Moving Pictures

I am utterly baffled that people still watch them. I'm no movie snob, as has been established here previously, but I remember the last MI film I watched (MI3 maybe) being an utterly predictable slog.

Still, glad you are happy!

Last I saw properly was MI2, which I hear is a bit of a black sheep in the series?

MI2 is the only actually bad one. It's a complete outlier in the series, and feels more like a Bond movie than Mission.

MI3 is fine (Philip Seymour Hoffman is the best bit of it, but what a bit), but they really kick into high gear from #5 (Rogue Nation) when Chrisopher McQuarrie took over as director. They've all had the same team since, follow a (fairly loose) continuity, and feature increasingly batshit stunt work.

They're not particularly clever, but they're easily the best action movies going at the moment.

The first one is a pretty straightforward spy thriller, and probably the least interesting one to revisit as it doesn't have the stunt work of the later films. I have kind of a soft spot for the outright ridiculousness of M:I 2, and it arguably helped set the template for the early part of the franchise by departing so completely from the tone of the first. As mentioned, M:I III is worth it for Philip Seymour Hoffman alone, but I think it's a good entry overall despite the JJ Abrams-ness of its visuals. Ghost Protocol has the Burj climb, but I don't think it's all that memorable.

Rogue Nation is where things really start getting more consistent; McQuarrie's directed the rest of the films so far, so there's been less experimentation in the tone and visual style but Cruise has made up for it by upping the ante on the stunts. Fallout is the best of the bunch by a considerable distance – some of the best hand-to-hand fighting in a non-martial arts movie, a great car chase, that helicopter chase and even some solid character stuff.

I found Dead Reckoning: Part One a little long for a film that doesn't have a conclusion and its turn into scifi nonsense is a little too sudden (it's never not funny when they get all serious talking about "The Entity", and I also don't really buy into Esai Morales' villainous zealot), but Hayley Atwell is tremendous – I'm hoping she either gets a spin-off of her own, or takes over from Ethan Hunt when Cruise retires (or dies on screen).

Hayley Atwell is tremendous – I'm hoping she either gets a spin-off of her own, or takes over from Ethan Hunt when Cruise retires (or dies on screen).

I want a whole franchise of Grace & Paris.