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I mean, for all the flaws of the first three, I feel they have something more substantial to them. The first has this interesting tension to it as a spy thriller (with some really dark scenes actually which I always remember), the second is so mad and bombastic as an action movie you can't help but go with it, and the third has some interesting stuff going on with Ethan as a character. All have notably more interesting villains than 4, 5 and 6 for me as well (poor Sean Harris is a great character actor but the villain he plays is so boring in those last two). I dunno, they're just a bit... meh I guess by comparison.
To be honest, the later MI films make me appreciate the modern EON Bond films a lot more, even if they're certainly flawed too. To whatever extent I like them, they leave more of an impact on me and I get more out of them as films.
Do you think you come at both series more for story? Because I admit that the technicality of the MI films is what draws me in. I love the car chases, the stunts, the creativity of the filmmaking in that regard, but can admit they lack emotion compared to the latest Bond efforts. Those latest Bond efforts bring out negative emotions in me, however, haha.
Oh, I don't mind spectacle and even nonsense (MI:2 is pretty much that and leans into it at times, although it's got some great story beats. Heck, I'm a fan of Bond films which are like that too).
I dunno. For me a film is a full package I guess - story, spectacle etc. You can't just stitch together technically good action scenes and have the film work as a whole. I think the worst thing a film can do is not get an emotional reaction from me at various points - arms folded, legs crossed, me thinking 'how long have we got left' etc. Not necessarily boredom but apathy. That's been the later MI films for me at too many points I think.
I'm sure of it, and I might come down to watch them, eventually. But I was referring to a generic principle of the MI franchise as a brand, not its intrinsic quality. The original tv series was a clever if gimmicky drama, but nostalgia alone wouldn't have been able to sustain it on the big screen. In the 90s, a lot of these kinds of adaptations tried and failed. I really think it owes a lot to Tom Cruise. But as a brand, it's rather weak: it doesn't have a large and committed fanbase, it doesn't stand on itself, it doesn't have a distinctive aesthetic, etc.
Amazon did not just pay Barbara and Michael $1 billion to wait four years for a film. The whole point of buying them out was so that Amazon didn't have to wait!
A bit like in an interview when they ask you to give them one flaw and you say you're a workaholic, or you push yourself too hard. I haven't seen enough of MI to judge, but i always thought Ethan came off as bland and infallible. But then again, it's a Cruise vehicle.
Interestingly enough, I remember discussing this with an acquaintance at uni after the first movie came out. I had enjoyed it, he hadn't, and his main criticism was that they had moved from a team based franchise to a one hero franchise. "The team is dead, and from now in it's all about the Tom Cruise character."
Let them keep panicking.
Yep, thats my problem with those films, I really don't find anything appealing about the Ethan Hunt character, and I prefer Cruise when he's in an untypical role ( 'Collateral' for instance!)
Are we all in the wrong thread?? 🫣
But Amazon don't even have a team yet. It took EON 3 years from start to finish, and they had a full slate of series regulars to depend on. Its very disheartening, but I don't see a Bond film going into production anytime soon.
And funnily enough the team has become a much more prominent feature of them since 4 or so. Even that first film does see him building a new team of his own: I thought it's always been a little unfair to say the team dynamic is gone in the films. Indeed, all of that tedious 'Scooby Gang' criticism of the later Craig films comes from people perceiving them to be too like the team setup of the M:I films.
For me the bit that sets them apart from Bond films is that when they're at their best, they take the concept from the TV show of being a heist movie, but with spies instead of criminals. A spy heist is a really cool and unique idea, and I like it when they lean on that more.
Hunt makes plans, Bond chucks himself into a situation and just believes in his own ability to get himself out of it. Obviously they both cross over that line a little here and there, but the difference in approach is notable. Hunt's nature to make plans all derives from the heist concept of the TV show, I kind of reject that it has nothing to do with the show at all.
He is, but the Bonds are far more about Bond than the M:I films are about Hunt. The M:I films concentrate more on the plots and heists and action than they do Hunt, whereas the Bond films are often about celebrating the swagger and audaciousness of this male fantasy figure. The Lalo Schifrin theme isn't really Ethan's theme in the way that the Bond theme belongs to 007 himself.
“Disheartening”? You make it sound like a family tragedy.
Why do you find the 'Scooby Gang' criticism tedious?