First there is Tom, then there is Mission Impossible

Let's talk about "Mission Impossible 7: Fatal Reckoning (Part I)", the belated article, not a simple review, but the interesting nature of this series.

"Mission Impossible 7", the story is actually very routine, but the effect is really good, the look and feel is really good, this is a "phenomenon" worth discussing and analyzing.

Prejudged your prejudgment

The "Mission Impossible" series, especially after the fourth part, has similar story modes and similar selling points: end-of-life situations, countdown bomb removal, high-speed chase, and Tom's challenge to human limits - climbing and falling, and running long shots.

But with such an old-school plot, the viewing effect turned out to be ideal, the whole process was tense and exciting, thanks to the solid text, logical text, smooth rhythm, heroines with distinctive personalities and supporting actors, action scenes are naturally not a problem. Probably only Tom Cruise can do it.

For Ma Dong-seok's "Crime City 3" not long ago, this series is also the same, the three use the same "script", but the details are fine-tuned + villain replacement, the selling point is "one-punch man", but this mode was filmed to the third part, the look and feel has declined, but the "Mission Impossible" series, filmed to the seventh part, especially from the fourth part, the story is actually similar, but the look and feel has always maintained a certain level.

And Tom also "deliberately" played terriers this time. 

The villain artificial intelligence - Zhi Body, in the film this thing is almost omnipotent, will predict the opponent's next move through algorithms, and all the decisions of the IMF team members are predicted by Intelligence (but collide with one of the themes of the current Hollywood strike anti-AI actors). But even so, in the end, Ethan still achieved a phased victory.

This concept is actually similar to us audiences, your (routine) prediction of the movie is correct, you can predict all your predictions, but the movie is still good.

To put it bluntly, you know what they should do next, all kinds of routine bridges come as promised, but it is good to shoot + enjoyable, to be honest, this is the accumulated experience of Tom Cruise and the team, knowing what the audience wants to see, in this old-school action movie can not play any tricks, simply do the ultimate.

In this era of CG special effects, superheroes can do everything, and even simple action movies are moving towards civilian supermen with sharp actions like "Spy", but the "Mission Impossible" series still maintains the traditional way and style of secret agent movies of the past, unique and still able to maintain the level.

Therefore, Tom himself resisted the pressure of the film side and used the ancient way to restart the old antique IP such as "Top Gun" in order to succeed.

To put it bluntly, Tang insists on his own set of filming, "Top Gun 2" is also the only successful project of the old IP in the new century for many years, and the rest such as "Terminator 6", "Robocop", and the recent "Indiana Jones 5" are unsuccessful.

However, "Fatal Reckoning (Part I)" also has its unsatisfactory points.

Let's talk about what the "Mission Impossible" series, which was predicted by the audience and the intellectual body, looks like. There are also the inherent advantages of the series, as well as the shortcomings of this film.

"People conquer the sky"

High-tech props have always been the standard in agent movies, and the "Mission Impossible" series is no exception, such as transfiguration is the IMF's signature, and the setting from the drama version of that year cannot be changed, but since Tom took over the movie version, to be precise, it is the fourth part, and the high-tech products in each film have not only changed from the core to the auxiliary, but even sometimes have problems, almost dragging down the action.

The most extreme is the fourth episode, including face molds, adsorption gloves, magnetic cars, etc., all equipment dropped the chain at the critical moment, and 3D printing glasses were also recognized.

"Mission Impossible 6" is not as extreme as the fourth part, but the face model went wrong again this time, COS Lack failed, and Ah Tang had to appear in real life. "Mission Impossible 7" finally succeeded in the face model, but only one was made, and the second one was broken. As a result, Grace had to act alone, and there was a scene where Tom had to fly a motorcycle off a cliff.

Therefore, this series has always emphasized the subjective initiative of the characters, the collaboration between the teams, and the extreme functions of the protagonists.

However, this is also a shortcoming of this film, because it is not very functional in this regard.

Recall that disc 4 climbed the Burj Khalifa to bypass the safety system, disc 5 jumped into the sluice gate to hold air to replace the plate, disc 6 skydiving + low-altitude parachute opening to avoid detection technology, to put it bluntly, are all using "human flesh" to challenge or change the scientific and technological system, which is the core embodiment of the series "people conquer the sky" -

No matter how powerful and rigorous the scientific and technological system is, there are loopholes, and it is the extreme instinct of human beings to defeat/bypass these loopholes.

