Mission: Impossible: Rogue Nation - Part 1

[The Caped Knight]

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.

Dude, The prologue still gets me every freaking time, even though I know what occurs afterwards hoffman owns that scene, "YOU THINK I'm playing you don't THINK I'll Do it!"

 

[Loki882]

Something that I've been pondering:

Spoiler

Was Alec Baldwin in on it from the beginning? Was the whole "we must dissolve the IMF" thing just a ruse in order to lure The Syndicate out so that Ethan and co could take them out? Or was he just covering his ass? I'm not sure how to take that last scene.

Also, they didn't play up the "anti-IMF" thing nearly as much as I expected/hoped that they would. So I kind of hope that The Syndicate returns in a future film just so that we can do more with that.

 

[Loki882]

I was reading a USA Today article on the film, and Rebecca was interviewed. Some interesting tidbits:

Spoiler

-Her answers to question tend to be short, but also respectful and to the point.

-She initially wasn't sure about whether Illsa saving Ethan's life in that one scene was a good idea. But apparently Tom Cruise loved that idea as he thought it reinforced the idea of them being equals.

-Her "explanation" for kicking off the heels was hilarious. "Well we COULD have done it with the heels, but we liked the idea of her kicking them off, Illsa is a pratical character."

-She had to learn how to hold her breath underwater for over four minutes so that they could do the scene in one take.

 

[The Caped Knight]

Something that I've been pondering:

Spoiler

Was Alec Baldwin in on it from the beginning? Was the whole "we must dissolve the IMF" thing just a ruse in order to lure The Syndicate out so that Ethan and co could take them out? Or was he just covering his ass? I'm not sure how to take that last scene.

Also, they didn't play up the "anti-IMF" thing nearly as much as I expected/hoped that they would. So I kind of hope that The Syndicate returns in a future film just so that we can do more with that.

It was a set up from the beginning.

Spoiler

Basically they took the same approach they had in James Bond Skyfall setup in which introduction of Gareth Mallory played by Ralph Fiennes as the next M to replace Judi Dench's M.

See I suspected if Alec Baldwin as Alan Hunley wasn't the leader of the Syndciate then he'd become the new secretary and given how efficiently we saw him run the CIA. It was a given towards the end of the film he was going to become the new head of the IMF. Especially when he himself saw the need for the team when they got proof of the Syndicate existence from the Prime Minister of Great Britain and took down Solomon Lane.

I've seen the film twice already

 

[Loki882]

Ah, I see. Thanks.

 

[samsnee]

It was a set up from the beginning.

Spoiler

Basically they took the same approach they had in James Bond Skyfall setup in which introduction of Gareth Mallory played by Ralph Fiennes as the next M to replace Judi Dench's M.

See I suspected if Alec Baldwin as Alan Hunley wasn't the leader of the Syndciate then he'd become the new secretary and given how efficiently we saw him run the CIA. It was a given towards the end of the film he was going to become the new head of the IMF. Especially when he himself saw the need for the team when they got proof of the Syndicate existence from the Prime Minister of Great Britain and took down Solomon Lane.

I've seen the film twice already

Spoiler

Are you saying it was set up in that Alec Baldwin knew everything from the beginning? Baldwin was legitimately against the IMF from the beginning. He didn't realize how important they were until the end when the Prime Minister reveals the whole plot. At some point after that, he became their new director. If he was in on it from the beginning, scenes like Benji's interrogation or when Brandt called him to come to London makes no sense as it is only in there to fool the audience and none of the characters in the movie.

 

[AnneFan]

Just saw the movie. Loved it. Great action and suspense, and I was engaged the whole time. The cast worked well together, and as a fan of Cruise he delivered once again. Definitely check this one out, folks. My theatre was full, too, and they all had a ball as well.

 

[Doctor Jones]

Spoiler

Are you saying it was set up in that Alec Baldwin knew everything from the beginning? Baldwin was legitimately against the IMF from the beginning. He didn't realize how important they were until the end when the Prime Minister reveals the whole plot. At some point after that, he became their new director. If he was in on it from the beginning, scenes like Benji's interrogation or when Brandt called him to come to London makes no sense as it is only in there to fool the audience and none of the characters in the movie.

