Where I Watched Them: Paramount Plus

English Audio Description?: Yes

Series Primary Cast: Tom Cruise, Ving Rhames, Simon Pegg, Rebecca Ferguson, Michelle Monaghan, Jeremy Renner, Alec Baldwin, Henry Czerny

With Appearances From: Jon Voight, Thandiwe Newton, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Paula Patton, Henry Cavill, Emilio Estévez, Keri Russell, Angela Bassett, Kristin Scott Thomas, and Lea Seydoux.

Directors: Brian DePalma, John Woo, JJ Abrams, Brad Bird, and Christopher McQuarrie.

On my way to watching Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning part 1, I wanted to get a review for every film on my YouTube channel, figuring now was as good of a time as any, and the first six films are on Paramount Plus with audio description. I’m a big fan of the franchise, and I think the combination of Rogue Nation and Fallout represents truly great cinema that very likely ended up in my Top 10 lists for those years. So, here are some brief thoughts on the franchise. The audio description is different from film-to-film, but having seen all six films before, I thought their description was accurate overall.

Brian DePalma doesn’t get enough credit for starting the franchise off right, and in those opening moments we are introduced to a team of individuals and familiar faces we would naturally expect to see continue on in the series, until they don’t. It is actually a really solid way to open the franchise, and set that paranoid plot of being disavowed right off the bat. Ethan Hunt is not James Bond, and the first movie sets out to put Hunt on a very different trajectory. He’s always having to fight to save the world when even the people he works for consistently see him as a threat. A truly impossible mission.

John Woo decided it was less important to find a rhythm for the franchise, and more important that he be able to bring his super stylized approach to the universe. Woo jumping in to the middle of a franchise is almost the reason to not have directors with inflexible styles just pop in to a sequel. Maybe it is a good thing Tarantino never got to do a Star Trek, and after seeing Rebel Moon, it might be a good idea that Zack Snyder hasn’t made a Star Wars film. However, this film is not without some bright spots, as Anthony Hopkins does lead IMF, and this helped Thandiwe Newton get on to bigger and better roles. It also famously killed Dougray Scott’s rise to the A-list, as he was initially offered Wolverine in X-Men, but turned it down for this. And those damn doves.

JJ Abrams came along with a lot to prove, having really only mastered Alias, and just starting work on Lost. He used this to showcase his potential, and once again, it feels, looks, and sounds radically different. but this fast paced hyper realism suited the non-stop breakneck pace more than Woo’s style, plus this gave us the excellent Hoffman as the baddest of baddies. Michelle Monaghan also began her important contribution to the franchise here, as did Simon Pegg.

Ghost Protocol had Brad Bird going in on live action. The director of The Incredibles and The Iron Giant was an inspired choice, and he kept a lot of what Abrams had started, and built on it. This movie freaked me the hell out, as I have a fear of heights, and Tom Cruise hanging out on the side of the Burj Khalifa is not my idea of a super fun time. A brief cameo from josh Holloway also got me way too excited. I do love this movie, and I think it helped to set up two terrific entries.

Rogue Nation and Fallout are both directed by Christopher McQuarrie, who is at a career high here, and brought us Ilsa, and started tying the whole franchise together. Vanessa Kirby jumps in as a character linked back to the first film, and the whole plot revolves around a villain who might just be smarter than Ethan.Also, technically, Ethan does die, even if just for a little bit, which is a bold choice for the series.Though, I would totally watch a spinoff starring Ving Rhames and Simon Pegg.

Truly, a franchise that stands on its own merits. All the films are watchable, some more than others. And that score, the music we’ve all come to know and love, it actually even pulsates and changes with each film, like it is stylized to fit the director’s certain taste.

Final Grades:

Mission Impossible: B+

Mission Impossible 2: B-

Mission Impossible 3: A-

Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol: A-

Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation: A

Mission Impossible: Fallout: A