This may be one of the few moments in the entire film where Tom Cruise is not onscreen for 'Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol,' as Paula Patton, Simon Pegg, and Jeremy Renner plan the IMF team's next move
For one thing, I think people often misuse the word "franchise." Just because they make a few sequels to a movie, that doesn't automatically qualify that thing as a franchise. I think of that more as a description of a film property (or book property or game property… whatever sort of IP you want to substitute) that features a basic idea or premise that can be endlessly refigured to fit new casts, new creative teams, and new storytelling styles, with little real regard for continuity. "Mission: Impossible," from the moment it first aired as a television show, has offered up a near-perfect franchise engine, a premise so simple, so feather-light, that you can do anything with it, and as long as you strike those same few notes, it's recognizably "Mission: Impossible."
Over the weekend, I rewatched the first three "Mission: Impossible" films on Blu-ray. I've always been fond of the first one, and looking at it now, it's one of those early CGI-era movies that reaches for some groundbreaking stuff in how action is staged and shot that doesn't totally work on a technical level, but that deserves respect for pushing the envelope as much as it did. More than that, though, it's a fun piece of pop culture subversion that was designed to acknowledge the old school, then annihilate the old school, then introduce Tom Cruise as the new school. Brian De Palma made each set piece feel like he was having fun, and it was big and complex and sleek and absolutely proved that it would work on the big screen.
The second film is so bad that it feels like someone who was very angry at John Woo decided to make a MAD-magazine-style parody of John Woo films and then release it with his name attached as director. Awful.
The third film was the first that really tried to give a continuity and a weight to Ethan Hunt as the center of the film series. The first two films are "Mission: Impossible" adventures that happen to star Ethan Hunt. The third film was all about Ethan's desire to live a normal life, to leave fieldwork behind, to marry Julia (Michelle Monahan), and to finally just wear one face, his own. There was a real sense of team in the last film, and I liked the chemistry that existed between Ving Rhames, Jonathan Rhys-Meyers and Maggie Q. And, speaking of Q, the third film introduced Benji Dunn, played by Simon Pegg, who played a comic spin on Q, very much the same role that existed on "Alias." I knew as soon as I saw Pegg's two moments that he was going to get bumped up for more if they ever did a sequel. That third film is not about a global threat or terrorist, but instead about karma screwing Ethan Hunt around when he tries to put his bloodstained past behind him, and it worked for one film to focus in at Ethan instead of out at a big spy movie story.
This time out, the threat is full-blown nuclear war, worldwide, so I think it's safe to say the stakes are a little higher here.
