pretty good. not amazing, but solid. firstly, the good. the cast this time around is great.
tom cruise actually feels like ethan huntagain, and ethan hunt once again actually feels like a real person, which is nice. there’s yet another disposable mission impossibleteam that’s not gonna stick around, but they’re pretty good. ving rhames is once again pretty fun. simon pegg shows up for the first time inthis series, he’s there very briefly but his part is quite funny. michelle monaghan is great as ethan hunt’swife. laurence fishburne’s good, dr. manhattan’sgood, aaron paul is in this briefly.
when he showed up i was like, jesse? what the hell are you doing here? but by far the stand out performance in thisis philip seymour hoffman as the villain. the mission impossible movies generally don’thave great villains, but this is the one exception. philip seymour hoffman is incredible in thisrole, super intimidating, super frightening, just all around awesome villain. that’s the one thing i can say this moviedoes better than any other mission impossible when he dies at the end, for once it’s actuallyextremely satisfying seeing this kind of horrible human being get killed.
like i said this movie is much grittier andmuch more grounded than the other films in the series. even down to the color palette and the wayit’s shot, it’s very noticeably different. there are still some fun mission impossiblymoments, like the whole vatican bit, that’s pretty great. there are also some cool action scenes, somegreat visual effects, and some good stunt work. in this movie, as opposed to the others, theyactually try to give ethan hunt more of a character.
like in the first movie they kind of did someof that but in 2, 4, and 5, even though i love 2 of those, you don’t really know muchabout ethan hunt as a person for most of those. they try a tiny bit in 4, but really, he’sjust there to do stunts and say cool things and ride motorcycles. here they give him a wife and try to givehim more of a personality kind of, which i can appreciate. even the good guys in this movie do some darkmessed up things, which helps add to them a bit. however, this is where i talk about the negatives,and really the main one is that this isn’t
really anything special. it’s just not super memorable, all i reallyremember is philip seymour hoffman. i think maybe the biggest fault of this movieis that (while i do like the idea of these movies trying sort of different things tospice it up), this is not very mission impossible and is more just a standard action movie. it’s a cool action movie with some fun,gadgety moments, but there’s nothing that really sticks out about it, especially inthe sense of it being a mission impossible that’s all i can really say, the movie’sgood, but besides the villain, there’s really nothing that sticks out to me where i go,yeah, now that’s mission impossible 3!
i will say though before i wrap this up, saywhat will you will about tom cruise….but that man can run. like, my god….what a champ. in conclusion, mission impossible 3 is definitelya step up in the franchise, and each time i watch i enjoy it. it’s a good movie, and it’s definitelythe darkest in the series. it’s what this franchise needed after mi2. but for me personally it has quite a few flaws,it’s weirdly paced, and i find it very forgettable. i’ll give mission: impossible 3 a 7/10.
mission: impossible - ghost protocolso now we’ve come to maybe my favorite spy movie and just one of my favorite action moviesof all time. mission: impossible - ghost protocol, is awesome! now before i jump into the real reasons thati think everyone can really enjoy this movie, this movie also has a personal aspect of itfor me. in my spare time i like to make little shortaction films with my friends and family, and this movie has inspired me in those littlemovies that i make on my own time since i was like 11 years old, and i’m sure willcontinue to inspire for as long as i make movies.
and like i’ve said before, i absolutelylove all this spy gadget infiltration type stuff, hell when i was a little kid i wrotebooks about spies who had crazy obscure tools hidden in their everyday accessories, likea grappling hook in their neck ties, don’t ask, and this movie perfectly embodies that,so that’s why i kind of love this movie on more than just a “this is a super funmovie†level. besides that though, this is also just a superfun movie. this was directed by brad bird, one of myfavorite directors. his previous work includes the incrediblesand the iron giant, two of my favorite movies. and after the darkness and grittiness of 3,he definitely managed to put the fun back
in mission impossible, but in a good way. and unlike mission impossible 3, this movieis super memorable, from the opening scene with thedean martin music, which i absolutely love, to the kremlin infiltration, to the big stunts,just everything about this stayed with me. this was a super fun, light hearted actionromp, but it also still managed to have stakes for most of it. the cast once again is great here, cruiseis of course great, pegg is of course great, there’s another kind of disposable team,but this one is slightly less disposable than before.
i like paula patton as agent carter, and overthe years, since the avengers came out, i’ve actually started becoming a really big fanof jeremy renner. he works extremely well as a supporting actor,and i’ve enjoyed him in pretty much everything i’ve seen him in since, and he’s greathere. the music by michael giacchino is great, themovie’s really, really funny, it’s well paced and really fast paced, there’s neverreally any down time in this movie. it takes all the best elements from the othermission impossible movies and blends them together, it has great stunts, fun moments,tense scenes, lots of tom cruise’s beautiful hair and tom cruise’s beautiful running,there are cool gadgets and disguises and gorgeous
locations, just everything. but even with all that it also plays aroundwith the mission impossible cliches a lot, and it was fun to see a mission impossiblemovie where basically none of their tech works. the visual effects here are great and thereare super fun, great action sequences and set pieces. and of course there’s the big burj khalifascene with the crazy tom cruise stunt, and yeah, even though i’ve seen it a dozen times,it’s still amazing. it’s some of the best movie stunt work ever,it’s also just a fun and very tense scene, and all i can say is that i wish i’d seenit in imax back in the day.
