30 Years of Mission.
I'm a big dork about a lot of things and the Mission: Impossible series is one of the biggest that I can dork about. I didn't fully develop my admiration for the series until Ghost Protocol, but since then the release of every subsequent movie felt like an event. I got to see Ghost Protocol, Rogue Nation, and Fallout all in true full blown IMAX. Even though I had seen Fallout already, that second viewing only made each incredible set piece so much more immersive and intense. The Burj Khalifa sequence from Ghost Protocol is still the most effective and nerve wracking set piece that I have seen in IMAX with the helicopter chase from Fallout trailing right behind it.
I remember the trailer for Dead Reckoning coming out over a year before the movie itself and I watched it an absurd amount of times. I usually like to know as little as possible going into a movie, but that teaser was all that us Mission fans had for quite some time. I even walked into a screening of Top Gun: Maverick just so that I could see it on the big screen, despite then going to see Maverick the very next day.
I listened to the Light the Fuse podcast a lot in the time between Fallout and Dead Reckoning. Not only was it fun to hear the hosts share their passion and love for the series, but when they would interview different cast and crew members from the various movies on the show, it was exciting to get the insight on how they pulled off an incredible set piece or their creative process in the writing or the iconic music. It was awesome when Christopher McQuarrie not only guested on the 100th episode, but then he also got Tom Cruise himself on the line to talk to the hosts and congratulate them on the show. They later got to attend the premiere of Dead Reckoning and soon after became the OFFICIAL podcast for the series. It felt really neat that this thing I had such a hyper fixation with had its own official show made by people who truly loved the series.
Seeing The Final Reckoning was one of the most anticipated experiences for me on a personal level and I know that a lot of folks had problems with it, but I honestly didn't really mind the first hour referencing back to a lot of the other movies or having a lot of exposition. The Sevastapool and biplane sequences are among the best of the series. Seeing Cruise defy death for our entertainment has never gotten boring. The planning and execution that went into these movies had to be so precise and intricate because one thing going wrong could lead to disaster. Cruise literally breaks his ankle onscreen in Fallout.
I was in for the ride of the final Mission and I remember walking out of the theater mostly satisfied. I saw it several more times in the theater and had a great time with it on each viewing. A year later now, I would put it in the lower half of my series rankings, but I think it did a lot more right than it did wrong.
It all started thirty years ago today with Brian De Palma's espionage thriller masterpiece. This used to be one of my lesser favorite entries. I think that the later movies had such incredible stunts that I looked at the first movie lesser in comparison, but the more I have watched it, the more wrong I used to be. This is a near perfect start to the series. De Palma's creative output is on full display here creating such palpable tension with each escalating plot point and set piece. The mission gone wrong (Ethan's care for the lives of others more than his own starts right here! It's built into the foundation of the series itself!), Ethan meeting Kittridge at the restaurant, the Langley Heist (split diopter rat shot!), the reveal of what really happened when Ethan's team was killed, and the terrific final confrontation on the train are all so well crafted. De Palma makes Ethan's paranoia ours as well. It's one banger of a beginning to a banger of a blockbuster series.
Mission: Impossible is my personal choice for the best action series in film and it's very exciting to celebrate its 30th anniversary today.