Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning

ronano · 10-07-2023 02:17PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120829387#Comment_120829387

It's back up to book having been taken down previously

Agent Coulson · 10-07-2023 03:45PM

Off to see it now and really looking forward to it.

Agent Coulson · 10-07-2023 07:27PM

That was a fantastic two and half hours of entertainment that flew by and I could have watched another two and half hours of part two if they had put it on straight after it.

A must watch on the big screen for me.

gmisk · 10-07-2023 08:14PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120827448#Comment_120827448

I think they moved it up early to make use of the IMAX screens before they are snaffled up by Oppenheimer.

McGrath5 · 10-07-2023 11:50PM

Just out - it was brilliant, the runtime flew by, nicely set up for part 2, can’t wait!

johnny_ultimate · 11-07-2023 12:58AM

A grander and dare I say more operatic entry in the series than even the preceding two films. I particularly loved the opening half hour or so, where all the exposition was delivered in this heavily stylised, heightened seriousness and each action / twist delivered with unapologetic portent. Balfe’s score is more or less ever present here, keeping everything amped up even during moments of downtime. In many ways, this carries on Fallout’s biggest strength of removing a lot of the extraneous baggage and just boiling the formula down to its essence: high stakes, big action. It certainly doesn’t get lost in its own plot the way the original M:I film did: the story here is no-nonsense stuff, used to just usher us along to the real fun stuff.

But of course once all the setup is out of the way the action is delirious as always. The car chase scene is giddily chaotic - taking the most tired of setpieces and making it fresh again by adding a few extra dashes of randomness and anarchy to proceedings. The big train sequence escalates the stakes repeatedly, and the climactic escape there takes another familiar setpiece (the cliff side dangle) and multiplies it, ramping up and up with each subsequent complication and obstacle. And it’s terrifically funny at times too, including a particular last second entrance that is audaciously absurd.

McQuarrie and his team are naturals at this at this stage, and the style and craft on display remains a delight to behold - both in the spectacle and the quieter moments. Even a shaky-cam (one of the banes of modern Hollywood action cinematography) brawl in a narrow alleyway feels like it’s properly motivated by the environment. And fair play for continuing to find imaginative, funny and striking ways to film Tom Cruise running extremely fast.

For all the relentless forward momentum, it definitely did feel baggier and less refined than Fallout in its middle act (more in pacing than plot), and the motivations of some side characters weren’t always convincing. A definite consequence of extending out the story. Still, I did like how it allowed more time to have those big dramatic pauses in dialogue scenes, and it keeps the stakes admirably simple despite the many characters being juggled.

Some great additions to the cast, particularly Atwell and Klementieff. Although…

not sure I liked how they handled Isla’s death, although I wouldn’t rule out a typical Mission:Impossible style fake out in part two.

silverharp · 11-07-2023 03:01PM

the hype is real

https://twitter.com/ErickWeber/status/1678624676850049024

AMKC · 11-07-2023 03:19PM

Just seen it. It's excellent. A great ride certainly will be going to see it again. A lot in it but it's quiet clever and definitely the most well written Mission Impossible film. It has a very clever story to it and some great action scenes too.

My one bugbear was some idiot up the front who kept taking their phone out like WTF. You are in the cinema. Once the film starts put it away or do not go to the cinema. I almost through something at them. Next time I will have something. Anyone bugs me like that they will get it I tell you.

Otherwise I Really enjoyed it.

Will go see it again.

10 out of 10 I think.

silverharp · 12-07-2023 07:20AM

10/10 , making car chases great again , Venice looked great , hadnt checked the runtime but didnt drag, no obvious cgi. welcome to the billion $ club!

bucketybuck · 12-07-2023 10:30PM

Saw this today. I'm a fan of the series and its definitely a Mission Impossible movie, has that same tone and feel of the recent ones. I enjoyed it well enough, wasn't bored at any point and don't regret seeing it.

But I didn't walk away thinking WOW, and it is definitely not a 10/10 movie. I really don't understand where the high praise is coming from, especially with regards to the action scenes. They were all fun, not saying they weren't, but none of them left much impression on me, just more running, more car chases, on a train yet again, we've seen all this before.

The villain was also a misstep. Discount Del Toro added nothing to the film and they didn't even try to make the magic AI something I should give a **** about.

There is something lacking and I don't think time will be kind to it. When the dust settles short term I'd say most discussion will be about the plotholes, and in years to come when people rank their favourites of the series it will probably be a middle of the pack also-ran.

silverharp · 12-07-2023 11:09PM

In hindsight discussing it with my son, we came to the conclusion that the last John Wick was more fun, but they arent films you sit around thinking about. 30min out of the cinema there is no reason to think anymore about them

13-07-2023 08:21AM

Seen it last night in Dun Laoghaire cinema. Really enjoyed it, wasn't aware it was a two part film. Some great action scenes in it.

