Mission: Impossible: Rogue Nation - Part 1

[DarKush]

^
I wish we had gotten Paula Patton again. Also Maggie Q, though with how this movie went I don't see where they would've fit. I think Rogue Nation made better use of Brandt than Ghost Protocol. I thought he was pretty redundant in GP, but here I thought his back and forth with Alec Baldwin served a purpose.

Overall I thought RN good, but not as good as MI3 or GP. I don't think the film fully took advantage of the anti-IMF idea. I wish there had been better defined villains, a true villainous team, sort of like it was done in Fast and Furious 6, but done better than even in that film.

The main bad guy had menace but wasn't that fleshed out. Still he was better than the guy in GP, who was almost a complete cipher. The RN bad guy wasn't as good as Owen Davian though. I have to wonder if the poorly fleshed out villains in a lot of these films is because of Tom Cruise, and maybe a need for him to dominate these films. Maybe he doesn't want anyone stealing the films away from him.

I liked Rebecca Ferguson. She was pretty badass in her action scenes.

 

[The Shape]

Yeah, I can't wait to see this either. Wish I was able to go tonight.

I think it's going to exceed box office expectations in its opening weekend.

 

[samsnee]

Honestly I'm fine with th villains taking a backseat. I enjoy these movies for the team dynamics and action set pieces. I don't need villain motivations beyond that they want to destroy the world.

 

[Fallen Angel]

You'd have to be pretty stupid if you hire Phillip Seymour Hoffman and not not let him show his qualities and kneecap him basically so he doesn't overshadow Tom Cruise.

 

[DarKush]

^
That I agree with and it seems to me that Hoffman was the best of the bunch, though to be honest I don't quite remember much of Dougray Scott's character in MI2. I think after Hoffman it might be Voight (though I haven't seen it in a long time) and then Sean Harris.

As for ranking the movies:

MI3
Ghost Protocol
Rogue Nation
MI
MI2

 

[Liam_H]

The thing was nothing was said in this to know where he is regarding him and his wife. All it had to be was a single comment like he got divorced or something or there's a shot of divorce papers something to indicate that his wife will no longer play any part in upcoming movies.

As far as the MI universe cannon goes Ethan Hunt is still a married man.

The last thing we have to go off was their brief glance at the end of GP. She wasn't expecting to see him there, seemed shocked. I interpret that as being separated for quite some time.
It's possible they are leaving it open in case Cruise steps away, hence Ethan retires and his final scene is coming home to her.

 

[Frodo]

I give it a solid A. I really enjoyed it .

 

[Fallen Angel]

The last thing we have to go off was their brief glance at the end of GP. She wasn't expecting to see him there, seemed shocked. I interpret that as being separated for quite some time.
It's possible they are leaving it open in case Cruise steps away, hence Ethan retires and his final scene is coming home to her.

That's possible. I really don't know how many he's got left in him. And it's not as if the MI films are the only franchise where's he does a lot of action orientated stuff.

 

[redfirebird2008]

72 minutes in TDKR. As I'm thinking about it, part of any movie shouldn't be shot in IMAX (except the new, lower definition digital IMAX cameras). IW will be shot entirely with those as will some of CW.

I think Crapformers (the last one) was shot in Digital IMAX. What a waste of a good camera.

And then the Avengers footage will be converted to 3D with no option to watch the 2D IMAX footage, unless we get lucky and IMAX finally starts offering some 2D showtimes. That is a real shame in my opinion. The same thing happened with Abrams' Star Trek sequel. He shot a decent amount of 70mm IMAX footage and then it got converted to 3D.

I feel like 3D makes the screen appear smaller (due to the glasses for some reason) and it also takes away from the clarity of the 2D IMAX footage since they are adding stupid effects to it that don't need to be there.

 

[The Batman]

This was a good follow up to GP, even though I think GP is still the best film in the franchise.

I liked the concept of the syndicate, but still wish more were done with.

