Jul 12, 2023·edited Jul 12, 2023Liked by David Chen
If "Cruise paid $676,000 for a cruise ship", does he just call it a ship?
Great review as always. I am curious why you rate M:I 3 so low. That's my favorite of the series. After that, they all mush together for me. I can't tell you plots, but I can tell you stunts.
Agree with JMR about MI3 being one of the best ones. The MI films (to me) work best when it feels more like a TV show than a movie. MI3 was the movie that got the franchise back into more of a TV dynamic.
I was really, really looking forward to this film, and my most head-nodding part of your review, Dave, was "I wanted to love this." I thought it was perfectly fine, but truly nothing I haven't seen in any of the 1000 high-gloss action films that have come out in the last decade, and at least it SEEMS like we've seen a version of each of these set pieces in a previous Mission Impossible film. These were all done impeccably here, especially the train escape sequence, but I wasn't dazzled by any of them. I've seen the motorcycle jump so many times by this point, in both completed and raw footage format, that it brought zero dazzle. Plus, I've seen "Two or more people fighting on a moving train and having to duck to avoid tunnels and other stuff" set piece so many times that I shrug, and this part of it didn't bring anything new to it. The narrow alley fight felt like trying to one-up (or half-down) the bathroom stall fight sequence from the last movie, but this time it just felt like they were really forcing the twists and turns. When you have stuff like "The Old Man" showing brutal close-quarters fighting, it's extra silly now when there's exaggerated choreography in small spaces.
And as you stated, there was just SO. MUCH. EXPOSITION. In the end, I was thankful that we got it out of the way in those long, clunky exposition dumps, rather than having to stretch the movie out another thirty minutes by having that info doled out in a more organic fashion. When you know how the MI sausage is made (set pieces first followed by connective tissue figured out later), it all becomes much more clunky and pointless, but at least it's streamlined as much as it could possibly be.
The one fantastic thing I'll say this movie has going for it in spades is Haley Atwell. She owns this movie. I've always found her enjoyable in whatever I've seen her in, but here? She's been unlocked. If anything, this movie exposes a horrific movie crime, that we've been robbed of a decade's worth of Peggy (or even better, CAPTAIN) Carter movies. She should have been leading a series of action-packed MCU films. As it is, it seems clear that they are setting her up to take over the lead spy role in MI films after Dead Reckoning pt 2.
At the end of the day, I don't think this film is going to save Hollywood, or even be the easy #1 film of the summer. It's not Top Gun Maverick redux. I think this film will make the same range of money as the previous bests in the series. This movie is just too long, and is just more of the same kind of over-the-top action we've seen a million times. Good, but not needle-moving.
This year's Summer Movie Wager results are going to be BRUTAL. My #1 choice, Flash, is dead dead dead before it even had a chance to shine...
What the hell went wrong (besides a pandemic) with this movie? I finally watched it last night and it’s so spotty, poorly edited, has terrible green screen work, is overly talky and has none of the momentum of the previous ones. And the set up is far sillier than others in this already silly series.
I enjoy these films but only Fallout really rises to a masterpiece. But this felt like the Dark Knight Rises to Fallout’s Dark Knight. Pretty meh and no built in excitement for a part 2. If it never happened, we’d just shrug. The AI villain is uninteresting and doesn’t make much sense, especially when coupled with a dude we’re supposed to connect to through Hunt’s past but we’re only just meeting. And really, a magic key? Super lazy.
Agreed with your take, Dave. I felt restless as well and it was very strange. M:I - Fallout was a cinematic masterpiece on every level and I do not envy McQ & Cruise for their impossible mission of topping it. Still I enjoyed so many other aspects of M:I - DRPO despite it being bloated and inconsistent. I really hope Part Two succeeds where Part One faltered.
Long time listener of the Filmcast. I have not seen DR but I agree with your other rankings dead on. I am looking forward to seeing the film this week. Thanks for sharing your thoughts
If "Cruise paid $676,000 for a cruise ship", does he just call it a ship?
Great review as always. I am curious why you rate M:I 3 so low. That's my favorite of the series. After that, they all mush together for me. I can't tell you plots, but I can tell you stunts.
Agree with JMR about MI3 being one of the best ones. The MI films (to me) work best when it feels more like a TV show than a movie. MI3 was the movie that got the franchise back into more of a TV dynamic.
I was really, really looking forward to this film, and my most head-nodding part of your review, Dave, was "I wanted to love this." I thought it was perfectly fine, but truly nothing I haven't seen in any of the 1000 high-gloss action films that have come out in the last decade, and at least it SEEMS like we've seen a version of each of these set pieces in a previous Mission Impossible film. These were all done impeccably here, especially the train escape sequence, but I wasn't dazzled by any of them. I've seen the motorcycle jump so many times by this point, in both completed and raw footage format, that it brought zero dazzle. Plus, I've seen "Two or more people fighting on a moving train and having to duck to avoid tunnels and other stuff" set piece so many times that I shrug, and this part of it didn't bring anything new to it. The narrow alley fight felt like trying to one-up (or half-down) the bathroom stall fight sequence from the last movie, but this time it just felt like they were really forcing the twists and turns. When you have stuff like "The Old Man" showing brutal close-quarters fighting, it's extra silly now when there's exaggerated choreography in small spaces.
And as you stated, there was just SO. MUCH. EXPOSITION. In the end, I was thankful that we got it out of the way in those long, clunky exposition dumps, rather than having to stretch the movie out another thirty minutes by having that info doled out in a more organic fashion. When you know how the MI sausage is made (set pieces first followed by connective tissue figured out later), it all becomes much more clunky and pointless, but at least it's streamlined as much as it could possibly be.
The one fantastic thing I'll say this movie has going for it in spades is Haley Atwell. She owns this movie. I've always found her enjoyable in whatever I've seen her in, but here? She's been unlocked. If anything, this movie exposes a horrific movie crime, that we've been robbed of a decade's worth of Peggy (or even better, CAPTAIN) Carter movies. She should have been leading a series of action-packed MCU films. As it is, it seems clear that they are setting her up to take over the lead spy role in MI films after Dead Reckoning pt 2.
At the end of the day, I don't think this film is going to save Hollywood, or even be the easy #1 film of the summer. It's not Top Gun Maverick redux. I think this film will make the same range of money as the previous bests in the series. This movie is just too long, and is just more of the same kind of over-the-top action we've seen a million times. Good, but not needle-moving.
This year's Summer Movie Wager results are going to be BRUTAL. My #1 choice, Flash, is dead dead dead before it even had a chance to shine...
What the hell went wrong (besides a pandemic) with this movie? I finally watched it last night and it’s so spotty, poorly edited, has terrible green screen work, is overly talky and has none of the momentum of the previous ones. And the set up is far sillier than others in this already silly series.
I enjoy these films but only Fallout really rises to a masterpiece. But this felt like the Dark Knight Rises to Fallout’s Dark Knight. Pretty meh and no built in excitement for a part 2. If it never happened, we’d just shrug. The AI villain is uninteresting and doesn’t make much sense, especially when coupled with a dude we’re supposed to connect to through Hunt’s past but we’re only just meeting. And really, a magic key? Super lazy.
Agreed with your take, Dave. I felt restless as well and it was very strange. M:I - Fallout was a cinematic masterpiece on every level and I do not envy McQ & Cruise for their impossible mission of topping it. Still I enjoyed so many other aspects of M:I - DRPO despite it being bloated and inconsistent. I really hope Part Two succeeds where Part One faltered.
Long time listener of the Filmcast. I have not seen DR but I agree with your other rankings dead on. I am looking forward to seeing the film this week. Thanks for sharing your thoughts