Looking forward to part two.

On a side note, was great to see Screen 1 3/4 full for last nights film.

AMKC · 14-07-2023 09:30AM

I had to laugh. I just heard Q102s film bufff say he thought that this film was not as polished or basically as good as "Fallout" lol. Must be a while since he watched it. I can tell you that this is so much better than "Fallout" . Now if he had of said "Rogue Nation" or "Ghost Protocol"OK maybe but not Fallout sorry.

I will be going to see this for a second time at the weekend :)

AMKC · 14-07-2023 09:39AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120843940#Comment_120843940

There is something lacking and I don't think time will be kind to it. When the dust settles short term I'd say most discussion will be about the plotholes, and in years to come when people rank their favourites of the series it will probably be a middle of the pack also-ran.

I totally disagree. I think this film is bang on with where we are in the World now with the emergence of AI.

I think time will be kind to this film.

Maybe it's not ahead of time but it's certainly dealing with issues that are happening now a bit like Star Trek.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120844115#Comment_120844115

Ye maybe. I have to say I thought more about the Indiana Jones Film after I came out of the cinema than this. Still this was way more enjoyable. Indiana was too just a lot of noticible CGI in it.

bucketybuck · 14-07-2023 10:45AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120849309#Comment_120849309

Soloman Lane had been a far more interesting villain over multiple films.

Henry Cavills character had infinitely more charisma and screen presence than anything in Dead Reckoning.

The HALO jump, the bathroom fight, the convoy attack, the countdown to disarming the bombs while Tom was duelling helicopters, the action in Fallout was both better and also more in service to the plot itself.

The plot was much, much tighter in Fallout. More straightforward and so much better for it. The plot of Dead Reckoning has more holes than swiss cheese.

There are a lot of objective reasons why Fallout is a better film, I'm happy to believe that in years to come popular opinion will rank them accordingly.

johnny_ultimate · 14-07-2023 10:51AM

I liked this film a whole lot and think it has a successfully distinct and interesting tone compared to Fallout. But Fallout is such a tightly-wound and designed machine that it’s still the series highlight for me: just the purest distillation of everything the series does well.

silverharp · 14-07-2023 11:20AM

Also Hayley Atwell/Grace was excellent in it and a great example of how to write a believable and engaging female lede

bucketybuck · 14-07-2023 11:35AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120849840#Comment_120849840

She did ok, though it was quite frustrating that:

Her answer to every situation was to ditch Ethan and run away, which caused no end of problems but fair enough, thats her thing. Or at least it was right up until she is yet again running away, then runs around a corner and sees Sicario standing on a bridge with his back to her.

She sees the guy who threatened her so what does she do? She runs away, yeah? She turns and legs it in the other direction fast as she can, right?

No, for the first time in the movie she decides not to run, instead she attacks the main bad guy with a pocketknife.

It just didn't fit at all. Grace wasn't trying to get somewhere specific, she was just running away so didn't need to get past Gabriel, in character she would have just turned and ran the other direction.

We all know why they did it, but it was a very clunky way to write Ilsa out of the movie and just highlighted the question of why Ilsa was even in the damn movie to begin with. Sicario didn't even take the key from Grace after beating her up, the whole fight served no purpose, it literally only existed as a way to kill Ilsa.

homerun_homer · 14-07-2023 01:24PM

Loved the film. I find the funniest aspect being that romantic motivation in the film is "Tom Cruise/Ethan Hunt exists in the same vicinity as female".

The action is fantastic but for all the legitimacy they put behind the stunts, so many of them still looked green screeny, particularly the bike jump. I know they built the big ramp, but when you have to erase and replace with mountain then it doesn't look real for all their efforts.

I knew Pom wouldn't die, as she loves jumping out of helicopters and doing stunts so I figured she would be a shoe in to be joining the team come part 2.

Ilsa's death was a shame, she didn't get to do much in the film, and it leaves the end of Fallout that little bit flatter for it. I wish they would just park romantic interests given their missions are so important they shouldn't have those kinds of personal ties, as they've already established in the franchise.

bucketybuck · 14-07-2023 02:22PM

I thought the teasers released showing Cruise doing those stunts really lessened the impact of them in the movie itself.

Ok, here is the big motorcycle jump, that we have actually already seen happen in real life...

It just takes you out of the movie, how can you not see it as an actor doing a stunt when you had literally already seen him doing it in real life. Those things should have been left for DVD extras, or whatever the modern alternative is.

pixelburp · 14-07-2023 03:33PM

Just out of that and my first thoughts are: I would also like to be handcuffed to Hayley Atwell.