Rebecca Fergurson easily takes the crown of best female lead in these films. Hopefully we see more of her, if not in this franchise then somewhere else down the line.

I'm not sure how many more of these Tom can make. I hope he ends the series on a strong note. Loved the mentions of previous movies in this installment, and I hope a final film does revisit some aspect of the previous ones.

 

[TheVileOne]

IMHO, the IMAX version didn't look all that great. At times the picture was fuzzy. Other times, it looked pixelated. FYI, I saw this at an actual IMAX theater at City Walk in Hollywood.

 

[TheVileOne]

Box Office: 'Mission: Impossible — Rogue Nation' Cruising to $45M-Plus U.S. Debut.
Friday's take includes $4 million in preshow screenings.

There's been plenty of speculation as to how the big-budget film, costing Paramount and Skydance Productions $150 million to make, will fare in the U.S. At this rate, Rogue Nation could match the debut of Mission: Impossible III and exceed the opening of the last installment, Mission: Impossible — Ghost Protocol, although a comparison to the latter is tough because it played its first weekend in Imax runs.

The critically acclaimed film is the fifth installment in the action franchise and is playing in 3,956 North American theaters. It will easily win the weekend, and is expected to be even bigger overseas, where it rolls out in numerous markets (Cruise remains a far bigger star internationally). The Mission: Impossible movies have never opened to huge numbers, outside of the second film, which took in $70.8 million over the long Memorial Day weekend in 2000, including $57 million for the weekend itself.

Written and directed by Christopher McQuarrie, the new Paramount and Skydance film sees Hunt and his team attempting to prove the existence of (and then stop) the Syndicate, an international criminal consortium. Jeremy Renner, Simon Pegg and Rebecca Ferguson also star.

Ghost Protocol, directed by Brad Bird, revitalized the spy-action franchise, earning $694.7 million globally, a series best. That included an international total of $485.3 million.

THR.com

Considering this is the summer season, that would not be a good opening weekend for this film with no other holiday weekends to bolster it up.

 

[TheVileOne]

The thing was nothing was said in this to know where he is regarding him and his wife. All it had to be was a single comment like he got divorced or something or there's a shot of divorce papers something to indicate that his wife will no longer play any part in upcoming movies.

As far as the MI universe cannon goes Ethan Hunt is still a married man.

It's pretty obvious what happened. Even though he and his wife are still in love, it's not safe for them to be together. So he faked her death and helped her start a new life away from him. It's meant to be bittersweet. She's alive, but they "can't" be together.

Why would there be divorce papers? Technically, she's dead.

 

[redfirebird2008]

IMHO, the IMAX version didn't look all that great. At times the picture was fuzzy. Other times, it looked pixelated. FYI, I saw this at an actual IMAX theater at City Walk in Hollywood.

Hmmm...the Regal RPX show I went to looked great. Sony 4k digital projection with about a 65 foot wide screen (similar to LieMAX).

 

[flickchick85]

The 4k must have made all the difference because my take on the IMAX presentation was closer to TheVileOne's. I'd still rather see it that way than in the regular format just because of scope and sound, but I didn't think it was a very good conversion at all.

 

[Marvolo]

So I'm not the only one that noticed the excessive digital noise. Or was this filmed on 35mm? Either way it had entirely too much noise in the photography. And it wasnt film grain. This was straight noise. Shame too, because the rest of the photography looked really nice.

Fantastic movie. Ilsa Faust was a standout. 9/10.

 

[Hurm...]

I just thought that was film grain, and I remember thinking "well, that's refreshing" while watching it.

