Rulerofowls (ROW) and Highbrowl (H) just watched Mission Impossible from director Christopher McQuarrie, which stars Tom Cruise, Henry Cavill, Rebecca Ferguson, Ving Rhames and Simon Pegg amongst other A-list stars. This conversation took place right after the end of the movie:
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- ROW: Last time we came to the movies, we saw The Meg and you said that you would rather watch this one for some good thrills. Did your prediction come true?
- H: Dude, I knew the Christopher McQuarrie and Tom Cruise duo would deliver a great blockbuster again, but this might be their best one yet!
- ROW: Oh yeah, they did Jack Reacher and MI: Rogue Nation together right?
- H: Yep. They also worked on The Edge of Tomorrow together, but McQuarrie was the screenplay writer on that one; he was also the screenwriter on that new The Mummy movie, but we won’t talk about that!
- ROW: No we won’t, because unlike that owl awful The Mummy reboot, MI: Fallout is fucking amazing!
- H: Yes it is! There were a few choices I didn’t like, but once this movie gets going, it’s pedal to the medal! It’s non-stop action, with great stunts and set-pieces, awesome performances and directing, to mark another fantastic addition to the MI franchise.
- ROW: It does and, even though we literally just saw it, it’s one of my favorite MI movies and one of my favorite Tom Cruise action performances; I’m an owl with wings and shit, and you couldn’t pay me enough to do half of the stuff he does in this movie!
- H: Well, we already saw glimpses of the helicopter stunt in some trailers, but the whole stunt is just amazing; I’m owlnestly convinced he has a death wish, or he actually thinks he is indestructible!
- ROW: I’m just glad that in this age of CGI and quick-cut editing, one of the highest paid actors in the world still wants to create these amazing practical effect driven action movies, with actual stunt work and set-pieces revolving around that; because it wasn’t just the helicopter stunt! Practically, the whole movie is a series of incredible stunts, once we leave the incredibly slow and kind of dull first act.
- H: Yeah, I wasn’t a fan of the opening half an hour, or the actual ending; I thought that the ending reveal of a character’s role could have been less jarring and kind of rushed-like they didn’t know the end path for that character and decided to do that in the edit.
- ROW: Yeah, the opening is really slow compared to the full-paced sprint that follows, and that’s the only thing that honestly hurts this movie in my mind; as far as the ending was concerned I was not bothered by that, because the implications are not that huge and don’t really change anything in terms of the sequel. The thing that did bother me a little was the fact that out of all the MI movies, this was the one that actually scrapped the “mission impossible” concept; the plot of the movie does not really involve an impossible mission, but a more “traditional” action movie plot of “shit happens, lets improvise our way out of said shit”.
- H: Yeah, but it did involve impossible odds and this did allow the characters to interact with each other and create a likeable relationship between them. Also, I’m okay with this change, because it should allow the creative team behind the franchise to come up with crazy stunts and more action scenarios, to keep the franchise from getting old and give Tom Cruise more reasons to drive motorcycles, run fast towards something and create an unnecessarily dangerous stunt to test out his theory of being unkillable!
- ROW: Well, we gushed enough about Tom Cruise-because he deserves the recognition- and his admirable “obsession” to create the best action experience for the audience, which is why he does all of these stunts; if you see the actor putting his health on the line to create this movie, you feel the actual danger and the adrenaline, but you also appreciate the hard work and skill required to pull something like this off. I wanna gush about the other cast members a bit as well, because they deserve it too!
- H: Oh yes they do! Once again, Rebecca Ferguson as Ilsa is badass, Simon Pegg and Ving Rhames are much more than comic relief characters, and Henry Cavill is…fine. I thought he could have been better, but he is immensely physical and that suits him well in the action scenes; Alec Baldwin also returns and is, as always, really good in his role!
- ROW: Well, they all could have been better characters, but that’s the movie’s main flaw: It cares about the characters, the action, the set-pieces, the really beautiful cinematography, but as a story it doesn’t really hold up. The non-physical characters like Simon Pegg’s Benji are well handled, but the plot treats them like every other character: as a way to get to the next bit of action or exposition to move the plot further forward. This made them less fun for me.
- H: I get that and agree with you, but the movie does ask you to care about these characters multiple times and I did; sure we have at least 2 movies with Ilsa, while Benji and Luther have at least 4, so it wasn’t all established in this movie, but it still counts.
- ROW: Yeah, and also I’m not treating these issues like with any other movie, because the primary focus of MI: Fallout is to create a fun action movie, and it passes that test with flying honors. Yes, the plot isn’t that great and the MI “formula” is not followed, but it actually leads to a better action movie and if they can keep delivering on that aspect, then these issues are ultimately meaningless!
- H: Also, the older movies and TV show are there and you could always watch those again; in fact, you interested in watching MI: Rogue Nation?
- ROW: Not really…
- H: Ooooohhh…
- ROW: But, I am interested in doing an MI marathon!
- H: Nowl you’re talking! Let’s go get some beers, some jelly beans and some ice cream!
Ruler of Owls 