What was the last movie you saw...? Part IV

[Charger]

Thought I'd watch all of the Mission Impossible movies...haven't seen most of them before...

I'll review them two at a time.


MISSION IMPOSSIBLE

IMF member Ethan Hunt finds himself in a quite a predicament when his entire team is killed in Vienna after a mission gone bad. He soon finds out not all were as dead as he thought and that the whole operation was faked as a internal mole hunt, now Ethan's superiors think he might have been the mole. So a race against time starts as Ethan must prove his innocence.

I remember when I first saw this back in when it came out that it had very little to do with the tv show (the late 80s revival had just aired on tv at the time) part from the character Jim Phelps played in the movie by Jon Voight, the masks (brilliantly created by effects wizard Rob Bottin) and the theme... Tom Cruise was also to me a very odd choice for the lead...
Now that time has passed and I barely even remember the tv show things don't seem quite so bad anymore.

Brian De Palma directs with purpose and the action is good and Cruise began his feat of preforming a lot of his own stunts here which shows in added realism.

It's a solid thriller and ofcourse the end sequence on the TGV is already something of a modern classic and it has atleast for the most part stood the test of time.

*  *  *  ½


MISSION IMPOSSIBLE II

IMF agent Sean Ambrose has gone rogue and tries to get his hands on a bio weapon that he could then potentially sell to the highest bidder means Ethan Hunt must recruit a master thief who is also Ambrose's former girlfriend to help. He also brings in Luther from the first movie to help with the tech side.

The plot isn't nearly as intriguing as in the first film and there isn't much in terms of excitement. The ending chase is very good but ends rather ridiculously.

Director John Woo has talent for the action shots but in everything else the movie falls flat. The bad guy isn't all that interesting and majority of the plot is quite poor, which is bit odd as Star Trek legends Ronald D. Moore and Brannon Braga were in the writing team...one would expect more from them...much more.

Thandie Newton is pretty much the only positive thing in this movie...a shame.


*  *

[KiloDeltaCharlie]

^^^
MI 3 is the weakest IMO, but I don't really remember 2. All I know is 4 blew me away with how much better than it was to earlier ones.

[Charger]

I can't even remember 3 but I do think I've seen it...anything after that I have not.

[Charger]

MISSION IMPOSSIBLE III

Ethan Hunt has retired from the IMF field operations and has settled down with a girl friend but after one of his old trainees gets captured by a dangerous weapons dealer he returns to work to rescue her. Things ofcoures don't go as planned and Hunt is sucked back in full time and creates a new danger for his girl. And as things progress he soon finds out that someone on the inside is working against him...

There isn't much originality in this one and the total lack of any kind of humor is bit tiresome. Philip Seymour Hoffman does a good job with the villain but Michelle Monaghan is as bland as always and the great Lawrence Fishburn doesn't get nearly enough time. Maggie Q and John Rhys Meyers both do a decent enough job.

The plot "twist" at the end is waaaay too predictable and the whole "love sub plot" is totally useless and feels so glued on top it's not even funny...The action is pretty good but it doesn't really save the movie...

Not sure if this is worse than 2 but it surely isn't any better.


*  *


MISSION IMPOSSIBLE IV - GHOST PROTOCOL

After a mission goes wrong for Ethan Hunt in Moscow the whole IMF is shot down and Hunt has to work with a new team to find out what really happened and who set the IMF up but has to do it without any support from the US. Soon is discovered that a crazy Swedish (!!!) guy is trying to start a nuclear war between the US and Russia by stealing launch codes for Russian missiles.

Tom Cruise gets a whole new team here with Paula Patton, Simon Pegg (who briefly appeared in the previous part) and Jeremy Renner all who work really really well and most importantly finally add a touch of humor which was pretty much missing from the previous two parts. Michael Nyqvist as Hendriks doesn't really get a whole lot of air time but finnish actor/singer Samuli Edelman (who plays Hendriks' henchman) gets surprisingly lot of it. I expected his part to be a miniature one but he actually gets a lot of screen time. Not that he's very good but atleast we can now say a finnish guy has worked with Tom Cruise...

This is a clear step up from the previous two movies and is up in the level of the first one if not even touch better. The Burj Khalifa scene (which Cruise did by himself reportedly anyways) is quite magnificent.

They upped the ante on this one for both action and humor which is a great thing....and for once there wasn't a big predictable "oh one of the good guys is actually the bad guy" reveal at the end!


*  *  *  ½

[Charger]

Looks like I forgot to add the next two.


MISSION IMPOSSIBLE V - ROGUE NATION

After CIA director Hunley shuts down the IMF Ethan and his team must go out on their own to hunt down a dangerous criminal organisation run by former MI6 agent Lane called the Syndicate.


The plot is rather irrelevant again and it's yet another spin of Ethan having to go rogue to catch the bad guy. Wish there would be some more original plots developed here...the action is great although at times it gets bit tedious....like the almost never ending bike chase. But once again Tom Cruise does an amazing ammount of his own stunts, including hanging off an airplane taking off!

The cast is pretty good minus the addition of Crazy Alec Baldwin who if I'd never see again in any shape or form would be a real blessing. Sean Harris as the bad guy is really really good and Rebecca Ferguson as Ilsa Faust who might be one of the good guys or not does a great job as well.

The movie is bit over the top at times and maybe bit overly samey with the previous ones but it's still enjoyable.

*   *   *


MISSION IMPOSSIBLE VI - FALLOUT

A direct sequel to V carries on with Ethan Hunting (haha) the remains of the Syndicate now calling themselves the Apostles while they try to get their hands on some nuclear devices and free their captured leader Lane. Ilsa Faust also returns and is again leaving Ethan to wonder whose side is she on...

