Movie Review – Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One

One way ticket to thrill

I read a comment somewhere saying, “Tom Cruise runs, rides, jumps, flies, clings to his dear life and does every possible stunt on Mother Earth. What else can he do in the grand finale?” But isn’t it the question which people have been asking since the second part, which at that time felt too good to be true. That’s what Tom Cruise can do. A true blue action junkie for the big screen. The one who makes everyone feel young and plausible. I’m sure no one who came out of the movie would have come home sane without raising the throttle at least once.

The movie begins with a submarine and a kind of superpower which was hidden in it. There was some sort of missile showing in the radar. They keep on stating that they’re invisible and don’t understand what’s that coming towards them. But the missile coming at them also becomes invisible. I thought the sequence would end then and there by Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) coming inside the submarine by being invisible and it’ll all be a little joke of the Russians but unfortunately that was the plot of the movie.

We get to the see the very first troupe of mask change at the start of the movie, followed by the template title cards. The mask scene didn’t work but the title card was lovely. In fact the best from what I can remember. Whatever the “Entity” is and what it does is not a problem for anyone because the director, Christopher McQuarrie, doesn’t let you think beyond it as an invisible villain. What a combination, McQuarrie and Tom Cruise are. Should be hailed as one of the best combos of Hollywood.

Hunt and his friends, Luther Stickell (Ving Rhames) and Benji Dunn (Simon Pegg) try to go after one part of the key first up but in turn get robbed by someone. It was far-fetched to see such an intelligent team getting robbed by a petty thief, Grace (Hayley Atwell), who was downright annoying, as opposed to an effervescent Helena Shaw (Phoebe Waller-Bridge) from a much recent ‘Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny’. In fact when Hunt sticks on to her, tries to save her in a car chase and from White Widow (Vanessa Kirby), it was irritating. She couldn’t get the sympathy of me. Especially the scene where she handcuffs him to the car, was limits.

What follows is a series of Mission Impossible troupes, which keeps us engaged but feels repetitive and compulsory. There were high octane scenes of course and keeps us glued to the scene but there wasn’t any surprise element. None of the troupes give a wow moment. Be it the bike ride, the running, Benji being delirious etc. It was like watching a big star movie who does his trademark thing time and again. Fortunately or unfortunately it works but a bit of innovation would have been nice.

The other characters have nothing to do and apart from a series of action scenes there weren’t a single scene which people could connect. Thanks to the bad audio and no subtitles, audience started chit chatting and munching popcorn as soon as action scenes get over. The movie is worth the time, they forget the popcorn. But thankfully it was a whole lot of time.

Coming to the greatest action scene as advertised by the makers. It feels like the whole film happens for that. But to be honest, it happens too fast without letting anyone feel it. It’s just the one shot. The making felt lot better than the actual scene. With any other film, the train stunt post that would have felt unnecessary but the director and actors make that work too. We can see how they are seeing the film. It could have easily looked like a circus with people jumping like clowns here and there. But it’s the sincerity which propels the film to the next level. In fact god level. I don’t know whether I should be happy that everyone could feel the film as their own and root for the protagonist or worry about how the fans of certain actors could only wish that their hero makes such films.

See, in short, I can never write a good review for this movie, but I can never hate the movie. Mission Impossible series more than anything is a part of our life. It’s the last of something great. Like how, even if the final part of the Indiana Jones was a bomb, how the last book was unnecessarily made into two parts for Harry Potter, this too is one such series you can’t miss out. It’s to be watched in theatres and relished. Reviews are for another time.

Movie Review – Mission: Impossible – Fallout

Falls in place, almost always!

We get to the story right from scene one, there isn’t a thrilling sequence like the previous films. In fact there is more drama in the film than the other. We see Ethan thinking about his wife and then goes on mission. It’s like someone who goes to office for their daily work. Everyone is relaxed. Which makes even us relaxed. We think that there is going to be some normal sequence from where the next part of story would be got. When the plutonium core which they try to get, gets lost, happens because of drama too. Trying to save Luther Stickell (Ving Rhames). So we get to know that there is going to be lot of emotion in the film.

Because of his failure, an August Walker (an irritating Henry Cavill) joins Hunt in investigation. His role absolutely didn’t work for me. He looked like an Amul Baby villain from Dhanush movie. Especially during the climax sequences. It didn’t feel like he’s even a threat for IMF or Hunt. The White Widow sequences were a lull but I liked the way she looked and her makeup. Her characterization and her acting was top notch. Wish there were more typical MI moments in the film involving her.

The mid action sequence where Hunt tries to save Lane was not up to the mark of previous installments because of possible MI elements not being there in the movie. Nevertheless it still was thrilling. But I loved the scene where IMF plays double bluff to know that August Walker is indeed Lark, was good. But the problem for me is that I found that it’d be the double bluff. Even the first scene when the plutonium core lies in the middle of the escape road I thought it’d be taken and so it was. On top of it, the scene was not convincing.

But every scene from the movie till then gets overcome by the great grand finale. The last two minutes or so with Hunt and Helicopters on top of Nubra Valley was shot terrifically well. This film’s approach was more traditional than the other MI films where it’d be sequenced in its own way. But here everything was built for a grand climax. Not that I complain but when I look back it feels different than the other MI films.

If the film had a better villain for August Walker, may be I’d have loved it even more. Like I said before the drama extends even in the climax with Hunt’s wife being in the picture. Sometime before, there is even an emotional scene where Luther tells about Hunt’s wife to Ilsa. I loved the way Ilsa reacts to that scene as well as in the climax where she accolades her defusing the bomb along with Luther.

May be I’d have liked the film a lot better if I had not watched it along with Rogue Nation. Because many of the moments would be similar in a sequel. Even though the structure of this film is different than that of Ghost Protocol and Rogue Nation, the similarity still is striking and not in stark contrast.