 

[Doctor Jones]

Loved this movie. As far as I'm concerned the best movie of the year for me so far, if not neck and neck with Inside Out. If anything the best movie of the summer. I guess this is what fulfilled me in a way that Mad Max did for others. It's difficult for me to choose which is better, this or GP. GP felt more mission orientated with global stakes, but this felt more like a real spy thriller, an expertly crafted one at that. I forget just how wonderful McQuarrie is as a writer and just as impressive as director. What this movie has over the last is a much smarter story with the best female lead to date and a creepy villain. I don't necessarily mind these villains in a smaller capacity in this and the last movie. If it means nailing the team dynamic then I'm fine with the hero focus more (reminiscent of the Marvel method)

Faust upstaged Cruise at times and I loved how Cruise didn't seem to mind one bit, just like Emily Blunt in Edge of Tomorrow. Rebecca Ferguson... what a woman. My God.

But this movie just keeps reminding me how much I love Cruise in this role and how much he owns it. I want him to make much more of these if it means we get more of this quality. Another thing I forget is that Cruise makes consistently great action movies and seems very mindful of it. Some of the strongest too that holds a candle to any of the other quality blockbusters. Gotta give him credit for striving for that high quality and bringing out the best in everyone.

I think we're pretty fortunate that we're on the fifth installment and these movies are getting better. That really never happens. It's always the opposite.

 

[Marvolo]

I just thought that was film grain, and I remember thinking "well, that's refreshing" while watching it.

Nah this was digital noise. 35mm filmstock grain has a softer texture. And digital photography doesn't have natural grain.

The only other major film I've seen it this bad in was the first 300, but that was a deliberate stylistic choice by Zack Snyder to make the photography look less cgi and slick. There was no purpose to apply this much noise to this photography. So it must have been a result of the camera setup or the DI.

 

[Hurm...]

Ahhh, interesting.

 

[TheVileOne]

Maybe it would've looked better with the IMAX laser projection at TCL Theatre in Hollywood.

Still, IMHO, not one of the better IMAX conversions, and I love the IMAX format.

 

[InCali]

^
That I agree with and it seems to me that Hoffman was the best of the bunch, though to be honest I don't quite remember much of Dougray Scott's character in MI2. I think after Hoffman it might be Voight (though I haven't seen it in a long time) and then Sean Harris.

As for ranking the movies:

MI3
Ghost Protocol
Rogue Nation
MI
MI2

Wulllllll....yeah. t: Hoffman is probably the best actor that was ever in any of the MI movies. I liked Voight but had a hard time with the Phelps betrayal stuff. For my money, Lane/Harris was the next in line.

The ending?? I can see some grumbling about it, but, hey, I sure didn't expect it and ain't gonna throw the baby out with the bath water (well, at least not most of the time).

4.5 stars. Joe Bob sez check it out.

 

[InCali]

You'd have to be pretty stupid if you hire Phillip Seymour Hoffman and not not let him show his qualities and kneecap him basically so he doesn't overshadow Tom Cruise.

 

[InCali]

The 4k must have made all the difference because my take on the IMAX presentation was closer to TheVileOne's. I'd still rather see it that way than in the regular format just because of scope and sound, but I didn't think it was a very good conversion at all.

Saw it at a Cinemark XD theater and didn't have any trouble with the picture. The theater uses the 4K Barco PJ. I sat close (5th row and about 25 feet from an 86' screen), but it looked fine. Too bad about the conversion.

Regarding 2D vs 3D, I get what people are saying WRT their issues with 3D. The glasses can be sort of annoying due to peripheral sight issues and brightness and clarity can be a problem. I've found that the TCL Chinese and XD theaters (the ones that have dual projectors) help resolve the problem.

Anyway. I loved it and wouldn't squeak if Rebecca got cast as Carol Danvers.

 

[flickchick85]

Saw it at a Cinemark XD theater and didn't have any trouble with the picture. The theater uses the 4K Barco PJ. I sat close (5th row and about 25 feet from an 86' screen), but it looked fine. Too bad about the conversion.

Yeah, sounds like the 4K is the way to go on this. I've got a new laser IMAX near me that AoU looked glorious on, even in 3D, so I'll probably try that one next.

Anyway. I loved it and wouldn't squeak if Rebecca got cast as Carol Danvers.