It’s a sign of just how deeply “Mission: Impossible” has penetrated popular culture that as soon as you read the headline, you knew what I was going to talk about, didn’t you?
I normally don’t post long videos, but this is an interesting look at the entire “Mission: Impossible” series looking not only at the films but the behind the scenes difficulties in making them. It feels a little odd to look back at the evolution of a series that started over twenty years ago when the world was much different than it is today. MI has gone from a spy-derived action series that was good but not unique, to films with amazing stunts, many performed by Cruise himself; and Cruise has gone from a mainstream action actor to probably the last star whose name alone can draw an audience. While Hollywood is reeling from a long string of poorly written and expensive flops that seemed more concerned with hectoring the audience to embrace social justice tropes, the MI films have ignored virtue signaling and focused simply on pleasing people. “Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning” is the first half of the final film of the series.
In case you haven’t seen it, here was the first trailer for Part One, and I think it’s one of the best trailers I’ve ever seen. It manages to show the enormous scope of the film, the main characters of the film (I’m dying to know who the wild-eyed, sword-wielding blonde and the guy who goes against her in a dinner jacket and just a knife), and some amazing stunts, without giving away any of plot and only the barest hint of what it’s about. I know it kind of sounds silly, but there was something oddly reassuring about seeing the four of them together in the boat, knowing that no matter what the odds are, you know they’re going to save the day (and theaters).
Here’s the retrospective…