We’re less than a month away from Mission Impossible: The Final Reckoning, which means it’s the perfect time to go back and revisit the previous installments of the MI franchise. Since 1996, the Mission Impossible movie series has seen the release of seven, soon to be eight, different films from five different directors, and re-watching them is a fun way to travel through 30 years of moviemaking.
The series begins with a pitch-perfect spy film from Brian De Palma, full of fun gadgets, high concepts, and a lot of plot thrown at you very fast. From there, the franchise is constantly evolving. John Woo’s sequel film from 2000 is an interesting look at what was selling at the turn of the century, as the series takes a misstep in replacing a lot of the spy intrigue with glitz and glamor. The JJ Abrams-directed third film gives audiences an amazing villain performance from Philip Seymour Hoffman, and Ghost Protocol from director Brad Bird ramps up the stakes with Tom Cruise’s incredible Burj Khalifa stunt. After that one, the series falls into the steady hands of director Christopher McQuarrie, who will give us his fourth Mission next month, following my personal favorite in the series Fallout and its sequel, Dead Reckoning.
Like many franchises in this current era, Mission Impossible seems to be ramping up to a grand finale with The Final Recknoning. I mean.. It’s kind of right in the name. But who knows what that means. Will this be the last time Cruise plays Hunt? Maybe, maybe not. But either way it’s fun to see the same actor getting to carry his vision of a character he first played back in ‘96 all the way into the present day. And I’ll be there opening weekend.
The post Culture Crash: 30 Years. 7 Movies. One Tom Cruise. Is “Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning” The Last Chapter? appeared first on Viewpoints Radio.
