Preparing for Mission Impossible

     There are a ridiculous amount of mainstream movie franchises that are getting sequels this year — and plenty of them have already slammed the box office into next Tuesday. There have been superhero fantasies, dinosaur-laden science fiction, and as Christmas rolls around we’ll be getting the much-anticipated next episode of the space-myth known as Star Wars. However, if anyone is looking for a good solid spy-thriller to tide them over before Spectre gets here in November, where should they turn? Melissa McCarthy’s Spy looked promising as an anti-James-Bond comedy, but ended up as a relatively mediocre raunch-fest despite all of its potential.

     Fortunately, there is another option, though many people may not realize it at first glance. Mission Impossible - Rogue Nation, the fifth in the M.I. movie franchise, is coming to theatres on July 31st… and it just might be worth the cost of the ticket!

     For those of you who want to refresh your memories about the series (or for those of you who haven’t seen any of the saga and would like an idea of what’s to come), allow me to delve into the Mission Impossible franchise and give you a thorough, spoiler-free idea of whether or not you’ll need to catch up on any of the prequels before heading off to see Rogue Nation.

Hogwarts Mission Impossible, A History

     What many viewers may not realize is that before it was a line of movies, Mission Impossible actually originated as a television series between 1966 and 1973. It wasn’t until 1996 that the first film, starring Tom Cruise, was released to positive reviews by critics and fans alike. That success eventually spurred the release of sequels, ranging from the simply titled “Mission Impossible II” (2000) and “Mission Impossible III,” (2006) to the more recent “Ghost Protocol,” (2011) and upcoming film, “Rogue Nation,” (2015).

     While it can be argued that Mission Impossible II was somewhat of a really poor James Bond ripoff…

     …on the whole, the franchise has actually defied logic by getting better over the years, instead of worse. Pretty fitting for a series with the word “Impossible” in the title.

     Mission Impossible III provided a wild mixture of thrills, chills, and ridiculous stunts that re-kindled critic and audience interest in the series (probably thanks to nerd-legend J.J. Abrams, who directed the film, and the new addition of British comedian Simon Pegg).

     Then Ghost Protocol somehow managed to raise the bar yet again in 2011… perhaps because (among other things like a great plot and dose of humor) it included newcomer Jeremy Renner, who made his first cameo as the super-archer “Hawkeye” that same year in Marvel’s Thor.

     So, if the franchise's pattern of improvement is to be trusted, Rogue Nation actually looks like a pretty promising movie choice this summer.

The Plot

     The television show followed the spies Dan Briggs and Jim Phelps as they worked for the IMF (Impossible Missions Force) on various top-secret, not-strictly-legal exploits.

     The movies more or less pick up in 1996 as if the IMF never stopped.

Mission Impossible

     The first film focuses on a young new spy named Ethan Hunt (played by Cruise), who is a member of an IMF team headed by Phelps. But when that team is massacred in the middle of a mission that should have been top-secret, Hunt is accused of being an enemy informant and must go to ground until he can prove his innocence… even if it means breaking back into IMF headquarters.

Mission Impossible II

     When a criminal tycoon named Ambrose steals a deadly virus and plans to make a fortune selling the antidote, Hunt is recruited by the IMF to stop him. However, he must send his new girlfriend Nyah undercover to seduce Ambrose in order to find out who wants to purchase the virus from him.

Mission Impossible III

     Having given up his career with the IMF in order to try and live a normal life with his fiance, Ethan is sucked back in on one last mission when he learns that his top protege is being held hostage. However, this single mission snowballs into a terrifying mixture of deception as he faces his most merciless opponent yet.

It's arguably one of Phillip Seymour Hoffman''s most riveting performances.

Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol

     When a mission goes wrong and the IMF is blamed for a massive terrorist attack on foreign soil, Ethan Hunt and his team must band together and find a way to stop a madman from inciting nuclear war… without any help or resources from the now-shut-down IMF.

The Appeal

     Believe it or not, the catchy musical theme and convoluted, whodunnit plots aren’t the only things that make these films so famous. In the modern age of computer animation and stunt doubles, what a lot of viewers don’t realize is that Tom Cruise does nearly all the stunts himself, often with minimal or no safety gear.

     Even if you’re not a fan of his acting or his life choices (including these stunts), you have to stand in awe of the fact that he’s still alive. I honestly have an uneasy suspicion that these movies might one day be the death of him.

     Whether Tom’s dangling off a cliff-face, a hundred-story building, or (in this latest film) an airplane, the audience can’t help but be hooked because they know that there may be no net on the ground to catch him. There is no green screen. Those risks heighten the fright and vertigo and adrenaline that viewers get while watching, and it makes for one exciting ride.