Yeah I thought

Spoiler

at the end when Baldwin said he was in on it the whole time, that was him lying and covering his own ass while also just protecting the IMF after he saw how useful and important they were, hence the confusion from the Senate and how humorous the scene is. That end scene does not work or land without the arc of Baldwin going from being against IMF to being with them.

 

[Loki882]

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.

And again, I hate that stupid cliché so damn much (plus it craps all over MI:III). The more that I think about it, the more I think that that was a mistake on GP's part.

 

[Loki882]

Not that it really matters at all now but I feel the first deserves a lot more than it got but is probably because so few have reviewed it it doesnt look much better than the second.

Well the first one had an underwhelming third act. Plus they did the whole incredibly dumb "lets make Jim Phelps into the psychotic bad guy, because that won't upset MI fans AT ALL." To this day, I don't get how they could have possibly thought that that was a good move.

 

[Mysteryman]

Well the first one had an underwhelming third act. Plus they did the whole incredibly dumb "lets make Jim Phelps into the psychotic bad guy, because that won't upset MI fans AT ALL." To this day, I don't get how they could have possibly thought that that was a good move.

I think a lot of that had to with the director, Brian Depalma .
He is known for twisty plots .

 

[Mysteryman]

Going to the TCL Chinese, today(I Hope).
Torn between Laser IMAX and Dolby Atmos .
Thoughts?

 

[Fallen Angel]

'Mission: Impossible — Rogue Nation' Cruising to $52.5M U.S. Debut http://thr.cm/cb9ECb

Tom Cruise's Mission: Impossible — Rogue Nation is off to a pleasing start at the North American box office, where it grossed a franchise-best $20.3 million on Friday for a projected weekend debut of $52.5 million.

Friday's take is the best ever for a Mission: Impossible movie. The previous record was $16.6 million for Mission: Impossible II.

Overseas, the movie is even bigger, already grossing $26.3 million for an expected weekend launch of $60 million, putting the movie's global bow at roughly $112 million. Internationally, Rogue Nation scored the biggest opening day of Cruise's career in 20 markets. And in South Korea, it amassed $16 million, blowing away previous Mission titles and delivering Paramount its biggest first day behind Transformers: Dark of the Moon. It is also the second best showing of the year so far behind Avengers: Age of Ultron.

In a test of Cruise's star-power, 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 pace, Rogue Nation will pose the second-best weekend opening of the series behind the second installment.

 

[Mysteryman]

Good to hear.
All that talk of it tracking $40 Million made me nervous.
Nice to hear that it is doing well.

 

[VictorDomashev]

Saw it first showing this morning. If the Academy Awards had an award for best opening sequence. This movie would win that hands down. Perhaps the MTV Movie Awards should add that category

 

[ShadowBoxer]

Saw this last night and liked it a lot. I am genuinely surprised how this series has had a solid track record with the quality of each film. The only one that is kinda meh is Mission Impossible 2, but even that one isn't that bad. This movie is going to give 007 Spectere a run for its money this year in terms of spy movies ( and I am a huge Bond fan). Tom Cruise proves he is a action star with no equal, I don't know ANY actor that would be willing to do the stunt on the plane, yet this dude did it EIGHT times! Anyway can't recommend this movie enough 9/10!

 

[kvz5]

Seated now! So excited to see Cruise and Ferguson kill it!

 

[DarKush]

Dougray Scott's character's main grievance was that he hated being Ethan's double in the IMF because he always had to put on his stupid grin. Only thing he really seemed to be after was a big payday in stock options. It was a pretty shallow story arc that was only made up for by the John Woo action scenes.

Hey thanks,

I actually went back and started watching the old Mission Impossible films since I posted yesterday. I'm still not a fan of MI2 but I liked it better than I did at the time. It's over the top and tries too hard to be cool, but I did like Thandie Newton and I liked the overall cinematography. Whereas MI 1 looks dated now, MI2 holds up.

Ambrose actually gets more screen time than many of the other MI villains and though he might be a bit shallow there was potential there as a kind of Dark Ethan. Lane reminds me most of Ambrose in terms of his abilities, though Lane has a more political bent in regards to his motivations. Or at least he claims he does, or rather what Ethan says about him, because he really doesn't do much monologuing.

