Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One (2023) - Movie Review

What is the worst thing you can say to a raging narcissist with a saviour complex? And I don’t mean “worst” as in “what will hurt their feefees the most?”; I mean what would make this already-precarious situation even worse?

You tell him that he might actually be onto something.

Mission: Impossible - Fallout (2018) - Movie Review

The plot: After a mission goes wrong, the world is under threat by the terrorist group The Apostles, who now have access to enough plutonium to construct nuclear weaponry. Wanting to correct what happened, IMF agent Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) once again sets out with his colleagues Luther (Ving Rhames) and Benji (Simon Pegg) to save the world as they go after the stolen plutonium. However, with CIA operative August Walker (Henry Cavill) assigned to watch Ethan's every move in case he goes rogue again, and anarchist Soloman Lane (Sean Harris) plotting his revenge, this will prove to be Ethan's toughest assignment yet.

The Mummy (2017) - Movie Review

With Marvel sweeping in box office hit after box office hit, it seems that everyone and their backyard sound stage want to get in on this ‘shared film universe’ trend. Sure, Marvel didn’t exactly invent the idea; filmmakers like John Hughes and Kevin Smith both filled in their films with little threads that tied them together for those willing to pay attention. However, those guys did it more in passing than anything else, whereas Marvel has officially turned it into a new blossoming branch of the Hollywood franchise system. From DC’s attempts to match their graphic novel rivals to Legendary Studio’s increasingly-promising big monster franchise, even individuals like M. Night Shyamalan who seems to be setting up his own comic book-inspired world off the back of Split, this is basically the big new thing in Hollywood right now.

 

So, naturally, it seems that Universal Pictures wants to get in on this trend as well, using today’s film as a springboard for a shared universe based on their classic cavalcade of movie monsters. Of course, if the rest of the entries in the Dark Universe series are anything resembling this, we may be in for a very bumpy ride over the next several years because this film is something truly special.

Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation (2015) - Movie Review

The Mission: Impossible series of films has had a pretty rocky history all things considered, with each instalment seemingly designed specifically to correct an apparent ‘flaw’ with the previous one. When the first MI film’s intricate plot (read: convoluted and fuelled by blind luck) didn’t connect with audiences, rather than iron out the wrinkles and actually create a story that is as intelligent as it thinks it is unlike that film, the writers just threw it all out and made everything blindingly obvious to everyone involved with the sequel. When that fared even worse, J.J. Abrams decided to delve into the realm of self-parody for MI: 3, making fun of the tropes of the series while doing its best to improve in whatever areas it could. Then came Ghost Protocol, and something happened. All of a sudden, the characters, writing, action beats and effects work harmonised with each other to create easily the best installment out of all of them. So, with the directorial seat being switched out once again as per MI tradition, how does today’s film follow up on that surprise success?