And this film, although the villain is directly replaced by AI, but "people conquer the sky" is somewhat weakened. Including the cliff speed, it looks very cool, but it just slammed into the train, the effect is far less than the extreme sports of the previous films, and there is some bravado.

Fortunately, Disc 7 is only the upper episode, the lower part must face the intellectual body, but also dive into the submarine, it is estimated that the concept of challenging science and technology with human limits will be truly released.

Tom himself, a bit like Nolan's obsession with using film for real shooting, is very old-school (Nolan doesn't even use a smartphone). Science and technology have brought changes to human life, and people are now overly dependent on technology and machines, but Tom Cruise himself does not trust those technologies, and firmly believes that human instinct can defeat technology, which is the core concept of the "Spy" series.

This concept, which is a bit similar to the human protagonist in "I, Robot", has never believed in robots and maintained an old-school lifestyle, so it has finally become a relying force to save humans in the wave of intelligent mutiny.

Sufficient tasks

The series emphasizes that "people conquer the sky", and it is necessary to highlight people's subjective initiative, one of which is that people will make mistakes and adapt to changes.

I remembered the famous dialogue in Jackie Chan's "Police Story 4 Simple Mission":

Jackie Chan: "Is (Task) really that simple? ”

Uncle Hu: "It's that simple!" If I can go, I will go! ”

Everyone knows the story that followed. Such a routine probably also applies to the "Mission Impossible" series.

You can recall that every movie, from Ethan Hunt every time the task is received, it is actually very simple, but from the moment she receives the self-destruction task, the task content mentioned in it is almost not the same "product" as the task completed by the IMF before the end of the movie...

Because the IMF will experience a variety of temporary changes in the mission, which will lead to a big change in the nature of the mission before and after the movie, the film was originally looking for a key, and the result evolved into several people fighting against everywhere and predicting all the intelligence.

This also determines the "impossible mission" of each part from the side, which must be accompanied by countless failures of the IMF, and finally have to rely on life to get a "crushing victory".

For example, Bangui, the disc 4 shadow wall almost went through, the disc 5 opened the wrong plane door, the disc 6 did not open 3D navigation, and the disc 7 did not predict the train to accelerate out of control, what does it mean? In addition to the licorice setting, it is not to highlight his lack of learning, but to emphasize human subjective initiative - humans make mistakes sometimes, but humans will immediately correct their behavior and adapt to changes.

Since you missed the train, then take a detour to the high ground and jump off ...

Super fast pace

But it is such a large amount of information, because the twists and turns of the plot as a foil, will make the development of the movie story ups and downs.

Take this film as an example, basically 10 minutes a hurdle, the protagonist and the squad, countless times in distress, each time to save the danger, before you have time to catch your breath, the next change will follow. Such a large amount of information leads to the content being extremely compressed, and the compressed story bridge is replaced by a super fast pace.

Therefore, the "Mission Impossible" series has always been very affordable, not only can you see Tom's various fatal feats, but also "give more", the volume of a movie, the amount of information contained in it is enough to make two movies.

Although these bridge settings are not lacking in the suspicion of deliberately "creating difficulties without difficulties", the biggest advantage is to maintain the fast-paced and pee free characteristics of the series. So the nearly two-and-a-half-hour length of "Mission Impossible 7" is almost completed in one go.

Extreme atmosphere

Every "Mission Impossible" is a battle without a rear, either betrayal, framed, or a dead leader. "Mission Impossible 6" takes care of both, and is framed and killed as a leader. "Mission Impossible 7" went further, was framed, died leadership, and even teammates hung up...

Therefore, most of the time, the IMF can only rely on its own improvisation, relying on the strength of those few people, as well as the black technology props that are not working at any time, to face the evil forces that are powerful enough to subvert the entire world. This is called "impossible task", especially highlighting the sudden and tortuous nature of the event, enough to make several people instantly confused changes, and the process of "crossing the river by feeling the stones", without paying attention, come to an "extreme sport", repeatedly tried and tried.

But this film is actually a little deliberate, such as the death of Ilsa, and the addition of the new character Grace, which is a little abrupt. There is also Ethan's previous history, the shaping and grudge of the intellectual and physical executor, which is also relatively sloppy.