 

[DarKush]

Saw this last night and liked it a lot. I am genuinely surprised how this series has had a solid track record with the quality of each film. The only one that is kinda meh is Mission Impossible 2, but even that one isn't that bad. This movie is going to give 007 Spectere a run for its money this year in terms of spy movies ( and I am a huge Bond fan). Tom Cruise proves he is a action star with no equal, I don't know ANY actor that would be willing to do the stunt on the plane, yet this dude did it EIGHT times! Anyway can't recommend this movie enough 9/10!

It might indeed give Spectre a run for its money, though I'm not sure. But in terms of characters, at least with Craig's Bond you get a more interesting, or potentially interesting character than Cruise's Hunt. Hunt is too simple, too uncomplicated. I think the best character development was in MI3, but for the most part Hunt is an action figure, we see little of what's driving him. It's just the action scenes are so good and its glossy and a fun time at the movie theater that I usually don't mind the thin characterization. And it's a testament to Cruise's intensity and sheer force of will to make these movies so entertaining despite the often lackluster or poorly developed villains.

So it's often that Cruise doesn't have anyone to play off up, to ratchet the tension, but it often doesn't matter.

 

[samsnee]

Same could be said with Bond. Craig plays him well but he's not that layered either.

 

[DarKush]

Well the first one had an underwhelming third act. Plus they did the whole incredibly dumb "lets make Jim Phelps into the psychotic bad guy, because that won't upset MI fans AT ALL." To this day, I don't get how they could have possibly thought that that was a good move.

I agree. And I wasn't a watcher of the original show, however even I understood how that could be a slap in the face. One of my relatives was and he expressed that he didn't like that move. As a Trek fan it would be like them doing a new movie that says Captain Kirk is a traitor, which would not be cool at all.

Granted it did establish the films as separate from the series-but then again, why did they need to be? It seemed like making Phelps the bad guy was really about establishing Tom Cruise's Ethan Hunt as the alpha dog of the movie MI franchise-essentially the franchise now going forward.

On one level I can get it as an oh crap moment, I mean the one guy you wouldn't expect is the mastermind behind it all. I get that. But of course it would've worked better if Peter Graves had done it rather than have a new actor. They could've just as easily created a new character for Voight without having to trash Jim Phelps. And maybe had the old MI crew in cameos as high ranking IMF officials. The old crew gets respect while Hunt still gets to be the big man. Everyone wins.

 

[DarKush]

Same could be said with Bond. Craig plays him well but he's not that layered either.

Perhaps, but we did see his relationship with Vesper Lynd and the fallout from that. We got hints of his past in Skyfall and I'm guessing we might get more about his past in Spectre. Craig's Bond has layers to me. Hunt not as much, outside of MI3. Granted maybe MI1 when he had to deal with Phelps and Claire.

 

[Mysteryman]

I agree. And I wasn't a watcher of the original show, however even I understood how that could be a slap in the face. One of my relatives was and he expressed that he didn't like that move. As a Trek fan it would be like them doing a new movie that says Captain Kirk is a traitor, which would not be cool at all.

Granted it did establish the films as separate from the series-but then again, why did they need to be? It seemed like making Phelps the bad guy was really about establishing Tom Cruise's Ethan Hunt as the alpha dog of the movie MI franchise-essentially the franchise now going forward.

On one level I can get it as an oh crap moment, I mean the one guy you wouldn't expect is the mastermind behind it all. I get that. But of course it would've worked better if Peter Graves had done it rather than have a new actor. They could've just as easily created a new character for Voight without having to trash Jim Phelps. And maybe had the old MI crew in cameos as high ranking IMF officials. The old crew gets respect while Hunt still gets to be the big man. Everyone wins.[/QUOTE
Graves turned down the role of Phelps in MI1.
He stated that he wished that Voight had not played Phelps but his successor instead.
He thought that could have been established with with a note from Phelps Wishing the new guy luck.
Graves did not seem pleased with the twist at all.

 

[psylockolussus]

This was pretty cool! I liked the water and the motorcycle chase scene the most! However, the plane scene was kinda a letdown to me. But over-all, it was very good. I don't know if I prefer this to Ghost Protocol but still very good.

 

[InCali]

I thought my wife had an interesting comment after she saw it. "I really liked it. It was very entertaining, but I found I didn't feel as close to the characters as I did when I saw Ant-Man. I didn't get drawn in to the characters to the same extent." Ant-Man, I think, had characters you could relate to quite a bit more. There were a lot of family issues and things that we deal with everyday. That's the nature of the material itself, but the divide still exists.