This one has a bit more originality in it but it does have the old hmm there might be a mole, but luckily that part doesn't get dragged out too long.
Crazy Alec is back but thankfully in this one he gets what he deserves! Henry Cavill does a great role and most of the cast from the previous movie returns minus Jeremy Renner who I'm assuming was busy with Marvel as his character is just dropped without any explanation. One old character however makes a somewhat surprise return.

The action goes even more over the top in this one...the final chopper chase is borderline ridiculous..also now the length starts to get bit too much with 2 and half hours...with most action scenes going on bit too long. It's like they're trying to just top the previous ones without much considering how. But all in all still rather enjoyable and entertaining movie.

*  *  *

[Charger]

GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY VOL 3


Some time after the Endgame the Guardians are still suffering from the loss of Gamora and soon face a new threat as an attack against Rocket leaves him mortally wounded and the Guardians must find a way to save his life and face the mysterious High Evolutionary who has some very troubled history with Rocket.
Flash backs reveal how Rocket came to be and offer quite a bit of dramatic events.

This is hands down the most serious and dramatic of maybe all of the "classic" MCU movies BUT it also has an incredible ammount of crazy slapstick humor which balances the story perfectly. The cast works together totally flawlessly and Nebula who has made a complete 180 since her introduction has especially become such a great charcter.

Nathan Fillion makes an appearance as well and it's quite a good one indeed. Chukwudi Iwuji (now that's a moutful!) over acts just enough to make the High Evulutionary as crazy as he needs to be.

Out of all the endings of the classic MCU this one does it the best. Iron Man 3 was a bit of a letdown same with Thor Love And Thunder, but this one as sad as it was also gave hope and a fresh start.

This is a bit of a bitter sweet as Guardians were hands down my favourite MCU ensemble (outside of the Avengers ofcourse) everything must end. Is this the last of the Guardians...I hope not, but if it is...it's one hell of a send off!


*  *  *  *  ½

[KiloDeltaCharlie]

^^^
So true that.

Along with Avengers and Thor: Ragnarok; GotG Vol3 is my favourite MCU film.

[Charger]

Yeah It jumped right up there for me as well!

I'm seeing that Gunn has moved away from MCU and to the DC universe and does (yet another reboot?) Superman...that's not good news...I was hoping he would have stayed with MCU but I guess the whole business with Disney took its toll on him...

[Charger]

Last night I watched one of the all time christmas movie classics!


DIE HARD


NYPD detective John McClane comes to Los Angeles to spend some time with his estranged family and while visiting his wife a group of terrorists take over the skyscraper and so begins John's one man war against a group of highly trained terrorists lead by charming yet ruthless Hans Gruber.

The movie is something of a corner stone of modern action. Everything about it works perfectly, the pacing is great, the acting is suberb, the action is breath taking and there's just enough humor to balance it all out.

There is nothing negative one can say about this one. It's a masterpiece, simple as that.

Fun fact:
This was originally going to be a possible sequel to Commando but after John McTiernan came to direct he changed the original script a lot and wanted a whole different approach, which ofcourse ended up being the perfect way to go.


*  *  *  *  *

[Vyn]

Awesome movie, for sure! I might have to look it up and give it a watch.

[Zzzptm]

On Amazon Prime, I discovered...

HUNDREDS OF BEAVERS



Imagine if Jack London wrote for the cartoons of the 1930s... that is this movie. Chopsocky meets Paul Bunyan, filmed on location in freezing Wisconsin in glorious black and white. It's like a 100-minute cartoon reel that takes on aspects of a puzzle video game at the right moments. The black and white can add all kinds of comedy as well as chilling horror to the story, making this a fantastic gem of a movie. Very little dialogue and lots of insanity with people running around in goofy animal costumes. It is insane and the critics are loving it!

[KiloDeltaCharlie]

I really need to catch you all up on films I've seen in recent months! Perhaps over the next few days!

[Charger]

Indeed you should!

I've missed a few that I've watched lately on Disney + but most of them have been oldies so haven't really seen the point of posting them here.

[Charger]

Another christmas classic for yesterday

DIE HARD 2

LAPD Officer John McClane is visiting his inlaws and expecting his wife Holly to arrive at Dulles airport when a group of highly trained terrorists take the airport over and hold all the planes flying above hostage as they want to free a captured Drug lord.
Again John is pitted against a ruthless bunch of goons and has to somehow defeat them with very little help from the Airport police, things do start to look up when a group of elite soldiers arrive but things aren't quite what they seem.

Another great installement. Nothing bad to say about this one either. The cast is brilliant, especially William Sadler as Colonel Stuart is flawless and probably holds one of THE most memorable introductions in movie history. Dennis Franz as the Airport Police Captain does a brilliant job as well...not to forget the incredible Fred Dalton Thompson whose role might be the most subdued in the whole movie but his presense and charsima are unmatched.

Finland's biggest Director Renny Harlin showcased with this one that he surely belonged to the big league.

Fun Fact:
Bruce Willis wanted to bring down the humor in the movie and he insisted that this should be much more serious in tone than the first movie. Butting heads constantly with Harlin...so much so infact that Harlin brought producer Joel Silver to the shoot and told him to tell Bruce that it can't happen...that the fans are expecting humor and one liners. Joel managed to talk some sense into Bruce and the humor stayed...Willis has stated that he absolutely hates the line "Just the fax ma'am...just the fax." Because it's too cheesy...and in fact he only thought they shot that line as an outtake.


*  *  *  *  *

[Zzzptm]

Home Alone 2

This series gets harder and harder to watch with the years. I've never seen this one before, and it makes me want to see the first one even less. Cartoon violence is fine, but it needs to be in a much more cartoony way. This one was hard to watch, as just about everything in the premise was flimsy as hell.