Second thoughts are: a rollicking arresting film that's the standout actioner of the year..., but definitely lacked the visceral immediacy and relentlessness of Fallout. The Entity bordered on Sci-fi silliness and it kinda lost its way before that fantastic set piece on the train. Fallout was just chef's kiss perfection, this felt oddly more perfunctory in places - with the personal stakes a bit too contrived against Fallouts own.

The stunts were as spectacular as expected, but the Rome sequence was oddly my favourite and more convincing ... cos as I feared, the CGI patina over the train crash and parachute jump took away from the fact they were real stunts. They made them look more fake than they really were.

Oh and it doesn't come up enough but I think the secret sauce of these films, beyond the real world stunts, is the soundtrack. Lorne Balfe's arresting escalation of drums and intensity does a lot of unheralded work in these films.

johnny_ultimate · 14-07-2023 04:30PM

In terms of the Ilsa stuff here…

I definitely think her death feels abrupt and even throwaway relative to the importance they’ve given her in each of the previous two films, and feels like they’ve left aspects of her relationship with Ethan unresolved. As good as Atwell is, dumping the excellent Ferguson just to have a new female lead seems a bit random. Her death does provide motivation for Hunt’s actions in the rest of the film, but just feels like there are a few crucial scenes missing.

BUT I do think there’s a chance there’s a fake out afoot. It makes sense that the team are playing four-dimensional chess in a bid to outplay the algorithm’s plan - pretending things are happening as predicted (and getting at their weakness - each other), but actually up to something else entirely. The whole fake Ilsa death at the start of the film also points that direction, not to mention the first Mission:Impossible film also had a big fake out death.

But that’s one of the problems with two part films. You don’t have the whole film to go on, and so have to make judgements on partial info. I didn’t feel shortchanged here by any stretch, but yes I think Ferguson deserves better than what she gets in part one at least.

Agent Coulson · 14-07-2023 04:40PM

I will say the streets of Rome have gotten some battering between this and Fast X.

bucketybuck · 15-07-2023 12:47AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120851581#Comment_120851581

In response to that:

I hope they don't go that way. I completely agree that there are signs that it could be pointing that way, and to add to your reasons, I did think that in the "recruiting Grace" scene following there wasn't much grief on display from Ethan and the team. It was very much back to the job for everybody.

But it will definitely feel very cheap if they do it. A contrived and meaningless scene to kill her just to get her out of the way, it could only end up in a cheap reveal if she comes back in the end.

pixelburp · 15-07-2023 07:58AM

It should also be pointed out that "Ilsa Faust" remains a fabulously silly, but awesome name.

Unearthly · 15-07-2023 08:06AM

Another incredible experience. I got lost in the time that I was expecting another big set piece then it dawned on me that it was Part 1. Hope it does well at the box office

fluke · 15-07-2023 08:38AM

Not sure how I feel about this one. As it's a part one it doesn't feel as wholly complete as previous entries. I would also say it feels like it's pulling punches on one hand, but on the other hand, it makes story choices that feel unnecessary.

I'm hoping part two elevates this a bit or redeems in a way that's akin to Johnny Ultimate's comments.

Some random thoughts:

Lorne Balfe's score does a lot of heavy lifting.

I would also say the big bad in this feels underwhelming and weirdly reminded me of I Robot, Transformers (the sound effect) and Sauron of all things.

gmisk · 15-07-2023 09:38AM

On way to see this morning!

Rewatched fallout yesterday such a fun film.

~Rebel~ · 15-07-2023 10:14AM

Yeah, agree with most of the above - good fun, but doesnt' quite hit the heights of Fallout. I'd actually have it slightly behind Rogue Nation as well, about on par with Ghost Protocol. Better action than GP, but GP had more charm and wit.

One thing that continuously bugged the bejesus out of me, and kept taking me out of the film, was the way almost every longer 'conversation' was just a series of people continuing on a sentence from the previous person. Each person saying a line and the next person continuing the thought instantly as if they'd all learned a monologue off by heart and just split it up. It never felt like people talking TO each other, it felt like the writer talking AT us. It happened in so so many scenes, and just felt very lazy and weird.

Shank Williams · 15-07-2023 11:03AM

I fell for they hype - would recommend people to buy not go into screen until there’s 30-40 minutes left on this (from start of train scene) as everything before that is tough, tough going- I was bored out of my mind.

Boring nonsensical plot , unbelievably stilted exposition heavy dialogue (bing Thames in particular phoning it in) and nothing special action for most of the film- tbf the action scenes in last 40 mins are something else but like everyone I’d already seen the main stunt from every conceivable angle already

Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning

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