Film Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One | The Biggest Stunt in Cinema History

Of course MI2 had great action scenes. It was directed by John Woo no less :p

Tom Cruise and John Woo should have been a match made in heaven with more movies than just MI2, as long as John Woo was allowed to work in the Hong Kong environment rather than the Hollywood environment. I think there’s a story about when Woo did his first Hollywood film Hard Target that studio executives assigned Sam Raimi to watch over him in case he messed anything up, to which Raimi just let him do whatever because he knew exactly what John Woo was about. Raimi basically said Woo is to action what Hitchcock is to suspense.
 
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The first one is still comfortably the best one, partly by virtue of the fact it’s so sweaty and paranoid and weird and DePalma-y, but mostly as it’s also still the only one that has a plot I can remember…. The action and spectacle is amazing in the newer ones but I could not tell you a single thing about whats happening or any of the characters in any of them… plus the ‘breaking into Langley’ sequence is still the most iconic thing to come from the franchise, and probably the most tense scene too, even if Tom Cruise is actually hanging off a plane or whatever. Even the Eurostar sequence has aged pretty well, despite looking like actual toys at various points.

I really enjoyed Fallout in the cinema, but I couldn’t have told you anything about it half an hour later.
 
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Mockney said:
The first one is still comfortably the best one
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Comfortably? Really? They're a completely different genre almost now of course; the first one nailed the espionage aspect but the last three have been expertly produced.

You've also reminded me that Jon Voight had some epic minor roles in the 90s with this, Heat and Enemy of the State.
 
Salt Bailly said:
Comfortably? Really? They're a completely different genre almost now of course; the first one nailed the espionage aspect but the last three have been expertly produced.
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That’s what I mean though, they’re brilliantly produced, for sure, but I couldn’t tell you anything about them for the life of me. I could tell you the plots to all three terrible Jurassic World movies before I could tell you the plot to any of the last 3 M:Is…. And I know that isn’t the point now, but the first one was at least still an actual film first
 
Mockney said:
That’s what I mean though, they’re brilliantly produced, for sure, but I couldn’t tell you anything about them for the life of me. I could tell you the plots to all three terrible Jurassic World movies before I could tell you the plot to any of the last 3 M:Is…. And I know that isn’t the point now, but the first one was at least still an actual film first
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Fair point. I remember the set pieces but not much of the stories.

The bolded is worrying, mind.
 
I enjoy these films, but can't remember the name of the characters or keep track of the plot or if the IMF team have gone rogue or not. They are a fun, but I'm not as blown away by this riding off a cliff stunt as I'm meant to be. Kind of feels like Tom Cruise is just living out a Bezos-style fantasy. Also, feels a bit disappointing they've settled into the Chris McQuarrie/Cruise production line, I enjoyed the rotating directors.
 
Herman Toothrot said:
..Also, feels a bit disappointing they've settled into the Chris McQuarrie/Cruise production line, I enjoyed the rotating directors.
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Yeah, as much as I think they're really well made, this was a cute unique little thing these films did that set them apart from most franchises. They all look and feel the same now. You don't see up anyone's noses or down anyone's tits anymore. Booo.
 
Salt Bailly said:
Comfortably? Really? They're a completely different genre almost now of course; the first one nailed the espionage aspect but the last three have been expertly produced.

You've also reminded me that Jon Voight had some epic minor roles in the 90s with this, Heat and Enemy of the State.
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He also had a memorable scene in Seinfeld.
 
On top of the everyone not actually knowing much about the storylines despite them being great spectacles.... what actually happened to Paula Patton's character? Like everyone else seems to have gotten a second outing at least at this point.
 
Zen said:
On top of the everyone not actually knowing much about the storylines despite them being great spectacles.... what actually happened to Paula Patton's character? Like everyone else seems to have gotten a second outing at least at this point.
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She was supposed to be in Rogue Nation, but Mcquarrie said there was scheduling conflicts that kept her out of the movie. If my memory serves though, around about the time they were shooting Rogue Nation, her marriage was falling apart to the guy she'd been with since she was 15. Which could explain why she couldn't commit to it.
 
