Mission: Impossible fans??!
Question: Is it just me, or does anyone else think that the "Mission: Impossible" movies suck? I mean, I have been a really big fan of the TV series for many years and, whether it was Dan Briggs or Jim Phelps as the team leader, it was ALWAYS about a TEAM effort to stop the bad guy on each particular mission...In the movies, it's all about the Tom Cruise/Ethan Hunt character...As far as I am concerned, Tom Cruise ruined a really cool idea for one of the few extremely well-written and intelligent series that was EVER on television!!
Would anyone else like to see "Mission: Impossible 4" WITHOUT Tom Cruise and, an entirely new IMF team?
It seems to me that, with the right script, director, and actors, "Mission: Impossible" could easily be resurrected back to the 1st class idea that it was in the original series and, one of the most action-packed films anyone has ever seen!
Answers: Is it just me, or does anyone else think that the "Mission: Impossible" movies suck? I mean, I have been a really big fan of the TV series for many years and, whether it was Dan Briggs or Jim Phelps as the team leader, it was ALWAYS about a TEAM effort to stop the bad guy on each particular mission...In the movies, it's all about the Tom Cruise/Ethan Hunt character...As far as I am concerned, Tom Cruise ruined a really cool idea for one of the few extremely well-written and intelligent series that was EVER on television!!
Would anyone else like to see "Mission: Impossible 4" WITHOUT Tom Cruise and, an entirely new IMF team?
It seems to me that, with the right script, director, and actors, "Mission: Impossible" could easily be resurrected back to the 1st class idea that it was in the original series and, one of the most action-packed films anyone has ever seen!
No...it is not just you. It is only in watching Mission Impossible...year one with Dan Briggs as team leader...that I realised that I became an electrician when I got out of college...because of Barny. That is how much the series affected me. I was seven years old when I watched MI for the first time. I have never considered the movies to be a continuation of the series. MI was about teamwork...the immense respect that each team member had for one another...and the best episodes took place when one of their own was in trouble. Electrifying. What I really loved about the series when it began to mature...especially through season 2 and beyond...was how little they needed to use guns...if at all.
It was about not just using the enemy's weaknesses against him/her...but their strengths against themselves. And I believe that MI was the first and really only series where I ended up feeling sorry for the bad guys...after the IMF got through with you...there was nowhere for you to go in this life. They seemed like the walking emdodiment of Karma come back to haunt and destroy you...by making you destroy yourself.
Unbelievable. Some of those episodes leave me with chills just thinking about them.
All I see with Cruise was a desire to capture a ready made audience without working for their respect...and the IMF got our respect...Cruise did not. He wanted to play James Bond...knew he would never be accepted by any audience as him...so simply created it out of Mission Impossible...but first had to kill off the legacy stopping him from being Top Gun. So he kills off Phelps after eliminating his crew(removing forever any real chance that the remaining members of the 60's tv series would come on board and usurp him) and branding him a traitor. That...was a bonehead move on Cruise's part...and not the last one he would make in his life.
I don't think that Cruise spoiled the IMF of the 60's. The show was an instant classic...and remains one to this day.
However I believe his movies have effectively ruined any real chance of an IMF revival. Sorry...but that is how I feel.
What I do suggest is picking up the DVD's. Mission Impossible year one and year two are both out on DVD. We can relish in the beauty of one of the best tv series...ever made...anywhere....of all time.
I would however love to see someone like JJ Abrams take on the IMF...and do it justice. In a couple years I say...when the bad taste Cruise has left in the mouths of so many IMF fans...has dissipated somewhat. Ist class idea...Oh yes! Easily ressurected...no. Can it be done...in time...and with the right people at the helm? Yup!! Like you...I can't wait.
think I'll leave you with...
I totally agree... they went for shock value to make jim phelps the villain... btw, I stayed next to peter graves in lake tahoe one week where he owned a condo on the water... I don't know if he still has it. Saw him playing tennis and was star struck when I could hardly talk to say hello lol.
I agree. They introduce the idea that there are teams but they don't use them. I didn't like Phelps being made a bad guy either.
I never really watched the television series but I did know what the premise was and do agree with everything you said. I have to admit that I've seen all three movies, mostly because I've worked in a movie theater since they all came out and it was free. That being said the third one actually does follow the team concept. It was the best movie of the bunch but made the least amount of money. Just to warn you, around the time Tom Cruise went wacky and MI3 didn't live up to the box office of the first 2 movies, it was mentioned that Brad Pitt would replace him for MI4. If this does occur, chances are they'll go back to the formula for the first 2 movies since they made the most money.