Sing the opposite, Mission Impossible 7 is by no means simple!

Which is the longest lasting and most consistent film series in Hollywood today? I'm afraid that only Mission Impossible can deserve this honor. 1996's "Mission Impossible 1" established a set of effective formulas: the strong suspense of the spy war story and multiple reversals + the action design that challenges the limit + the protagonist's character and Tom Cruise's personal charm are a natural match. In the twenty-seven years since, each sequel has sought to take this formula to the extreme, complemented by small innovations.

It is defined as a minor innovation because the changes in each sequel focus on keeping the story content up to date and upgrading the action scenes with new tricks, but the core formula has not changed.

This creative idea is standard for high-quality commercial series films. The core formula guarantees the ceiling height of the series, and small innovations determine the ceiling height of each sequel. However, the difficulty lies in ensuring the quality of the formulation and finding the right balance between formulation and innovation.

Mission Impossible 2 introduces John Woo's violent aesthetic, but overly stylized action scenes disrupt the pace of the story, which is an imbalance between formula and innovation. Mission Impossible 3 is scripted, trite and conservative, and the tedium of relying heavily on the recipe is tiresome.

Starting with "Mission Impossible 4", the creators finally accurately grasped the balance between floor and ceiling. The fourth, fifth and sixth films all have fascinating elements of the same level as the first, and each one can reflect a little newness.

This also makes "Mission Impossible" stand out among many Hollywood commercial series.

2023's Mission Impossible 7: Fatal Reckoning (Part I) also continues the balance between formula and innovation. In terms of suspense, reversal, rhythm, action, it maintains the traditional style and quality of this series. In terms of story content and characterization, it adds timely innovations.

The protagonist Ethan Hunt's mission this time is related to a shadowless artificial intelligence. It has no entity, roams the network, and can pervasively tamper with any country's intelligence defense system, create illusions, and manipulate human beings.

Ethan is instructed to find a key, which is the key to mastering artificial intelligence. However, when he learned that the US government intends to use artificial intelligence to seize the global discourse, Ethan is determined to destroy artificial intelligence and ensure world peace. It also made him a wanted criminal in the US government.

"Mission Impossible 7" carries too many familiar shadows of this series. Ethan is once again a fugitive and is hunted down by the U.S. government. The conspiracy in which he finds himself is closely linked to international politics.

Most of the characters in the film are also standard in the series. Old partners Benji and Luthor are still Ethan's most effective assistants, and his boss Kittridge is still friends and enemies of Ethan.

Ilsa and White Widow, two "Mori girls", are the most eye-catching new characters in episodes 5 and 6 respectively, and this episode appears as an old person, both in terms of character temperament and relationship with Ethan, which continue the form of the previous two films.

Ilsa is still Ethan's soul mate, and her loneliness, tenacity and inconvenience are further exaggerated. White Widow continues to be a femme fatale who is both good and evil, flirting with Ethan on the blade.

The way the story is structured also follows the same routine as the series. Ethan overcomes one difficulty after another, and each time the plan cannot keep up with the changes, forcing him to use his skills in the thrill and save the danger, thus creating a gradually escalating crisis action scene.

Multiple characters have their own goals, and the conflict between the purposes creates intricate character relationships and event situations, triggering reversals one after another, and finally the forces and clues of all parties shrink and summarize at the end and break out jointly.

Although the above stories and character designs do not exceed the standard of the "Mission Impossible" series, they also maintain sufficient entertainment, plus elements that old audiences talk about, such as human skin masks, hacker fighting wit, and car chases, the viewing experience is like going to eat at your favorite chain restaurant, and enjoying the familiar taste.

However, in this familiar taste, the action scenes can be regarded as a small disappointment.

Every action scene of "Mission Impossible" in the past can be filmed with new ideas: the movement of the first part combines stealing lists and train tunnel battles, the violent aesthetics of the second part, the building swing in the third part, the climbing Burj Khalifa and underwater disk change in the fourth part, the unarmed plane in the fifth part, and the HALO skydiving in the sixth part.

Groundbreaking action scenes have become memorable labels for the Mission Impossible franchise.

The action scenes of "Mission Impossible 7" are a hodgepodge of the previous six. The main creator just increases the difficulty of the design ideas that the audience has already seen, no matter how thrilling, it has a touch of déjà vu burnout.

After talking about the formula, let's talk about innovation.

As mentioned earlier, the innovation of Mission Impossible 7 is timely. The so-called timely is to conform to the trend of the current era and social values.