     There are one or two stunts that were mixed with CGI, and whenever possible there are hidden rigs for Tom’s safety, but that doesn’t change the fact that he may be relying as little as one single wire to keep him from falling to certain death. These stunts and these movies are some of the central reasons why he was rocketed to stardom in the first place.

The Rating

     The franchise is PG-13, definitely palatable for anyone who has watched a James Bond movie from the past three decades.

     Violence: There may not be visible guts and gore, but there’s plenty of blood and cringe-worthy deaths by bullet, vehicle, bomb, and more. The series doesn’t center itself around violence so much as action, but those two terms still do tend to go hand in hand.

     Sex: There’s a fair number of women in slinky dresses and seducing poses, and there are one or two intense makeout sessions or waking-up-in-bed scenes that don’t really need to be there. It’s also notable that there hasn’t been a single female character to be present in all four movies. But, at least in the third and fourth movies, the women that are involved do have some decent and respectable roles.

     Language: These are adult spies in some surprising and deadly situations, so we get about as many curses as a PG-13 rating might be expected to get.

The Genre

     Mission Impossible mixes high-stakes action sequences with heart-pounding undercover missions, ridiculously-deadly stunts, shocking deceptions (usually in the form of rubber face masks), and even a tiny sprinkling of sci-fi technology! There’s not much in the way of moral discussions or big symbolic themes, but if you enjoy the sort of simple thrillers where you can trust no one, the series just might be a fun choice.

     So is it worth it?

The Decision

     Possibly. Fans may debate on whether the entire saga is good enough to watch, but the third and fourth films definitely are… and the good news is that the movies don’t really need to rely on one another to be understood. You could watch movies 1-4, but you could just as easily skip Mission Impossible II (which I would recommend). And if you’re really in a rush to catch up, you could pretty much just watch the third and fourth movies by themselves without missing a beat!

     Trailers

     And if you’re still on the fence, there’s a decent ultimate fan-made trailer on Youtube that might interest you if you’re more of a visual person (like myself). It doesn’t have much in the way of thrilling music, but it’s a good compilation.

Conclusion

     In the end, I’d recommend that you figure out how much time you have on your hands, and how badly you want to see Rogue Nation this Friday. Mission Impossible isn’t always the most intellectual or even original spy series on the market, but the franchise has gotten better with age, and many of its actors have performed near-deadly stunts... which truly makes it worthy of the name "impossible".

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He’s Back: A Review of Terminator: Genisys

     This may be a shorter review than usual, and there are two reasons for that. Firstly, I already gave a pretty thorough explanation of the Terminator franchise last Tuesday, so if you’re looking for background knowledge then I suggest you take a look at that article. Secondly, on Saturday Mirriam Neal also addressed some of the perks of seeing Terminator: Genisys in theatres. As for me, I’m going to go a little deeper in to the pros and cons of the film as a whole, in the hopes of giving you a slightly more thorough (still spoiler-free) outline of what you might be getting yourself into.

     The film, which just baaarely managed to cut down on its violence and nudity enough to scrape down to a PG-13 rating, begins with a recap of the nuclear apocalypse. And it's told via narration… which frankly, was immediately a bad sign to me. It’s one thing to try and introduce new viewers to an old saga’s plot… it’s another thing to literally explain that plot for them as if reading out of a book. The point of a movie is to tell a story with images and events and actions, not with descriptions of said images and events and actions. That is precisely what books are for. I love film, and I love literature. But there are certain formats that work best in each medium, and narration is best left to books. And Winnie the Pooh videos.

     The narrator, Kyle Reese, explains that the war and destruction was caused in 1997 by machines — specifically the conscious computer program known as Skynet, which now rules over the dregs of civilization and keeps any humans it finds imprisoned… or worse.

     Kyle reflects on his childhood that was spent on the run from the machines, and he recalls the one man who rallied all of humankind like a prophet. This man, John Connor, knows how and when and where to strike at the enemy as if he can see the future. At long last, Connor leads the armies of men in a final battle and defeats Skynet for good… but not before it manages to deploy its backup weapon: a time machine.

     When they discover that a Terminator — a deadly robotic assassin — has been sent to the year 1984 to kill Connor’s defenseless mother before he is ever conceived, Kyle opts to travel back in time and protect her to the death.

     In other words, Terminator: Genisys spends nearly the first half-hour of its running time as little more than a recap (and even, in several scenes, a reenactment) of the original film. Yes, it tells the story from the perspective of Kyle Reese instead of Sarah Connor. And yes, it is admittedly exciting to see the “other side” of the story. But at the very moment that the movie finally starts to change the plot and go in its own direction… well, let’s just say that it immediately makes itself a bit harder to swallow.

