Having just attended the new MI, my son and I decided to go back and watch some earlier movies. I will never understand how they could make such a hash of the second movie. MI 2 is a train wreck. There is no other way to say it. John Woo must want to forget this disaster. He has to live with making the only stinker in a very solid action movie franchise. It really is the weakest link. My 12 year old and I concur on the following ranking of these movies : 1) Ghost Protocol MI # 4 2) MI #1 3) MI #5 Rogue Nation 4) MI #3 and a distant 5th place goes to MI #2
I haven't seen all of the sequels, but I remember the first film being very different than at least parts 2 and 3. Much more of a spy thriller than a straight-up action film.
I think the studio was looking at it from an artistic and a commercial point of view: John Woo was highly regarded as a very stylized director in his various genres, so he was a known quantity; Tom Cruise was a world-wide star who was doing a sequel to a successful film. Commercially, the film made $546M, so from the studio's point of view, it was great. I thought the movie was pretty awful, and I particularly hated the reliance on rubber masks -- aided in this case by CGI -- and the unbelievable plot. I think you can get into this kind of thing on a certain "leave your brain at the door" level, but intellectually stimulating, it ain't. Mission:Impossible 3, directed by J.J. Abrams, got better reviews but made a lot less money (under $400M), so it was regarded as a big disappointment. Viacom chief Sumner Redstone was upset enough by the relative downturn in box office, he essentially fired Cruise: http://www.slate.com/articles/business/moneybox/2006/09/why_tom_cruise_really_got_fired.html
kick the sand and grab a jumping gun (hidden in the sand, of course) to kill the villain that was ready to shoot you down some seconds before!
My Rankings: 1a. MI 1 1b. MI 5 3. MI 4 4. MI 3 5. MI 2 I will have to rewatch MI 1 to determine if I like it better than MI 5. I've forgotten many details about MI 1 to really compare it to MI 5. I haven't watched the movie in at least 12 or more years.
I was a kid when MI 1 came out. I went to see it a couple of times at the theatre.. The first movie I ever felt compelled to go back and see again. I was really really excited when the second one came out. I went to see that one too.. Needless to say, I did not feel compelled to see it a second time. I was absolutely so disappointed, it was such a let down. Seeing Phillip Seymour Hoffman in (was it MI 3?) absolutely made that movie. I LOVED how it started. Totally brought me back in.
Meh, I LOVED MI:2. MI 1 was OK but not special or really re-watchable for the most part to me, MI: 3 was blah and MI:4 was really fun. Haven't seen MI:5 yet.
I thought it was terrible even as a kid in the theater. But the action looks and sounds spectacular as anything Woo normally does. Thank goodness he finally went back to China as while over here he never could do anything that matched the level of his HK classics. Terrible disappointment after the staggeringly good first film. The CG masks are the one thing I despise about this franchise and they went overboard with them. MI:3 was a step in the right direction but it felt dull, by the numbers and uninspiring for me. It felt more like a TV production. MI:4 nearly bored me to tears and I didn't like the team aspect because they were there practically to serves a stereotypes and to advance the plot. While outright terrible, I think I might prefer 2 to 3 or 4 simply due to the old school style action sequences...because they gave John Woo a huge budget to blow stuff up...of course it's great! But none, and I repeat none match the first film. I must have watched it over and over through the years. An actual summer blockbuster about spies that actually has something to do with spying? Has actual danger for the hero involved? It is the best Cruise film because they found a way to combine the hero of a story with the intelligent slightly smart-ass focused persona of the actor. Usually I don't care for DePalma films, so this is the only one I really admire. And it of course has a sound mix that is still reference grade overseen Gary Rydstrom. Is it too much to ask for a true sequel to the first film? I don't think so!
I like "3" best. The first one is enjoyable but feels anonymous - it never creates a great personality or impression...
As I recall, MI2 suffered from studio interference and Woo was forced to recut to their specifications.
Sorry. MI 2 is a boring film that never gets going. The first 40 minutes are brutal. If you haven't seen it in a while (and you have masochistic tendencies ) I dare you to watch the first 40 minutes and stay awake.
I think there's some truth to that. It certainly makes sense when watching the final film. But I still find it shocking that Robert Towne of all people wrote such a pitiful knockoff on Notorious.
I really hated part 2. And everytime I watched it, I hated it more. That's usually the way I react to most Michael Bay movies. The doves, the crucifix poses, the swirling cars, and the worst, how Ethan stomps the sand and makes the gun spring up like he's standing on a trampoline. Ugh! MI:2 is by far the worst of the series. (this thread could use a much better title)
It's interesting to me that people have such distinct views on each movie - or director's take on it. My wife HATES the first one - I love it (directed by Mr. Hit Big or Fail Loud). MI 2? I just remember lots of Woo-action. It was probably okay and I liked it at the time (haven't seen that one in years - but Vidiot is right - Woo was hot and making tons of money for Paramount at the time) MI 3 - loved. MI 4 - the one I don't get. I thought it was horrible. I couldn't get through it. So boring... he climbed a building. That was like the big thing. I hated it - I remember being shocked how much I hated it because it was Brad Bird AND people were saying it was great. ?? Twice I tried... MI 5 - I want to see. As long as it's better than the standard "gimmick" they throw in (this time, Cruise hangs off a plane) which I've heard it is. So MI 2?... I just know I liked it and the only I truly don't enjoy in this series is #4. Jeff