Artificial intelligence is one of the hottest topics in recent years, and the film has created an artificial intelligence villain. The story of machines threatening humans is not new in the movie world, but it is the first in the "Mission Impossible" series.

With the Cold War-like political situation dominating contemporary international relations and national conspiracy theories rife, the film portrays the US government as the biggest villain.

Even though the image of the US government in the past several "Mission Impossible" tends to be negative, the US politicians in this episode nakedly show their ambition to control world hegemony, which is a more evil existence than artificial intelligence.

These two innovations do not seem new, after all, artificial intelligence and the threat of Cold War hegemony have appeared in too many film and television works.

However, this film combines the two closely. In the contemporary world dominated by the Cold War mentality with digital technology as the core, what kind of threat can runaway artificial intelligence pose to human beings is full of cautionary display in the film, and the competition for control of artificial intelligence between the positive and negative characters also makes the moral boundary tend to gray.

Although the depth of these themes cannot be compared with art films, it is already rare in commercial action films.

Another example of timely innovation is at the character level. Tom Cruise is over 61 years old, and aging was originally the natural enemy of the protagonist of the action series movies, but "Mission Impossible 7" took the trend and changed the shaping of Hunter.

Compared to the past, Hunter in this episode embodies a stronger sense of pathos. His most moving scene is not the superhuman moment to resolve the crisis and save the world, but the pathos of powerlessness in the face of a dead lover, and the struggle to face the anger and vulnerability of past enemies.

He is no longer just an indestructible hero, but also exudes the despair, powerlessness, weakness and vacillation of ordinary people. Incorporating the aging of stars into character shaping is the smartest innovation of Mission Impossible 7.

The two new supporting characters who appear in this episode also play a role in humanizing Hunter. The new "Forest Girl" Grace is a thief from humble origins, and her whole body exudes a grassroots temperament that is rare in the past "Forest Girl".

It's hard to imagine that Hunter in the first few episodes would fall in love with such an ordinary girl, and the creator of this episode is determined to bring Hunter back to basics. His affair with Grace is the most civilian love in the "Mission Impossible" series to date.

However, the popularity also makes Grace less attractive as the "forest girl" of the past. Her relationship line with Hunter is far less touching than Ilsa's old relationship with Hunter.

Compared with the awkward positioning of Grace, the appearance of the villain Gabriel has actually deepened Hunter's inner shaping.

Gabriel and Hunter have a feud past, which is the fundamental reason why Hunter became an agent. Their confrontation is actually Hunter's self-traceability.

This story design also contains the ambition of the main creator. They not only weakened Hunter's heroic aura, but also redefined the identity and temperament of the protagonist of "Mission Impossible".

The history of Gabriel and Hunter in this episode has not yet been fully explained. Where does Hunter go in the soul struggle? Will he be pulled down from the altar of heroes?

Gabriel

The idea of characterization around personal grudges that traumatized Hunter was actually fully reflected as early as "Mission Impossible 1".

Even though it was twenty-seven years ago, the relationship between young Hunter and team leader Jim and his father, and the bitter journey from trust to betrayal, are still the most moving emotions in the entire "Mission Impossible" series.

Hunter and Jim in Mission Impossible 1

The idea of "Mission Impossible 7" is actually to trace back to the origin and rediscover the initial character shaping ideas of the series. At that time, Hunter was just starting out, and even if he was brilliant and skillful, he needed to experience growth from simple to worldly.

Now Hunter is about to enter old age, and after all the vicissitudes of life, he is once again forced to face the trauma of the past, and it is another journey of growth. This may also become a key transformation of the character's temperament.

If successful, Tom Cruise and the Mission Impossible series will shine with new charm. After all, in commercial action movies, superhuman heroes with distinctive personalities and rock-solid personalities are common, and mortal heroes who touch people's hearts and undergo growth and transformation are not common.

"Mission Impossible 7: Fatal Reckoning (Part I)" seems to be a series sequel to the standard formula, and all the innovations have not subverted the formula framework, but they have buried a story and character development points with great potential.

The danger of artificial intelligence in the digital society and Cold War politics, the tracing and reconstruction of the protagonist's identity, and the transformation attempt to humanize heroes are all aspects worth continuing to explore.

Do the creators dare to introduce the "Mission Impossible" series into the deep water area that has never been seen before? Will it lead the series in a direction that focuses more on story and characterization? We have reason to look forward to the next one.