Red Mosquito

Farmer John wrote:Speaking of Gabriel, he was definitely a lame villain.

Philip Seymour Hoffman was amazing, but I'd say Solomon Lane was best villain in the franchise.

yeah! i agree! Hoffman was really good and it was weird to see him in that role. Sean Harris was fucking menacing.

This was super fun. could be 30 mins shorter but the sub scene was phenomenal in Imax

I'd like to go see this again but walk in like forty minutes late. I don't know if I was able to fully enjoy the big action pieces because I was already a little annoyed by the movie by the time they finally got moving

I'd like to see it again, but get there early this time. Gotta see those masks!

Farmer John wrote:I'd like to see it again, but get there early this time. Gotta see those masks!

I just finished watching Timecop (thread coming soon!) on Amazon and Dead Reckoning started auto-playing right after. It’s stunning how much better the filmmaking is than FR. Cinematography, dialogue, music, mood, etc. I’m just incredulous that FR is so much worse. Much, much worse. (I’ll except the sub and biplane sequences, for the most part.)

We need a feature-length documentary on what went wrong with FR. It defies logic—it’s everything McQuarrie says he hates and would never do. The only reasonable explanation I can come up with is Scientology’s admin hijacked Tom in full, Manchurian Candidate-style, and forced him to produce a script that turned him into Jesus; and used their jackboot thugs to kidnap McQuarrie’s family to force him to direct it against his will.

Doesn't McQuarrie already live with Tom in Tom's house?

Ensign9 wrote:I just finished watching Timecop (thread coming soon!) on Amazon and Dead Reckoning started auto-playing right after. It’s stunning how much better the filmmaking is than FR. Cinematography, dialogue, music, mood, etc. I’m just incredulous that FR is so much worse. Much, much worse. (I’ll except the sub and biplane sequences, for the most part.)

We need a feature-length documentary on what went wrong with FR. It defies logic—it’s everything McQuarrie says he hates and would never do. The only reasonable explanation I can come up with is Scientology’s admin hijacked Tom in full, Manchurian Candidate-style, and forced him to produce a script that turned him into Jesus; and used their jackboot thugs to kidnap McQuarrie’s family to force him to direct it against his will.

I watched Dead Reckoning before Final Reckoning and also felt a huge shift. Dead Reckoning is a much more lighthearted movie, even with Ilsa's death. When I think of Dead Reckoning I think of Ethan running around the airport, I think of them driving around Italy in the little car, I think of Grace pretending to be the White Widow, and the big train stunt at the end. All pretty lighthearted compared to the dour, lugubrious tone of Final Reckoning.

My take is Cruise and McQuarrie saw the commercial underperformance of DR and got spooked. They decided to pivot hard in the other direction -- make everything feel so much more grave, serious, and almost mournful (this is also why I don't think the submarine sequence would've fit in DR). So they rework the script, they up the stakes, they kill a beloved character, they work in all manner of connections to the other movies to give this one an air of finality, and suddenly it all feels so much more ponderous. And labored.

This resulted in a worse movie but it also seems to have worked, at least in the short term. They just had the best opening of the entire franchise, and audiences seem to be eating it up (A- Cinemascore, 90% audience meter on RT). Maybe this'll give them enough juice to make another one that is more fun.

Every film is on Hulu or Prime right now except Fallout wtf

Yeah, I think even though the word 'Final' is in the subtitle, there will be another M:I movie

Hmm... interesting takes. For me, Dead Reckoning was a bit dull. Car chases in Europe, will they / won't they with Ilsa. He's on the outside of a train again. Yes it flowed well but the whole plot seemed to just be a setup for the big jump. Not to get the key, that was the excuse to film the jump. The Entity felt largely absent after the airport and Gabriel as the villain was a dud (he was in FR as well). For me, and I am pretty unlearned when it comes to films, its not something I would seek out to see again outside of a rewatch of the franchise. FR on the other hand is something I could watch again. For all it's chopped up dialogue and obvious reshoots (was Atwell pregnant during filming?), FR felt like it had a point, one that is relevant today. They needed to cut about 30 minutes. The dialogue on the aircraft carrier was pointless and Briggs' backstory was stupid. Cut all that out and have the Entity actually fucking with them a bit more rather than them talking about the Entity fucking with them and it's a top tier MI film.

I've only watched Dead Reckoning once and remember about 15% of it. I was definitely underwhelmed, but will re-watch it tonight. Hopefully it sits better.

I like both movies, despite DR feeling kinda slight and FR having so much convoluted and stupid shit in it. I like every Mission: Impossible movie.

at least when big action movies suck, they come to streaming quicker so i can see them.

Bi_3 wrote: and have the Entity actually fucking with them a bit more rather than them talking about the Entity fucking with them

Very good observation. The Entity is kind of a non-entity. It was more active even in Dead Reckoning

Just watched the first half of Dead Reckoning and taking a break. I'm enjoying it as a spectacle, but still find Gabriel and The Entity mostly uninteresting.

Rebecca Ferguson is beautiful.

Jorge wrote:I like both movies, despite DR feeling kinda slight and FR having so much convoluted and stupid shit in it. I like every Mission: Impossible movie.

II is rough. The rest are

Just rewatched Dead Reckoning for the first time since the theater ahead of my Final Reckoning matinee tomorrow.

I didn’t like Dead Reckoning the first time, and I put that down to 1) It followed Fallout, which is my favorite 2) Ilsa died. I was so mad. Having since slogged through season 2 of Silo, I was almost happy to see her die this time 3) They made documentary about the bike stunt, and that killed the drama of it in the theater. 4) It was a little too goofy. When the little car rolled and they ended up in opposite seats and when he parachuted into the bad guy on the train were the most obvious offenses. My second watch was much better. It’s a fun movie tampered mainly by having 3 just about perfect movies in front of it.

Before I see Final Reckoning, I have to wonder, is anyone actually marveling at the achievement of it all? 30 years. 8 movies with the same actor as the protagonist. Harry Potter is the only comparison for that, and that series had source material and was all done in a decade. I’m excited to see this tomorrow, and I already hope he’s got one more in him.

Someone told me Benji is John Lark, but I don't buy it.