There are three well-known agents in film history, James Bond, Jason Byrne and Ethan Hunt.
Compared with "007", which is getting worse and worse, and the "Disc Shadow" trilogy is not as good as one, the "Mission Impossible" series has been revitalized and continues to this day.
And the beginning of all this came from the cooperation between Paramount and Tom Cruise in 1996, and both parties intended to bring the 1966 TV series version of "Mission Impossible" to the screen, so they hit it off.
When it comes to "Mission Impossible", the first thing I have to say is the translated name, if you want to select the classic Chinese translation name, "Mission Impossible" will definitely enter the top five.
The English title of "Mission Impossible" is "Mission: Impossible", which is an impossible task in literal translation, the Taiwan version of the translated name is like this, and the Hong Kong version is "Professional Secret Service", such a translation name is too ordinary and has no soul.
The mainland version of "Mission Impossible" has both the finishing effect and the role of a pun, the disc is a disc, spy is a spy war, which means to watch the spy war in the film, and the beginning of all tasks in the film is also because of watching the disc, and the topic is exquisite.
The second thing to say is naturally the soundtrack "Mission: Impossible Theme".
Without Mission Impossible, the theme song would have been much tarnished, and the cello and drum kit created a strong sense of rhythm, making the dangerous atmosphere overflow the screen.
When the music of "wait, wait, wait" sounded, just like the opening song of the 82nd version of "Journey to the West" "Cloud Palace Xunyin", the picture engraved into the bone marrow immediately came to mind.
The last thing that must be said is the rhythm of Mission Impossible.
As a commercial blockbuster with an investment of 80 million US dollars in the 90s, once the story cannot fascinate the audience, even if there are big-name actors, no matter how exciting the scene can not become a classic.
It just so happens that Mission Impossible is above medium in this regard, and every time the audience is about to reduce interest, it comes to a logical reversal, or gives a direct answer when the audience is guessing who is behind the scenes.
This double-helix narrative makes the rhythm of the film always drive the audience's emotions, making it in a state of excitement, and completing the sublimation in the famous scenes of the train and helicopter battle hanging from the ceiling to steal intelligence and the end of the film.
"Mission Impossible" begins with a positive spiral puzzle.
The CIA sent instructions to a team of agents led by Jim that a secret agent who had committed treason would steal a list of agents lurking in Eastern Europe at the Prague embassy, and if the trick succeeded, the consequences would be unimaginable.
Ethan Hunt and they were ordered to attack, photograph the evidence of the traitor's theft of intelligence, and put a long line to catch big fish, and when he traded with the buyer, everyone went according to the plan, and the plan went well.
But when it was about to be completed, Jim and the others were all killed, leaving Ethan Hunt alone, and he was also framed as the murderer of his teammates, facing the dilemma of death.
While the audience wondered who had masterminded all this, the director began to counter-spiral puzzles.
Let Ethan Hunt meet with the boss of the CIA and tell the audience that the rape catch operation is actually a hoeing plan, and the theft is false information, and the real purpose is to find out the internal traitor, and this internal traitor is the wronged Ethan Hunt.
Ethan Hunt then escapes the siege and proves his innocence, and his investigation leads to a line, that is, who framed him and killed his teammates, who Job traded with arms dealer Max, and also let the audience enter the fun of solving puzzles from one mystery to another.
But the director did not directly reveal who Job was, which would be too flat.
Instead, he learned Hitchcock's method of shifting focus, deliberately misdirecting the audience into thinking that CIA boss Kittredge was a traitor, and Ethan Hunt's evidence collection process also pointed out that Kittredge was wrong.
After Ethan escapes to the UK after obtaining the list of agents, Jim appears at the right time, and the design of coming back from the dead will surprise the audience, and then uses Ethan's reasoning to reveal that Jim and his wife Claire are the masterminds behind the scenes.
In the second half of the film, the director did not drag mud and water, deliberately gossip.
Instead, the pace is accelerated, so that the audience has no time to think about it and immerse themselves in the thrill of the train battle again.
In this way, it not only shows Ethan's civilized and martial side as a secret agent, but also covers up the slightly deliberate loopholes of the reversal, which is a clever move in the structure of the script.
In the end, Ethan becomes confused about the future and does not resume his identity as an agent like his teammates for the time being.
But on the plane, the flight attendant let him watch the movie left the foreshadowing for the sequel, and the global box office of $457 million also put the sequel on the agenda.
"Mission Impossible 2" does not form a relationship with the previous work, but is repeating the routine of the first part.
In order to add a little freshness, "Mission Impossible 2" used John Woo, who was making a name for himself in Hollywood with "Changing Faces" at that time, but the success was also John Woo, and the defeat was also John Woo.
The $546 million box office made "Mission Impossible 2" the global box office champion that year, nearly $100 million more than the second-place "Gladiator" that killed all sides at the Oscars.
