I've enjoyed the movies just fine, my least favorite is part 2 but still pretty good. I'm not knowledgebale on the old TV show so I'm sure that helps. It seems clear though that Ethan Hunt was/is Cruise's way of being a Bond or Bourne type character. I'll await details on an MI:4 before I dismiss it off hand.
Thats about it. It is not that MI movie franchise is bad, but it is not really too much like the series. There really wasn't a main character in the sense of screen time, Jim Phelps was the team leader but often other characters had more screen time or much more important parts to play in the mission. The movie franchise is very much a Bond or Bourne type adventure, where as the series is more like, what if Q branch had to actually do the missions. There are probably more gun fights in one movie than in an entire season of the show. The only real problem I have is that the movie franchise probably killed any chance of a movie or new series like the original tv show.
My favorite MI film was the third one, but I hope they reboot it, redeem the Jim Phelps character and make it about a team again.
Another one? I've seen the first two, skipped the third, probably skip this one too. I can't comment on how good/bad the third movie is although I do recall the report that they had a lot of Scientologists buying large numbers of tickets to boost the ticket sales. Sounds a bit outrageous, but then so does Xenu.
I thought the third was the best of the lot, but I'd have second thoughts about watching any Tom Cruise movie after seeing that Scientology video interview he did. I'd also like to see a movie that was more in line with the TV series, a team of agents, all with specialist skills, working together to execute a meticulously prepared plan, as opposed to what we get in the movies (one agent with some back up solves problems by shooting people and hanging off a wire). Oh yes. That guy in the first film, played by Jon Voight? Not Jim Phelps. When the CIA absorbed the IMF Phelps retired. The CIA, realising the value of his reputation, passed off one of their own people as Phelps. Over the course of years he got lost in the false identity, and ended up going loopy, before dying when his helicopter crashed in the Channel Tunnel. Tragic. At least, that's my version of events, and I'm sticking to it.
Paramount parted ways with Cruise after Mission: Impossible III, with Sumner Redstone publicly trashing him (this was at the height of Cruise's bad PR after the Oprah appearance, something which was thought to have damaged the box office of Mission: Impossible III, especially domestically). But Cruise and Redstone have since made amends, including dining together in public.
I thought they could've made Cruise Phelps and Voight could've been... Briggs? Then Ving Rhames could've been Barney.
A remake, with a new cast playing the original characters? Well it's worked for another 60's tv show... So, Cruise as Phelps, replacing Voight as Dan Briggs. Ving Rhames in the movies was a black electronics expert, so he was Barney in all but name. Someone muscular as Willy. How about The Rock? So now all you need is an attractive woman, and a disguise expert. Zachary Quinto as Paris?
The Billy Baird character in Mission: Impossible 2 could've been Willy. He wasn't muscular, but he had the right accent. Since these movies like to have a shorthand titles for their posters and cover art, does that mean for MI5 and MI6 they have to set the action in the UK?
The Mission Impossible film franchise took a stale, weak and poorly put together television show and with the charisma and good looks of Tom Cruise made it in to a bankable, successful and highly entertaining series of blockbusters that you'd be hard pressed not to love on every single level. I, for one, am thankful that we are able to see Tom Cruise's brilliant portrayal of Ethan Hunt be continued, in what will no doubt be an action packed yet heartfelt and intelligent 4th installment. That JJ Abrams is attached to this project bodes well for the appreciative purists of MI like myself, as his work in Star Trek was nothing short of phenomonal and he surely is one of the more keen minds in show business (showbiz to the layman) today. I can only tingle with unbridled excitment thinking about what Tom Cruise will be up to in this new plot, how great his hair will look and how much ass he will kick. People just don't get that the smartest thing they could have done is make it all about Tom Cruise and have his team of nobodies just there as tactical and, when necessary, emotional support. Like that's ever necessary considering how hard as fuck Ethan Hunt is though. Everyone else is just a hater. Long live Tom Cruise and long live the Mission Impossible movie franchise.
He was a great man. But that was in another life... Oddly enough, I was in my car the other day when Limp Bizkit's "Take A Look Around" from M:I 2 came over the radio and I was wondering if maybe the Mission: Impossible movies had run their course...
Until after the 2nd movie I didn't even know there was a TV show so I never had that to think about. The 1st one had a solid story but felt slow and poorly paced at times but it was a good movie still. The 2nd movie was full of action and I love such things but at the same time I can respect those who prefer a nice story over all of that. MI:3 had the ebst elements of both 1 & 2 and I think the reviews backed that up so The 4th one could be amazing but hopefully Tom Cruise will sop being an idiot this time because MI-3 could of made a lot more $$$ if he wasn't such a crazy twit. TBH I feel Ethan's story is over and Paramount should of let J.J do the whole retool/reboot thing again and have a new character with a big name actor... I would say Mat Damon but thats typecasting Who do you think could lead a MI Film ?