The second part of the Hawman family outing had finally rolled around after much waiting. We hadn't been to the cinema together since but nothing really had changed since the last MI instalment aside from the fact my brother brought his girlfriend and my plus one had changed to an upgrade when it comes to boyfriends.
There we were on the back row with our assorted snacks, the six of us, all primed with the knowledge that Ethan had the key, and all wondering if this movie would leave a lasting impact like the last one failed to do.
I am pleased to say that considering I watched this a week ago (at the time of writing) I barely remember a thing so the answer to that is no.
The brightside is that despite the fact we lost a valued member of the team, Benji did not die so I am a happy girl, granted it came close, but thanks to Paris he lived.
This instalment follows Ethan as he is dragged back out from hiding with the key in order to save humanity as we know it. Having taken some time out and being the most wanted man in the world, Ethan gathers his team and is sent off across the globe to trigger events meant to outsmart and trap The Entity.
This involved diving to the bottom of the ocean to a submarine which sunk in 2012 which still had frozen/mouldy corpses in, throwbacks to the past with a character from the original (or two), plane chases, a ridiculous death, and a bunch of people trying to kill the good guys for no reason other than country differences or idiocy.
A lot happened in this film, it was almost 3 hours long, but none of it really meant anything. It seemed like it was jammed with action just because and at times it got a bit boring. Take the submarine bit for example, this was in real time and aside from the corpses and near misses with torpedoes was the most boring bit of the movie. It was interesting for sure, but long. There wasn't really any suspense, it was literally just watching Tom Cruise make his way through a sunken submarine room by room.
Basically, the plot of this movie follows on from Dead Reckoning. Ethan has the key, is the most wanted person in the world and has had to go into hiding. He's lured back out as the Entity has begun taking over and causing chaos and sets up his team in order to kill it. However, Gabriel, who feels betrayed by the Entity is getting in the way as he seeks control over it in order to put it back in its place. The Entity enlists Ethan to let it into the Doomsday room so that it can live forever while Gabriel enlists him to get the drive from the submarine in order to control it. Said drive is the key to killing it thanks to Luther and the plan is to use Gabriel in order to do this by keeping both parties happy. Of course this goes wrong at the last minute but following a chase which allows Tom Cruise to hang off a little plane all comes good just in the nick of time.
The gang go their separate ways but its clear the Entity could still be a threat as it's not exactly dead. Whether or not this was the final MI film we don't know, but it is tied up nicely in order to be just that but there is room to continue if need be. This wasnt the best instalment of the Mission Impossible series but it seemed like a fitting end and I feel like they should leave it here.
We had throw backs from characters from the original, we had lots of running by Cruise as is standard here, we also seemed to have a scene which was stolen from Top Gun as I thought we were in the wrong movie for a minute, the Tom Cruise universe is bleeding into one another.
The interaction between characters was beautiful. It's clear that the cast all care for one another, there was real emotion saying goodbye to a key player in this. I'm not sure on the relationship between Ethan and Grace, there seems to be more than just friendship or teamwork at play here. It's too intimate as if she's a love interest but we never touched on it, its a little weird to be honest.
The film itself is crafted brilliantly. It's action packed, full of big name actors, and all of them bring their full talent to the screen. The story isn't massively impactful but its got more of a narrative in it than the last one which was just action for the sake of action.
I'd watch it again but purely as background noise or as part of a Phantom Marathon Challenge, this isn't a movie I enjoyed as so much endured, but it was palatable.
So on that note I'm awarding Mission Impossible: Final Reckoning a 6/10. It had everything the series is known for, but perhaps it had lost its wow factor following Fallout. I'm not complaining, it is hard to follow Henry Cavill going from goodie to baddie in the same movie, but that one seemed the last of the plot focused movies, now its just churning out the franchise for the sake of it. I think we're trying to throw out movies which have more impact just to save the cinema from the streaming world, Tom Cruise even did a little speech before the movie regarding watching the movie on the big screen, while I agree the cinema needs saving, I think we need originality to do it, big blockbusters which are relying on platforms such as 4DX to make a sale isn't the way forward. I think too much pressure has landed on Mr Cruise's shoulders to save cinema, I think if anyone he is the one to do it, but he shouldn't be on his own. (Top Gun Maverick was a stroke of genius for this cinema revival, we need more like that!)
Comments
Post a Comment