Red Mosquito

also, who cares? im sure the new movie will be amazing

This was a big, beautiful mess of a movie. The plot was ridiculous. The big set pieces were spectacular. There were more exposition dumps than ever before. Tom’s hair looked great. I loved it.

So much of the thrill of a Mission Impossible movie these days is that feeling of "he did it, that son of a bitch really did it" -- both for Ethan and for madman Tom. In that regard, this is a great Mission Impossible movie. But man, those first 40 minutes or so are rough. The plot is convoluted beyond belief, and the rapidly escalating stakes are laid out so explicitly and in such extreme detail that it starts feeling like a parody sketch. The movie insists to you over and over again that it is all very grave and important, and that it has all been leading up to this, and that this is a culmination. And it does so in two annoying ways: constant flashbacks to early films, and some ridiculous retcons that add nothing. The one in particular, regarding a character's reworked backstory, kind of pissed me off.

But god, that underwater sequence, and that big final setpiece, and the cutting-it-close-to-the-wire of it all is nothing less than thrilling. It is also always a pleasure to see Tom's crazy facial expressions as he puts his life on the line in the name of spectacle. McQuarrie and Taggart do good work here. The supporting characters are fun except for Degas who had seemingly no personality and was just kind of along for the ride. I had a great time with this movie even if I thought parts of it were kind of bad. I preferred Dead Reckoning ultimately. This will be a comfortable #4 in my ranking.

Those first 40 minutes could have been about 10. Just get on with it!

Jorge wrote:some ridiculous retcons that add nothing. The one in particular, regarding a character's reworked backstory, kind of pissed me off.

Yeah that was dumb and ultimately pointless

I went in with low expectations based on the reviews but, my God, that was truly awful.

This would sit at or near the bottom of my ranked list of M:I movies. Takes sooooo long to get going and that whole section of the movie seemed to mainly be closeups of actors who've had their faces scalpeled and injected and plucked to near absurdity. Or maybe it was just the way it was shot and the makeup but I was dying. The second half looks and feels like a totally different movie. I won't lie that I definitely laughed at some things that were not meant to be jokes. Not a hit for me

The only redeeming quality of this movie is the hilarious fate of Esai Morales and his arm.

Just an absolutely charmless villain for two full movies

Maybe we're underestimating Jesus Cruise and this was all intended as a cautionary tale about the dangers of AI, as this movie was clearly written by ChatGPT.

Bravo, Mr. Cruise.

Mission: Impossible - Xenu's Reckoning

That might’ve been as bad as MI2. Both are fueled by Cruise’s vanity and messiah complex.

Ensign9 wrote:The only redeeming quality of this movie is the hilarious fate of Esai Morales and his arm.

Come on now. The submarine sequence was amazing, probably a franchise second to Fallout's Henry Cavill pursuit. Absolute kinetic action filmmaking, and it was all in real time (or close to it), ending with that beautiful rotating shot of the ascent. That alone made this messy movie better than half the franchise for me

The Argonaut wrote:Just an absolutely charmless villain for two full movies

This I agree with. "Tell me I won!" Shut up

The movie really starts with the submarine scene. Everything before that is boring. But once it starts goddamn these dudes are just so fucking good. The Airplane scene alone is stunning and incredible. What the actual fuck!!

Tha sub sequence was great and it should've been included in the movie it was shot for: Dead Reckoning.

But...they just couldn't go an entire scene without telling all us dummies in the audience that it was a torpedo tube he was gonna hop into.

Another high point was the nuclear sub captain going, "Yeehaw let's go start a nuclear war with Russia!" and then firing two pistols into the sky.

Ensign9 wrote:Tha sub sequence was great and it should've been included in the movie it was shot for: Dead Reckoning.

I don’t think that’s accurate. I remember hearing a podcast around the time Dead Reckoning was released where McQuarrie discussed the challenges of preserving the submarine set from the film’s opening scene for later use in a longer sequence planned for what was then referred to as "part two" -- the sequence we’re discussing now.

In fact, weren't there reports of the budget for Final Reckoning ballooning because they had a bunch of technical setbacks while shooting this scene?

Anyway, it doesn't really matter, it rules

Ensign9 wrote:Another high point was the nuclear sub captain going, "Yeehaw let's go start a nuclear war with Russia!" and then firing two pistols into the sky.

I regretted buying the popcorn bucket until I just discovered the hidden compartment.

A few more thoughts:

- that severance actor was distracting, he was playing that character exactly in the same way he plays the one in the series. Very weird.

- Hollywood really wants Michelle Obama as a president right ?

-Tom had two kind of scenes: puffy face and normal face. I guess puffy was earlier stuff they shot when he got his face all puffed doing some kind of medicine. Im glad his face is better now.

- esai morales is miscast, i needed someone way more menacing but his final moment was awesome

- the entity the entity the entity

- they are giving oscars for stunts right ? This movie needs to win then all. Nobody does this kind of stuff anymore. It makes every other action movie looks so bad really. What an incredible achievement.


- do you guys feel Tom have one more or this is the last one ?