I know Andrew Lau’s Wuxia films tend to get a lot of heat for their direction and effects (at least in the west) but I was honestly quite a fan of A MAN CALLED HERO and THE STORMRIDERS, so I figured witnessing another collab between him and Ekin Cheng (plus the ever entertaining Andy Lau) would be right up my alley.

The titular duel of the film centers on two master swordsmen (Andy Lau and Ekin Cheng), one of which…

MISSION IMPOSSIBLE: THE FINAL RECKONING is perhaps the biggest, boldest swing the franchise has ever took. Stakes have never been higher, the plan has never been more multifaceted and intricate, and the villain has never been more crafty… They really went the extra mile to make this one truly feel like the *final* mission to end all missions…  and I’m happy to say that they absolutely knocked it out of the park here.

I truly loved how it really felt…

Don’t have much to say that I didn’t already cover in my initial reaction. I know many say this was a step down from the last two McQuarrie directed MISSION films but honestly I feel like things just get better and better for him. It’s simultaneously darker more funny than FALLOUT, with Ethan’s final trick against Gabriel being genuinely one of the funniest things I’ve seen in recent years.

Saw someone point out how McQuarrie‘s films seemed very much influenced…

Now that’s what I’m talking about.

A part of me laments that they never continued the trend of new directors bringing their own unique vision to the MISSION IMPOSSIBLE franchise, but I can’t deny that Christopher McQuarrie REALLY showed how hard he could cook with his second entry and it resulted in one of the all time greatest action movies ever. It has it all, the memorable locations, the thrilling set pieces, characters really giving it their all and enough…

Kinda going back and forth on where I rank this from, and part of me wonders if I’m kinda tainted a bit by loving FALLOUT and DEAD RECKONING so much…

Like damn this is a damn great movie. Great set pieces, a solid villain, brilliant new character in the form of Ilsa Faust, and and this was the first MISSION I got to see in theaters and TWICE at that… I just feel it’s missing a bit of an extra…

Damn, more like Mission Impossible GOAT Protocol…

This is an entry that holds a special place to me, one because it was the first MI film I ever saw way back in the early 2010s and two because I really don’t think it gets the credit it deserves. You always hear people credit MI3 For being the one that “saved the franchise” or “set the formula” when really both of those really should be credited to Brad Bird’s 2011 entry.…

I’m by no means a fan of JJ Abrams, and honestly I’m not that big on Orci and Kurtzman’s writing credits outside a handful of things, but man this one was pretty damn solid.

ittedly the direction is far below that of De Palma and Woo and (like a lot of action films from this time) it suffers from that Bourne influenced “shaky cam” style in the sense that (like a lot of films that were influenced by that movie)…

The John Woo super-fan in me looks at MISSION IMPOSSIBLE 2 and thinks “Man, there’s really a lot of him in of his trademark character dynamics and storytelling that isn’t in this…” but the same super-fan also thinking “…but he still directed the hell out of this though…”

The first two MI films definitely feel like a case where there was an idea/script already in place beforehand and certain ideas that Cruise and co. set in place and the…

It’s kind of crazy how quant this comes off compared to how big and bombastic every later entry would be, not that that is a bad thing.

You’d probably be surprised to find out that despite being the first in the now iconic cinematic action franchise, the original MISSION IMPOSSIBLE doesn’t have a single shoot out and leaves its one big fiery explosive til the very end, but that doenst make it any less thrilling. I quite enjoy how small…

An interesting companion to a lot of the triad centric films I’ve been watching lately. Usually, an element that you often see is the concept of loyalty and how even though the underworld of the triads is filled with treachery and double cross there’s usually someone you can count on. Well, Johnnie To decides to take a no frills look with a triad story that shows even the most seemingly loyal and trusted really aren’t all different than the…

I’m surprised I don’t dive into Shaw Brothers stuff more often because when I do it often ends up becoming a favorite of mine, like this here.

I was surprised at how much comedy was in this movie and how well Lau Kar-Leung managed to integrate it into the action. Kara Wai and Hsiao Ho make for a really fun duo both in the action and comedy and we get a lot of great and creative set pieces. The brawl…