I’ve come a long way since I saw one of the first Mission Impossible films, where I sat with my coat over my head for the movie (I really didn’t want to watch it). I barely even remember what happened in that movie, apart from there being someone getting shot in the stomach.
The Mission Impossible movies are similar to the Fast and Furious franchise, in that they really do stretch my suspension of disbelief. The opening scene starts with a submarine under attack by a threat that shows up on their radar…but the attacking vessel doesn’t behave normally and eventually disappears, but unfortunately not before the submarine is destroyed and everyone on board is killed.
This movie stretches towards science fiction with the enemy being an AI who’s evolved to think for itself, becoming known as The Entity. And this Entity is searching for a key that’s able to control it…or, in Ethan Hunt’s case, to destroy it.
The action in this movie is pretty good, but I have to say that some of the characters felt a bit two-dimensional. The main one was Grace. I really like Hayley Atwell as an actor, but the character she portrayed in this movie just felt very bland. There was no real depth to her, so her actions at the end of the movie just felt completely forced. And to be honest, I really didn’t see why Ethan cared about her. In his shoes, I probably would have just let her experience the consequences of her own actions. After all, he tried to save her multiple times…and she really didn’t bring all that much to the table at the end of it. Certainly not as much as Ilsa did. And for a ‘bad’ character shown to have more depth to them, I would have been far more interested in that storyline being explored with Paris.
I did find it interesting to see Gabriel, an enemy from Ethan’s past, working with the Entity. It was interesting to see Ethan and his team have to fight against an enemy with complete and total control over technology, able to hack into their comms and surveillance cameras…effectively rendering them unable to trust their own technology.
There were a lot of good action and tension moments in this movie, even if it was a little predictable at times. I don’t think I’d get anything out of watching the movie again, at least not any time soon, but I do intend to watch part two.
Ink of Blood 