     Instead of finding Sarah Connor as a helpless waitress, Reese instead finds a Terminator waiting to kill him… and instead of him coming to Sarah’s rescue, she in fact comes to his. Why? Because a Terminator also traveled into her childhood to kill her parents, and she has been raised to prepare for Kyle’s arrival ever since.

     There’s not much else that I can explain without spoiling anything… but that’s okay, because there’s also not much else that really makes sense.

     The characters never find out who sent the extra Terminators back in time, and the audience is never clued in either. The fourth movie (Salvation) is entirely negated, and the first three are eventually re-written. What starts out as an homage to the original film ends up a sloppy reboot. Alternate timelines, time travelers, and an extra journey to the year 2017 are just the start of the convoluted plot. In other words, the movie has as many unanswered questions, timey-wimey “just because” reasonings, and Matt Smiths as an episode of Doctor Who.

     You heard right. Like Mirriam, I completely forgot Smith was in this movie, until I glimpsed him sporting a buzz cut in the middle of Connor’s nameless resistance fighters. I was surprised that such a talented actor had been selected for such a minor role… but fortunately, in time he did get more attention than I expected, and it was an impressive (if slightly strange) surprise. I suppose casting directors will forever be reserving Smith for roles in movies that only deal with time travelers… just like Arthur Darvill!

     So in short, where the plot and its time travel were concerned, Genisys was a bit of a letdown. But intellectual storylines are only one of the reasons why viewers enjoy Terminator movies. What about the explosions? The weapons arsenal? The special effects? The fight scenes and the car chases?

     They were… well, frankly, they were average. There was no breathtaking combat move that audiences had never seen before, nor any original stunt that really caught our attention. Physics were largely ignored for the sake of re-creating all-too-familiar action cliches, like dangling off a precipice in a large rectangular vehicle.

     It was exciting, yes, but it held nothing that could compare to the twirling-to-recock-the-shotgun-while-on-a-motorcycle maneuvre.

     But there’s more to the franchise than the testosterone-induced destruction, right? There are still the interesting characters, witty dialogue, and amusing moments with Arnold Schwarzenegger*. And this is where Genisys finally pays off.

     * (And no, I didn’t need to look that up to spell it.)

     For all it lacks in a clear plot or particularly riveting action sequences, this movie makes up for everything with a surprisingly entertaining human element. I often found myself interested not so much in what was being said, but how it was being said and who was saying it. Sarah and Kyle start out grating on one another with very little chemistry, but to my utter surprise, they start to develop a banter-filled relationship as they get to know one another. Sarah’s prior knowledge of her predicted fate has changed her, and those mental complications are well-handled.

     And those two weren’t the only characters to blindside me; does anyone else agree that an entire movie could (and should) be dedicated just to the brand new character known as O’Brien!? (You may know him as the Acadamy-Award-winning actor of Whiplash, the obnoxious J. Jonah Jameson from Spider-Man… or, you know, “the Farmers Insurance guy.”)

     Though O’Brien initially comes onto the scene as a seemingly-minor character, his personal storyline builds and builds until it becomes worthy of far more closure than he is eventually given.

     Last but absolutely not least, there is one central factor that drew us all to Terminator: Genisys, no matter how much some people may try to deny it. That factor is Arnold Freakin’ Schwarzenegger.

     For anyone who even remotely enjoyed Ah-nold’s performance in Judgement Day, this latest installment in the Terminator franchise gives us another chance to fall in love all over again with that robotic hulk-with-a-heart. He makes perhaps one comment that is filled with more irrational emotional attachment than we usually see from him, but the other 99% of his lines are the perfect blend of computerized logic and protective snark. The banter between him, Kyle, and Sarah is entirely superb. It hardly seems to matter that the rest of the film fell flat, because the deadly Terminator’s ability to somehow become adorable is very likely what will draw me (and many other viewers) back for another screening.

     So, in the end, you really have two options. You could view Terminator: Genisys as a contrived, pretty mediocre piece of professional filmmaking… or, when you think about it, you could regard it as a fairly impressive and enjoyable fan-fiction. Chances are, against my professional judgement, I'll eventually choose the latter. What about you?

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Beware The Terminator

     There are some movie quotes that everyone knows, even if they’ve never seen the films. Two such classic phrases, including “AH’LL BE BACK,” and “Hasta la vista, baby,” often get tossed between nerdy friends so frequently that their origin films have almost been forgotten and lost in the past.

