To my everlasting shame, I have never seen the first three Mission Impossible films. I have seen the fourth film, and thought it was excellent. I thought this film looked pretty good, and found myself very excited to watch Tom Cruise pull off impossible stunts that I could never pull off in a million years. The film ended up being pretty good, but not among my favorite action films of the year.
Your Mission, Should You Choose To Accept It
Starting off with the positives (and there are plenty of them), the action is the main highlight in this film. The entire cast certainly give the film all they have got, but the standout is, of course, Mr. Cruise. Hanging on the side of a moving plane, holding his breath underwater for 6 minutes, and engaging in a deadly motorcycle chase, is there anything this man can not do? I truly admire Cruise and his devotion to his films. Because of his devotion, these scenes are elevated with a sense of suspense and tension. Particularly the scene where he is underwater. I found myself on the edge of my seat, and it definitely stole the show for me. Other members of the cast that certainly deserve mention include: Rebecca Ferguson, Sean Harris, Simon Pegg, and Jeremy Renner. Ferguson truly impressed me because she was not your average female character. She held her own against Tom Cruise, and proved herself a worthy female action star. I hope to see more of her in the future. Harris played the villain this time around, and while I did not think he was a particularly strong villain, he was incredibly menacing. I have not seen much from the actor in other films, but I hope his career really takes off after this. Pegg and Renner both have smaller role than in the past, and I believe this is due to scheduling conflicts. The fourth film in the series focused on more of a teamwork dynamic, whereas this film focused a bit more on Cruise’s Ethan Hunt on his own. Both of the actors handled their material brilliantly, but I think the film would have benefited from more Renner. He stole almost every scene he was in. Another plus of the film is in the cinematography. I thought the film was very well shot, which helped elevate the action scenes. A lazy approach to action would be to shake the camera nonsensically, but this film kept the camera fairly steady which allowed the action to feel more real.
An Anti-IMF
My biggest gripe with the film is that it was not anything special for me. Sure, the action scenes were great, but there was not too much style involved with the film. It had many “cookie-cutter” action tropes riddled throughout, which made it seem like a more blander action film than it should be. Another problem I had with the film is the plot. I think the plot should have been more basic than they made it. The reason why anyone goes to these films is to see the spectacle, but the filmmakers seemed to bight off more than they could chew. It is not to say that the plot is bad, but it often felt very bland, and a bit convoluted. The film also felt very predictable to me. Rebecca Ferguson’s character is meant to be a giant question mark. Throughout the film they threw in certain twists and turns with her character that made the audience question whose side she is really on. The problem I had was that it seemed obvious who she will ultimately side with, but the film threw in too many twists with her that really prolonged the weak reveal.
Closing Remarks
Once again, I quite enjoyed this film. It is not among my favorite action films for the year, or even for the past couple of years, but I still thought it was good. The entire cast worked well, the action was fantastic, but the film’s plot and the film itself were not anything entirely special. I do hope they make more of these films because while they may be flawed in several ways, they are undeniably entertaining.