MI 2 is the best by virtue of being the worst. Its gloriously stupid.
 
I can't remember which title is which film anymore. Agree with @Mockney about the first being the best, but the third with Seymour Hoffman isn't far behind
 
Very entertaining.

Cruise is an absolute legend. What he does at his age is ridiculous.

I wasn't the biggest fan of a few of the comedic moments, I felt they maybe went too far with them.
 
Bilbo said:
I can't remember which title is which film anymore. Agree with @Mockney about the first being the best, but the third with Seymour Hoffman isn't far behind
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Hoffman is the best villain in the series by an absolutely country mile… followed possibly by Cavill? I don’t think anyone but the writers care at all about Sean Harris bless him, despite being a good actor who they really tried to make into a nemesis.

The only other one I could even tell you exists was Dougary Scott.:lol: and to think, he gave up Wolverine for it
 
cesc's_mullet said:
Very entertaining.

Cruise is an absolute legend. What he does at his age is ridiculous.

I wasn't the biggest fan of a few of the comedic moments, I felt they maybe went too far with them.
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Isn't he getting blasted into space on a SpaceX mission to do a film on the ISS soon? I think he's even going to do a spacewalk outside the ISS as well.
 
I think I'll set up a ficticious medical appointment this week and go and watch one of the early showings on my own during work hours.
 
Mockney said:
Hoffman is the best villain in the series by an absolutely country mile… followed possibly by Cavill? I don’t think anyone but the writers care at all about Sean Harris bless him, despite being a good actor who they really tried to make into a nemesis.

The only other one I could even tell you exists was Dougary Scott.:lol: and to think, he gave up Wolverine for it
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Didn't know that. Dougray Scott seems even less realistic a Wolverine as he is a menacing villain. He must have a great agent.

Big fan of Sean Harris though. I've enjoyed every MI film apart from the second, but I've no idea which one was Rogue Nation or whatever else anymore
 
What a bloody fantastic film this was.

IMO the series has peaked, and I still expect the (potentially) final one to go even better.

Don't get me wrong, the plot is the kind of thing that's been done before (something that's missing which controls something powerful - has been done as recently as Transformers ROTB) but as with all things Cruise it carries it off so effortlessly and stylishly.

The stunts (including the main one near the end) are really impressive although I am biased about the 'train scene' because it was filmed not far from me!

The M:I films really are the classiest of action movies - when you compare them to Fast & Furious for example they look so amateurish.

I would say it's not quite as good as Top Gun Maverick but still I would recommend to everyone, brilliant.
 
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Watched it in IMAX yesterday, good movie, thin story line. Had fast and furious vibes about it with the story line that is weak writing. Action was brilliant, stunts are unreal, credit to Cruise for what he can do. I felt the movie dragged on just so they could make two out of them.

Acting was thin across all characters and just didn’t flow the way the previous ones did. I always felt immersed in the storyline and the movie but this one just didn’t have the same appeal to it.
 
So, out at the cinema tonight.
Have the option of this or Astroid City.
What is the opinion of the caf?
 
I thought it was very good - but a level below Rogue Nation and Fallout.

The set-pieces were obviously great - but I don't feel like anything really hit the heights of the last two films.

Also

Didn't really like the way Isla's charcter was handled - felt like such an after-thought
 
In the world's tallest IMAX theater & there's only a handful of people in here.

Sitting in the perfect seats.

Oppenheimer highlights look stupendous in IMAX.
 
Quite the spectacle, pacing was intense, set itself up for the final (?) movie well. Absolutely flew by.

Agree that 'Fallout' was a tad better, but once the second leg of 'Dead Reckoning' comes out, DR will be comfortably the best installment.
 
Well that was quite shit. ChatGpt as an antagonist was way too fecking much for me. The stunts felt very meh as well. None made me go holy feck.
 
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