     But now, thanks to the bizarre number of remakes and sequels that Hollywood is churning out this year, you all have the chance to see those particular quotes repeated (or perhaps re-written) as Arnold Schwarzenegger returns to the silver screen to reprise his supreme iconic role as… the Terminator.

     But what has that role looked like in the past? And what can the previous Terminator movies tell us about the film that’s coming to theatres this Independence Day weekend? Allow me to give you a nice spoiler-free idea of what to expect from the upcoming film, Terminator Genisys.

Hogwarts Terminator, A History

     Back in 1984 when computer-generated special effects were just starting to replace claymation in fantasy and science fiction films, an action-thriller called Terminator was produced by Orion Pictures. The director? None other than James Cameron, whom you may know as the mastermind behind major blockbusters including Titanic and Avatar.

     The film was an immediate hit with audiences, both for its gritty, sic-fi-laced adrenaline rush and for its physically-impressive lead played by Arnold Schwarzenegger (who was then rocketed to stardom).

     The franchise has since spawned several sequels (Judgement Day in 1991, Rise of the Machines in 2003, and Salvation in 2009), a slew of video games and graphic novels, and even a television show called The Sarah Connor Chronicles.

     With perhaps the exception of the much-beloved second movie, Terminator 2: Judgement Day, the continuations have been received to generally-mixed responses and are said to have slightly diminished in plot quality over the years. The newcomer in the list, Genisys, looks to be a bit of a toss-up at the moment (though it will be directed by Alan Taylor of Lost and Thor 2, so here’s hoping).

The Plot

The Terminator

     In the year 1984, a young woman named Sarah Connor is going about her bland life as a waitress. However, to her horror, two strange men begin following her: one to kill her, and the other to save her. And the police can't stop either of them.

     She soon learns that they are both from the year 2029 — and from a future that has been overrun by machines in the wake of a nuclear war. In that future, the one man who fought and eventually defeated the machine was John Connor: Sarah’s future son. And so, in a last-ditch effort to win the war, the machines commandeered a time machine and sent back a humanoid robotic Terminator to kill her before her son has even been conceived. And her adult son, in turn, sent a volunteer named Kyle Reese back in time to protect her.

     Soon Sarah falls headlong into a heart-pounding run for her life, as she and Kyle try and find a way to defeat the invincible assassin on their tail… or else risk the future defeat of all humankind.

The Terminator 2: Judgement Day

     It is now the year 1991, just three years before the predicted nuclear war that will destroy the majority of humanity and give rise to the rule of machines. After spending years raising her young son and preparing for the apocalypse, Sarah has lost John in a custody battle and is struggling to escape from a mental asylum for unstable women. 

     Unbeknownst to her, a second, newer-model Terminator has been sent back in time from the future… this time to kill John before he even becomes a teenager.

     However, as before, a protector from the future has also been sent to guard him. As Sarah and John are tangled in a new web of time travel, they decide to take matters into their own hands and try to prevent the apocalypse from ever happening at the hands of the organization Skynet in the first place.

Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines

     Years after the attempts on his life when he was a boy, John Connor has grown up and seen the year of doom, 1994, pass without incident. However, a sudden attack on his life by a new terminator sets him on a new path, because a guardian from the future comes to his aid and warned that the apocalypse by Skynet has only been postponed, and not fully stopped. Without his mother to guide him, John and his new friend Kate Brewster must try and escape the latest Terminator model and prevent the apocalypse that is looming less than a week away.

Terminator Salvation

     After the nuclear apocalypse has wiped out the majority of humanity, John Connor struggles to guide the human resistance against the machines.

     However, he doesn’t count on the actions of Marcus Wright: a former convict who was executed in the years prior to judgement day, and who donated his body to science. Mysteriously resurrected in the bowels of an evil Skynet lab, Marcus seeks out Connor and meets the young Kyle Reese along the way…

     …just as the war comes to a peak and Connor struggles to fulfill his destiny as mankind’s savior.

The Appeal

     Before Michael Bay took over the explosions-and-testosterone market (for better or worse… mostly just worse), films like Terminator and Rambo satisfied audiences with thrilling chases and fiery violence that was complimented by characters who weren’t one-dimensional cookie cutters. Terminator does have its fair share (and sometimes more than its fair share) of sexual tension, ridiculously-convoluted chase sequences, and even some adult nudity — but it actually deals with some of the obstacles that come with running for your life: like paranoia, trauma, injury, and eventually ingenuity.

     The series also has a history of including one major plot twist per film. Modern audiences may be able to spot or predict these “surprises” without too much of a strain, but that doesn’t make them any less enjoyable, especially in the first two movies. Not to mention that the special effects are still pretty impressive for the most part, when you consider the years that these movies came out.

