The Stew Review: New Mission: Impossible Is The Summer's Best Action Movie
TYLER, Texas (KLTV) - It's time to fully acknowledge Mission: Impossible as one of the greatest achievements in action, and with it, Christopher McQuarrie, one of the greatest action directors ever.
Knowing how little respect I have for McQuarrie as a person (from podcasts and various interviews), he would probably shrug off the label and be content to just pretend to be a rookie. And although one would expect such modesty, considering that he has only five directorial works to his credit, the visible results of his talent and skill in the art of creating dynamic, frightening scenes speak for themselves. He may claim he's simply acknowledging the work that inspired him and standing on the shoulders of the cinematic giants that came before him (and he's not wrong), but the way he raises the bar for blockbusters higher cannot be overlooked. His latest work, Mission Impossible: The Death Wages, Part One, nearly turned him to stone.
Before Deadpool, I thought John Wick Chapter 4 was going to win action movie of the year. Now I'm not so sure. Because while Wick 4 certainly has a lot of action, gunfights and chases (sometimes in the same scene), it lacks the grandeur and scope of the overall retribution, which isn't bad when it comes to punching, shooting and driving. . What Wick 4 lacks is the thrilling spirit of high-speed train battles in the Swiss Alps. It also lacks one of the most creative car chases since Tomorrow Never Dies. And while Keanu Reeves has proven that he's more than capable of being a thoroughly exciting action hero, there's really something to be said for the guts of Tom Cruise's deadly antics as he literally leaps into the air and performs stunts known only to a few. the world (not to mention any sane one) will.
All indications are that Dead Reckoning Part One is an action symphony that offers almost everything you could want from a four-quadrant blockbuster as this team of now-famous secret agents travel the world doing what they do best. everything. Find your way through Knuckle Frenzy and save the world. And they do it with classic action-thriller flair across the board. This McQuarrie once again pushes the boundaries of practical action while maintaining a strong emphasis on the genre-defining works that came before it. There are moments that would make John Frankenheimer, Buster Keaton, Steven Spielberg and William Friedkin proud.
But since the plot is rooted in the past, the thematic core of the film is aimed at the near future. If Top Gun: Maverick was Tom Cruise's defiant stance on digital visual bias and its proliferation in the media, Dead Reckoning Part One was his attempt to challenge the menacing onslaught of artificial intelligence that threatens the role of the writer and designer who tore himself apart. . And does it more openly. Top Gun: Maverick conveys this attitude through several lines of dialogue. Dead Reckoning shapes the entire plot.
Death Wage isn't so much a spy movie as it is an international car chase. It's not uncommon for Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) and his crew to be mistreated by agents of his own government, but this time it's a little different because they don't just want to stop him from doing something crazy. They want to stop it because the people at the top of the food chain want to control the fabric of truth. An AI entity named Entity threatens to blur the line between fact and fiction and wreak havoc on the world if it gets out of control. Probably not, but that hasn't stopped the US government from trying, and they won't let Ethan Hunt get in their way. The problem, however, is that the entity has become aware of itself and has hired an assistant to represent its interests: Gabriel (Esay Morales).
One of nearly half a dozen newcomers, Gabriel immediately established himself as Ethan's most formidable opponent in the series. This is complemented by Morales' commanding performance, which makes Gabriel respectful, agile and charismatic, yet controlled and dangerous. Speedster Hayley Atwell Grace is another star. After repeatedly stealing the MacGuffin from the film, it quickly faded into the background: the key that unlocks the essence. She tangles with Ethan and his team, who are then pursued by two government officials played by Top Gun: Maverick's Greg Tarzan Davis and actress Shea Whigham.
The ensuing mayhem is essentially a nearly three-hour chase that spanned the sands of Abu Dhabi, the canals of Venice and the mountains of Switzerland. It's breathtaking and breath-taking, and it moves so fast that I was shocked to find out the actual running time. McQuarrie brings the film to near perfection, capturing and imbuing the entire film with the fast-paced dynamics he so expertly captures in his car chases.
If there's a chink in the film's armor, it's the loose process McQuarrie and Cruise use to make these films buckle under the weight of the approach. The pair were known for quickly rewriting characters during filming, often completely scrapping entire storylines or concepts to use new approaches inspired by actors' comments or lines. The collaborative nature of this approach is commendable, and overall it works a lot better than it should, given how interesting Macquarie's work has been to date. But there are idiosyncrasies here that can be confusing, especially when certain characters know what and how, which is confusing or completely useless. Fortunately, the cast and McQuarrie's team are experienced enough to never make a mistake, but this excerpt may reveal more than the previous installments.
But no matter how many gaps appear, the strength of the work far outweighs the number of details. In a macro sense, this is one of the most impressive and entertaining blockbusters of the last decade, and I can't wait to see how it all plays out in the second installment.
Copyright 2023 CLTV. All rights reserved.