But the selling did not exchange for a good reputation, and the second part completely lost the essence of the first part, becoming Tom Cruise's handsome personal show, which also created the embarrassment of the lowest rating in the series.
"Mission Impossible 1" also has suspense, conflict, and reversal in the story, so that people will not fall asleep.
And "Mission Impossible 2" is completely reduced to a mediocre popcorn movie, with no dramatic tension, a bland plot like water, and many logical loopholes.
Although it is branded with a strong personal imprint of John Woo, the white dove, double gun, slow mirror, and unlimited bullets all appear out of place, and the traces of it are too obvious.
For example, how can the Baisai pharmaceutical factory have a flock of pigeons in a secret base on the island.
This group of pigeons is neither used for experiments, nor out of the boss's personal hobby, and is still in a warehouse where dangerous goods are stored, which is unreasonable to see.
In the past, John Woo's Hong Kong films, white doves appeared together with churches, and the aesthetics of violence had an excellent look, but the plot of white doves was forcibly added in "Mission Impossible 2", which is neither romanticism nor a symbol of peace, or empty aestheticism without connotation, flashy.
There is also no feeling of sympathy for the two-male duel created by John Woo, and the villain's IQ collective is not online, and he has become a handsome tool for Tom.
It is clear that he can take the lead in winning the new virus "Jinmeira", he has to slowly swallow nonsense for half a day, and then appear like a step on a stage, and finally become Ethan Hunt's infatuated character.
If the black and white of the previous work is unclear, and the story of the seamless anti-necessity has become a simple and vulgar duel between good and evil and can be endured for a while, then the configuration of handsome men and fake beautiful women must be complained about.
It can be seen that John Woo wants to reproduce the same effect as Leslie Cheung, Chow Yun-fat, and Zhong Chuhong in "Mission Impossible 2", but the heroine's appearance is really not flattering, and the picture in the same frame as Tom does not have the slightest sense of CP.
And the cooperation between Tom Cruise and John Woo is full of a sense of violation, and the out-of-place look and feel during the viewing process is particularly obvious, not as silky and smooth as Chow Yun-fat, complementing each other, perhaps because Tom is not familiar with John Woo's style.
Of course, Mission Impossible 2 is not for nothing.
The clip of Tom Cruise climbing with his bare hands at the beginning, John Woo's scheduling of action scenes, are above the level, which also makes the third part not die.
The first action scene of "Mission Impossible 3" was announced to be cut off from the second part.
John Woo is Infinity Bullet in "Disc 2", J· J. Abrams changed the magazine at first, and asked Ethan Hunt if the bullets were enough, and changed from bells and whistles beautiful to realism.
In addition, the first and second parts are also supplemented, such as Ethan has the ability to transfigure in the first two, but does not say how Ethan did it.
In the third part, it is explained that first take photos of the other party from various angles to model, and then record his voice for conversion simulation, and finally you can fake the real thing.
The filling of these details makes the story of "Mission Impossible 3" have no major problems in logic, and also achieves a comprehensive upgrade of the second part.
The plot of the third part is still very simple.
There are a total of three missions in the film, the first is Ethan to rescue his female agent apprentice Lindsey, the second is to capture the leader Owen Davien, and the third is to rescue his wife, and "Disc 2" takes an easy-to-understand route.
But the story of "Disc 3" is far more exciting than the second part, because the three chapters of "Disc 3" are intertwined, the grass snake gray thread is buried appropriately, and the pace is bright and engaging.
Especially the action scenes, the thrilling feeling makes people rush with adrenaline, three missions, each time there is a staring bridge.
For example, in the first mission, helicopters shuttled back and forth between wind turbines, and in the second mission, Davien's men bombarded the bridge.
On the third mission, Tom swung between two high-rise buildings in Shanghai, and also copied the scene where Jackie Chan descended from the Rotterdam building in the Netherlands in "Who Am I".
In the third part, the "Mission Impossible" series finally found its core.
Action scenes are the core, the story is auxiliary, as long as the plot is not vulgar and attracts the audience by rhythm, this series will endure.
Like Jackie Chan's "Police Story" series, it is a fixed model, accepting tasks, completing tasks, and even the two are always framed and always have the same way to save people.
But watching "Police Story" is watching Jackie Chan's action comedy, watching "Mission Impossible" is watching Tom Cruise's action of breaking through the limit, and the two can continue to fight, and this IP will sell.
In fact, the third part of the "Mission Impossible" series can end with a trilogy.
But unexpectedly, "Mission Impossible" broke the curse that every trilogy must end, and the fourth, fifth and sixth parts were not only not weak, but surpassed the first three with excellent quality.
This performance is amazing, no wonder Paramount has to bind Tom Cruise no matter what, after all, there is a cheerful and acclaimed "Mission Impossible" with him.