     Terminator also deals with the “looming apocalypse” genre very well. One of the real struggles with such sagas is that it’s actually very hard for a modern audience to relate to characters who have to fight and scavenge for a living. We may love the gritty stories, but it’s hard for us to really place ourselves in those situations.

     The Terminator series (all but the fourth one) takes place in modern-day, showing the effects that a post-apocalyptic world could have on our present one. That’s what really drives home the grit and the adrenaline. (Well, that and the musical theme that always plays over the movie titles. Goosebumps galore!)

     Now, that still doesn’t make Terminator the most intellectual screenplay ever written, but it was the original man-versus-machine film. It terrorized audiences with a grim, technology-ruled future long before The Matrix ever did, and it’s arguably the best role that Schwarzenegger’s ever played. (Some might say that it’s because he didn’t really have to act at all; others might say that it’s because he’s so physically perfect for the role of a deadly brutish robot. I think it’s because his accent gives the Terminator a more foreign, not-human quality that adds to the tension. Opinions vary.)

The Rating

     The series is pretty immediately R right from the get-go, so don’t bring the kids along.

     Violence: There are invincible robots running around killing innocent people, so there’s a fair bit of gore. People are crushed, sliced up, impaled, burned, you name it. In some cases, characters (usually semi-robotic ones) get their eyes or flesh sliced through, both during fights and if/when they’re operating on themselves. The audience can see pretty much everything, and it’s worth a lot of cringing.

     Sex: There are some occasional moments of romance and couples are left by the camera before things get too racy, but a mature audience is still required here. Almost every movie has at least one case of full nudity, front and back — and even if it is in shadow, it’s still kind of unnecessary and over-the-top. (I don’t think I’ve even seen Michael Bay go this far for his audiences, and that’s saying something.) There are also some pretty creepy, didn’t-need-to-see-that implications made about the relationships between patients and caretakers in the female asylum.

     Language: Yep, still worth the rating. Characters drop almost every major censored word in the book, even a boy who hasn’t hit his teens yet. Like the nudity and violence, it’s all for the sake of pulling the audience into the gritty underworld.

The Genre

     Terminator is a mix of both modern run-for-your-life thrillers, and intricate Matrix-esque themes dealing with both machinery and time travel. The latter movies really start to mess with the timeline(s) until it’s severely unclear which people in the future are still alive, and it doesn’t look like Genisys is going to be much of a help in that department… But at least, unlike the bleak post-apocalyptic Terminator Salvation, Genisys is going to take place back in the modern world again.

     There won’t be a lot of moral themes running through the film (except, perhaps, “Don’t get too dependent on your Smart Phone”), and it’s hard to tell whether the new film will have a good mix of characters that differ in race and gender. The past few films have varied from impressive to shameful in both departments. Frankly, this adventure is mainly about the explosions.

     So is it worth it?

The Decision

     That depends on you. If blood, guts, and gritty cursing isn’t your thing, I probably wouldn’t recommend it (boy, I just made this series sound pretty awful, didn’t I). Terminator is the sort of adventure that feels real perhaps because of the fact that it doesn’t shy away from tangible, terrifying circumstances.

     For some of you, that may make it an immediate no-go. But for others of you who don’t mind the occasional gritty thriller like Rambo, The Pelican Brief, or any adaptation of a Tom Clancy novel, then you might be pleasantly surprised by what Terminator has to offer.

     The first two films are really the best — though it doesn’t look like you can walk into Genisys without familiarizing yourself with all four. Christian Bale (Batman Begins) and Sam Worthington (Avatar) star in the fourth one, so at least you’ll get some familiar faces there.

It's like Reign of Fire. Just replace the dragons with robots.

     Trailers

     And if you’re still on the fence, just give it time. There are plenty of trailers on Youtube that might interest you if you’re more of a visual person (like myself). Most fan-made “ultimate trailers” are little more than clips of explosions that have been edited together, and the ones that are actually well-done tend to reveal the major plot twists for one or more of the movies. So I would recommend the original trailer for the first film. It’s a great taste of what you’re in for — but it’s also pretty graphic and practically worth an R rating itself, so be warned if you have a weak stomach. 

Conclusion

     In the end, if you know any Terminator fans (or just fans of classic action blockbusters), I’d recommend that you ask them whether you’re ready for a film series like this one. They know you better than I do. Then fix yourself a big bowl of popcorn and find an especially-comfy couch, because heart-pounding thrillers like these don’t get churned out like they used to. Terminator is the quintessential action movie, with enough explosions to keep you stupefied and juuust enough intelligence to keep you satisfied.

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