Help! I can't stop thinking about the Mission Impossible films!!

In preparation for the next Tom Cruise masterpiece, Mission Impossible: Final Reckoning, I have been working my way through the franchise with the help of a unbelievable Amazon Prime deal (first 6 for £20) because it genuinely is a really good franchise and sometimes, you just have to sit and let yourself appreciate why cinema is so good. There are so many reasons for this but the main one for me is that it's a franchise that's been going since 1996 (before I was born!!) and as a result, you can quite literally see the evolution of film, in particular the action genre, by watching this franchise with the best part being, pretty much all of the films hold up strongly when you watch them. I know a couple of people that I would regard as big film fans who haven't really seen these films and my question to them is..... why? I would comfortably call it a top 5 franchise for me, if not top 3. I think I might even go as far as saying I prefer the franchise to James Bond which I am only pointing out because most people inevitably compare the two already (Ethan Hunt > James Bond) and truthfully, I just don't know if I truly believe that the most recent James Bond films feel as epic in scale anymore. I've always felt that they feel kind of broody whereas the Mission Impossible films have always felt so much heavier in terms of the in universe stakes whilst also remaining incredibly fun watches. How many times as an audience have we watched Tom Cruise doing his dramatic running and just loved it everytime? The answer is lots.

Ok so I went a little bit off track there but with the new film coming out I basically just wanted to use this opportunity to deep dive my thoughts around the question:

Is Mission Impossible, as a franchise, underrated?

The simple answer would be no because it's a multi-billion dollar grossing franchise. According to the internet, the films have made over 4 billion dollars across 7 films with a combined budget of around 1.5 billion yet there's still part of me that thinks, maybe actually it is underrated, or at least, it's under appreciated by audiences. On paper, the amount of profit means it's appreciated quite strongly but when you consider fandoms of other multi billion dollar franchises, I don't think anyone associates Mission Impossible as having the same type of fan. There are a lot of incredibly vocal fans of the franchise, especially when the quality of the 2nd and 3rd film are debated, but it's still not the same type of vocal that other fandoms commit too which I think is a shame. I guess it's difficult given the more minimal array of characters for fans to get behind with Ethan (Tom Cruise), Luther (Ving Rhames) and Benji (Simon Pegg) being the only real recurring characters (except maybe Ilsa) but they are such good characters that play such a crucial part in the franchise being as good as it is that I would be completely on board with the franchise being viewed as more marketable by studios. It's the 17th biggest franchise of all time, but I can't really think of any examples of how it might have got into mainstream culture like other major franchises have except perhaps the incredibly iconic theme song. I think what I am saying is.. give me Mission Impossible World or an Ethan Hunt Primark Collection. Let me own the fact I love these films in the same ways I can with other leading franchises.

I think one of the things that really stands out to me about the franchise is just how many iconic moments it has, which is in part thanks to Tom Cruise and his commitment to doing the most insane stunts. Pretty much all the films have a sequence that's memorable to audiences dating all the way back to the very first one in 1996 when the theme music hits during the epic sequence involving the helicopter in the Channel Tunnel. The second has the awesome visuals of Tom Cruise free solo climbing as a way of reintroducing his character. The third has basically any scene involving the late Phillip Seymour Hoffman and from the fourth onwards, Tom Cruise begins to really pop off with the scale of stunts involved in the films and as a result, the films have moments that aren't replicated on the same scale in any other franchise because of the niche that he has claimed for himself as 'the man that will basically do anything crazy to make movies look incredibly cool'. It's insane to me that this franchise only recently received any Oscar nominations (Best Visual Effects and Best Sound at the 96th Oscars) but you have to think the new introduction of Best Stunts is probably in part due to the influence of Tom Cruise (with him famously injuring his foot during a chase scene in London and the shot ending up in the final cut of the movie).

On another note, the franchise has had an amazing lineup of composers over the years with Hans Zimmer, Michael Giacchino and Danny Elfman all doing one or two of the films over the years and they are literally three of the most iconic film composers of all time. What other franchise can say it's had that level of composing royalty?

As I've thought about it more, the conclusion I've come to is that this is somehow an incredibly appreciated franchise at the same time as it is an under-appreciated franchise. I'm not sure why but I have a gut feeling that the upcoming release of Mission Impossible: The Final Reckoning will lead to a lot of people reevaluating how they view the franchise.  I might be biased because I think I am just at a point where I really trust Tom Cruise and his commitment to cinema but the increase in budget from the previous films combined with the momentum and rhythm McQuarrie and Cruise have found from working together gives me lots of reasons to be optimistic. I am a little bit nervous about any of the core characters being killed off, especially with there being so many rumours about Ethan Hunt dying in this film, but I've got my fingers crossed that they somehow all survive.

The last thing I will say is that If you haven't watched this franchise yet, you are missing out because they are incredibly watchable, have great stunt sequences, and as I've mentioned above, have a really strong core of central characters that are really easy to like. Also, Tom Cruise just has so many aura in like every single one of these films - the guy loves cinema.

motorcycles and flames in mission impossible 2