alos, while all the movies are kind of independentof each other and don’t really tie in, they do actually try to tie it together a bit withthis one with that whole jeremy renner and tom cruise’s wife storyline, and also youget to see michelle monaghan at the end, and that was just a nice nod to fans of the series. now, as much as i love this movie, the filmisn’t perfect. it’s close, especially for what this is,but there are a few issues. the main complaint i have with this and theone that everyone has with this is that the villain is extremely forgettable, that’sthe one aspect of this movie that i feel really just doesn't work.
he’s a very generic, replaceable villain,nothing compared to philip seymour hoffman. also, all the scenes that have to do withthe villain’s plan are a little bit dull and kind of take away from the rest of themovie. to be fair, there’s only like, one of thosescenes, but still. also, while the movie does poke fun at a lotof mission impossible tropes and does new stuff with them, which is great, there aresome mi tropes that start getting quite repetitive when you watch these movies back to back. also, i wouldn’t say the movie peaks withthe dubai stuff, cuz i really enjoy the rest of the movie, but i don’t think there’sanything as great after that scene.
and while we’re on that, while i love thatlast fight in the car park, i think it’s fun and creative, but it does get a littlebit too ridiculous in how invincible the characters rae. like putting aside this *hit on the head*,yeah, you’re dead, but whatever. even putting aside this *other hit* dead,but fine. but….how does he survive this? and better yet, how does he survive this? like come on, i get that this movie’s ridiculous,but there’s, you know, a bit of a limit on that.
however, still, overall, in case you couldn’ttell at this point, i absolutely love this it’s one of the most enjoyable action moviesi’ve ever seen, it’s filled with fun characters and crazy action sequences, it’s just theperfect example of what kind of movie you should make in this genre. i’ll give mission impossible ghost protocola 9.8/10. mission: impossible - rogue nationso now we’ve finally come to mission: impossible rogue nation. i did a review for this movie when it cameout, but after rewatching it a few times i have….pretty similar thoughts, but let’stalk about it anyway.
can i just say, i think it’s incrediblethat these movies have been going for over 20 years now, and they’re actually betterthan how they originally started. like, isn’t that kind of impressive? anyway, yeah, as previously mentioned, thismovie’s pretty awesome. as if it needs to be said, the cast is reallygood. all the returning cast members are great,especially ving rhames and jeremy renner together, who were surprisingly funny. rebecca ferguson is great in this, she reallyfeels like an actual badass and not just some side character that they’re unsuccessfullytrying to force as “oh she’s this really
cool woman, look she punched a guy.†no, here, she’s actually really cool. alec baldwin’s in this, he’s pretty solid,simon pegg is really funny again, and the villain is ok. he’s better than the one in 4, at leasthe has some kind of character, but he’s still a good ways off from philip seymourhoffman. the movie’s action and stunt work is amazing,as is to be expected from the franchise at this point. it famously opens with that plane stunt, whichis definitely the best stunt in the movie,
but again, like the burj khalifa scene, idon’t really feel like it makes the rest of the movie feel less good by comparison. there’s also a great variety of action throughout,with heists and fist fights and car chases and shootouts. the action scenes are well shot, i particularlylove the opera fight which is so much fun to watch play out, and the motorcycle chaseis maybe the best motorcycle i’ve ever seen in a film. the heist is also classic mission impossible,it’s super tense and as i found out recently a lot of fun to watch with a group of friendswho have never seen it before and so were
freaking out half the time. the action isn’t as spy gadget-y and missionimpossible-y as it was in ghost protocol, but it’s still really well shot and a tonof fun to watch. now there are some things that i don’t thinkare great about this movie. for one, ethan hunt doesn’t really feellike a real person anymore, he more just feels a bit like an action figure. which works for this movie, but i kinda wishwe knew a little bit more of just what the person ethan hunt is about. also, this is a small thing, but the villaindoes that cliche villain thing where he shoots
a nameless henchmen for no reason, that waskind of dumb. the movie, like all mission impossible movies,has some plot holes, but some that are very obvious. like when this heist is going down with thewater and all that and they have to do it before benji goes into the security and itends up happening concurrently so it’s more tense, why couldn’t benji just wait tenminutes before going in so he’d be at no risk? you could say, oh it’s just a movie it wouldn’tbe tense at all if they did that. but all the movie needed to do was have oneextra line of dialogue where someone says
“oh and by the way no one can enter thefacility after 7 o'clock in the morning†or something to that effect, something thatwould prompt them having to do this at the same time. the cgi in the movie is generally really good,but sometimes it’s not amazing. there’s a car flip that’s pretty bad. now just some quick fire things that i wasn’ta huge fan of: there’s also a little bit of drama thatseems a little forced, where characters just kind of start yellingat each other. the
final scene with the prime minister is a bitpredictable, in the sense that when i first saw it i was 100% sure someone in the roomwas tom cruise with a mask on. the part where they put the villain in a literalglass box at the end, eh that’s kind of dumb even for mission impossible. and also, tom cruise gives this quizzicaltom cruise look like 50 times in the movie. i know it’s his favorite facial expression,but like come on. i’m one step away from turning this intoa drinking game. in conclusion, mission: impossible 5 is great! i don’t think it’s as great as 4, butit’s about as good of a follow up as i could
hope for. if this is what this series is gonna be likegoing forward, then i’m totally on board. cool spy stuff mixed with good charactersand humor, count me in. i’ll give mission: impossible - rogue nationa 9.3/10. so those were my thoughts on the mission:impossible movies. which of these is your favorite? let me know all of your thoughts down belowin the comments. while you’re at it be sure to like thisvideo, check out my instagram and twitter @bhl_hudson, and subscribe for more videoslike the one you just watched.
thanks for watching and i’ll see ya nexttime.
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