Confusing, over-the-top, but fun and smart

Rating: 7/10 (15 June 2015)

*WARNING MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS* Now that I've reviewed Mission: Impossible III, which I just watched, I decided to go back and review the first two MI movies, and give you my thoughts. I understand how someone would like this movie more than I do, and I can see myself liking it more on a future viewing, but as it stands now, I just think this movie is okay. I think Tom Cruise does a pretty good job as Ethan Hunt, but, and you won't hear me say this often, I thought the movie was shot poorly. The way it was shot, and just the general look of the movie made it look like it was made in 1960. Maybe that's what they were going for, but it kind of threw me. Another thing that threw me, and I get that this was intentional, was that there was almost no fighting. There are suspenseful scenes, which I will get to in just a minute, but there aren't any shootouts, and there is only one brief fistfight and a chase scene, that's it. I like that they tried to make a different spy-thriller type movie, but they could've included a bit more action, though I do think this was an interesting idea. I'm not saying it was necessarily bad, I'm just saying I expected something... different. Despite my complaints against this movie, I can't deny that I had an absolute blast watching it. The break-in at the HQ building was very tense, but also very funny. The two don't sound like they'd work well together, but I think they mixed the two styles very nicely in this scene. The investigation was rather confusing to me, maybe I just missed some crucial plot point, but I was lost for a large chunk of this movie, which might have hurt my opinion a bit. This movie also doesn't really have a villain, exactly. It's more about Ethan on the run, and trying to figure out what's going on, but the villain, Job, is in the movie... maybe ten minutes, and it's not like he's even an opposing force when he's not on screen, there's just... no villain. The fight on the train though, that was an excellent scene. Action- packed, suspenseful, and very entertaining. Unlike 2 and 3, this movie is certainly not playing it with a straight face, this is obviously going for a humorous tone, and I think they pulled it off well. In the end Mission: Impossible was a fun movie, despite my problems with it, it had good characters, some good tension, and a smart, if confusing story.