This is the series "not a problem problem".

Since the fourth part, "Mission Impossible" has entered a large amount of information, super fast pace, and a tight plot with a low error tolerance, which is already very full. And disc 7 has experienced new content such as character history retrospection, team member death, and heroine change, and it is relatively difficult to integrate these elements into an already "full" story.

And in order not to break the balance of perception and not to reduce the rhythm, so these new content, new characters, new elements, can only be compressed and compressed, along the plot and lines, it appears, such as Ethan's past, the motivation to join the IMF... It's just a stroke, so it will seem relatively sloppy.

No way, the unchanged plot mode, if you want to make a breakthrough, but also maintain the inherent look, you can only do this.

The countdown is the beginning

"The countdown is the beginning" is a consistent feature of the "Mission Impossible" series, just like the fuse that ignites the opening scene of each film, the "mission" is only started after the lead is activated.

For example, the decoding of the disc-4 missile began after it was launched, which became the standard equipment later. From disc 5 to disc 7, the bomb is counted down before the bomb is defused.

This setting features, needless to say, the original pace is very fast, but also a time-limited task, so that it is even more tense to breathless race against time, greatly stimulating the viewing effect, this is the high-end enjoyment of Hollywood's top entertainment system, you can say that this setting is very deliberate, but must not deny a very refreshing instant perception.

This film is the same, but it seems rushed, Benji answered the question to defuse the bomb, only as one of the side tasks, the magnitude is not enough, but considering that this film is only the last episode, this bridge is only functional, and the highlight should still be in the lower part.

PS, about bomb defusal, the coolest and most difficult is the "triple mission" of "Mission Impossible 6", just like the kick of "Inception" through 3 layers of dreams, the triple mission must be completed at the same time to be called exciting.

Up&down: Play for real

Needless to say, starting from the second rock climb, it has been the consistent selling point of the series, and everyone is mentioning it, so I won't waste my tongue here.

Just to mention: Tom style "don't die", which is characteristic, is up&down - either climb up or jump down.

Throughout the 7 "Mission Impossible", at least one of them must be kept in each part, and the task of "Down" in Disc 4 is given to Hawkeye, starting with Disc 5, there are both in each episode!

▲ "Mission Impossible 5" took to the sky on the plane and jumped into the water;

▲ "Mission Impossible 6" opens the umbrella at the limit and climbs the sermon rock.

▲ "Mission Impossible 6" cliff speeding, climbing the falling train.

Either up or down, or up and down, the affordable tube is enough!

The "up &down" in this film is not as effective as the previous ones, probably Tom as he grows older, no matter how extreme he is, he is not too low to wash. And in terms of functionality alone, especially "Down", the other films are all to challenge technology, and this film just found a train landing point.

Of course, it is still that sentence, it is estimated that the highlights and functions of such parts are arranged in the lower part.

Finally, I also have to sigh that Tom's "gameplay" of insisting on real shooting is not only a selling point of the movie, but also an obsession.

His lifeless behavior is different from Jackie Chan's "playing with life", which has high requirements for technical level and physical fitness, and he can't play when he wants to play when he is older. Tom here, with the help of technology and tools, playing is a real extreme sport, which requires courage and courage.

But it is undeniable that some bridges in "Mission Impossible 7" do have the shadow of Jackie Chan movies of the past, such as the top of the train battle ("Police Story 3", but this one is more like "Mission Impossible 1"), driving in handcuffs ("Who I am"), these bridges have been refined and refined, and the effect has been upgraded, which is understandable.

To get off topic, Tom doesn't like superheroes.

Judging from the fact that Marvel wanted to find him to play Tony Stark, but Tom asked to "remove Iron Man's flying skills", Tom Cruise is more disgusted with the role of using external/divine power, so he still uses the old-school "real shooting" operation so far, personally hitting the face of those superheroes and green screen hero movies.

The most obvious is "Mission Impossible 6", he asked Henry Cavill who played Superman to play the villain, and in the famous plane jump + extreme umbrella opening scene, the two fell from the sky together, making the invincible "Dachao" face wiped out. The last scene, on the cliff, makes the flightless "Superman" fall to his death.

