Mission: Impossible Series

Just ahead of seeing the new Mission: Impossible film at the theater, the week prior I decided to re-watch the entire series, and had a damn good time doing so. If I were to put them in order of preference, starting from my favorite, it would be: Mission: Impossible, Mission: Impossible III, Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation (the 5th), Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol (the 4th), and then Mission: Impossible II, which unfortunately is a real stinker. For the the first and third ones, I’d say I almost enjoy them equally, but give a nod to the first one because it started it all and it still has so many iconic sequences. But I do love III as well, and it really put the series back on track after the misfire that was II — and I’m saying this as someone who was a huge fan of John Woo’s films in his HK era, but his style has not aged well, and it comes off as unnecessarily distracting (almost amateurish) and doesn’t fit the vibe at all of the other films in the series (I just like seeing Thandie Newton in it). As for Ghost Protocol and Rogue Nation, Ghost is not bad, but Rogue is a really great action spy flick, and I’m glad McQuarrie stayed on to do Fallout. Despite the disappointing II, this is still a series I really love, and I imagine I’ll continue to re-watch the series in the years to come.