This has a whole lot of title for a movie that should really
just be called MI7. Tom Cruise is bound and determined to do everything he can
to give the movie-going audience a thrill ride and I will always give him
credit for that.
In this particular mission, Ethan Hunt and team come up against an ‘entity’ – an AI that becomes self-aware and decides, like all movie AIs before it, that humanity is the problem and it is time to wipe them all out. It partners up with an agent of chaos from Ethan’s past and sends him after a key mcguffin that can be used to help it gain more power as Ethan attempts to stop it and save his friends. Stunts and hijinks ensue.
I have enjoyed the last few Mission Impossibles, but I genuinely could not tell you the plots of any of them. I could tell you the major stunt that Cruise did for each of them. That is how I tend to remember the movies – “The one with the underwater bit”, “The one with the high-altitude jump”, “The one where he is outside the plane”, and this one – “The one with the motorcycle cliff jump”. Once again, Christopher McQuarrie directs this one (he has done the last three) and the action sequences are spectacular. The car chases are amazing, the entire Uncharted style train sequence is wonderful, and yes, that motorcycle cliff jump is impressive.
For me personally, I will say that I am over generic all-powerful Artificial Intelligences being the villains in movies. Once that was revealed, I immediately checked out of the plot and found myself waiting on the next stunt. This particular movie AI is entirely too all-powerful and seems to be able to do everything, including threaten all of Ethan’s friends and team members as well as coordinate attacks against them. Esai Morales plays the human bad guy who is working for the AI because of some cult-like devotion to it. I would have so much preferred they allow Morales to be the villain. He is perfectly evil and emotionless all the way through and functions as a suitable counter to Tom Cruise’s Ethan. Especially with the connection from their past. And since you know this is ‘part one’, you know that this movie will end with a cliff-hanger where the team learns where the AI is housed and now has to plan to go after it.
The returning team of Cruise, Ving Rhames, Simon Pegg, Rebecca Ferguson, and even Vanessa Kirby are all wonderful, understand the assignment, and manage to balance the seriousness of the situations and action with a lightness and fun that keeps the movie entertaining.
I really enjoyed the addition of Hayley Atwell, who brought
a lightness and vivacity to the role as well as shed some light on how folks
are recruited to the IMF. She is fantastic and if the next
movie sees an end to Ethan Hunt, I would happily watch more MI movies focusing on her character and a new team. I also really loved Pom
Klementeiff as the assassin Paris who is there to look cool and kick ass.
It was fun to see Henry Czerny back as Kittridge, but I did miss Jeremy Renner’s, but honestly, there have been so many characters added over the past six movies, who can keep track of who is still alive and working with the IMF? I also found it very entertaining that there was a bit of Cary Elwes and some of Charles Parnell, Indira Varma, and Rob Delaney as a bunch of powerful folks.
Overall, the movie is fun and action-packed and definitely worth watching on the big screen. Grab your popcorn and make sure you choose a theater with comfy seats because it is way too long (no one needs a 28 minute cold open desert sequence that probably could have been cut).
6 out of 10
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