The purpose of these two scenes is very obvious, that is, Liang Tang's theory of "people conquer the sky" - to severely humiliate superheroes.

"Triangle Attack"

The "Mission Impossible" series, all of the above characteristics, revolve around one core - the protagonist Ethan Hunt.

★ First of all, Ethan Hunt is not like 007, focusing on symbolization, it is enough to have a personal name, and he has changed several leading actors over the years. Ethan Hunter has no possibility of changing actors for the time being, even if Tom does not act, others can't act, because from the first part, Tom, who is both a starring and a producer, firmly controls the context of the series, and changes people will change the taste.

★ Secondly, Ethan Hunt is not as lonely and invincible as Bourne, who has a team around him, and most of the missions start with failure and end up with thrilling completion. Such a protagonist aura, I would rather not.

★ Finally, from the concept of winning the day, no rear combat, super fast pace, to penultimate bomb disposal, extreme challenge... All the causes are for the last "effect" - that is, the hammer is the final word, whether to pull the trigger, or Tom himself.

All people, all events, revolve around a core character, but this core character, the protagonist's aura is not strong, and he needs to rely on teammates to complete the mission.

This is a relatively abstract concept, and I used a basketball term - "Phil Jackson and the Triangle Offense" in the "Mission Impossible 6" article to explain this concept.

Before explaining, let's tell a story:

In 1995, the rebellious "Big Bug" Rodman stabbed Louzi in the Spurs, was swept away by Popovich, and went to the Bulls in an almost "free" way. When Zen master Jackson described the concept of "triangle offense" for Big Worm, Rodman didn't bother at all, and said: "Isn't the triangle offense TM's last ball to Jordan to single?" ”

As a result, Phil Jackson smiled slightly and replied: "The triangle offense solves how to make Jordan face a person when he singles, not a team." One sentence convinced the proud Rodman and nodded and laughed. He then assisted Jordan to open the Bulls' second trifecta.

The core of this story is not Rodman, but the "triangle offense", Zen Master's triangle offense is a very magical existence in the NBA, on the one hand, he used this set of tactics to succeed in both the Bulls and Lakers, almost unbeatable.

On the other hand, this set of tactics is very complicated, in the NBA rivers and lakes, from Cardinal Auerbach, to the elder Nelson, Popovich, Riley famous coach, etc., are apprentices everywhere, only Zen master Phil Jackson is the commander of the light rod, and there is no successor. That is to say, the triangle attack, only the Zen master himself can play, Brian Shaw, Cartwright and the apprentices are miserable, causing other coaches to also scoff at the triangle attack.

But it is undeniable that Phil Jackson's set of tactics, relying on the blocking and running positions of other players, can always allow the biggest star on the team (Jordan or Kobe) to get the ball in the most critical position and moment, and shoot or single comfortably. This is something that the industry has to admire.

Tom Cruise is like Phil Jackson who formulates tactics, the "Mission Impossible" series is like the team that executes the "triangle offense" tactic, and Ethan Hunt in the movie is the omnipotent Jordan, or Kobe.

Ethan Hunt is powerful, but what he does is inseparable from the IMF team to "block and pass" for him, and finally in the most important place and at the most critical time, he is also beyond the limit to hammer the hammer, and behind all this, it is inseparable from Tom Cruise, who is also the producer and starring.

And the IMF team, there are only a few fixed members, and the "saucer girl" is also a horse lamp, and this work Ilsa is directly off the line (but does not rule out the possibility of the lower return), but the only one that cannot and cannot be changed is Tom Cruise's Ethan Hunt.

Change a person, may not be able to achieve such an effect, Tom's charm and execution, is the soul of the series, and there is no successor.

So some people say that Phil Jackson is a master of tactics and a master of psychology, who will pass his tactical ideas to players in his own way in the locker room, and this set of tactics must have superstars like Jordan or Kobe Bryant to succeed, and everything else is exempt.

What's more amazing is that whether he faces the god-like Jordan or the unruly Kobe, Phil Jackson always makes these big names obey him.

And Tom Cruise, and "Mission Impossible", isn't that exactly the case? If Tom is not there, it will not be "Mission Impossible".

Even if the story is old-fashioned, even if we and the intellectual body can predict the prediction of the characters in the film, but the movie is good.

If you don't convince, you can't do it.