Could the Mission Impossible series be the next Fast and Furious?
The trailer for Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol; the 4th installment in the series, has gone up today courtesy of Trailer Addict. This series seems to have had a resurgence after the J.J. Abrams directed Mission Impossible III, which in my mind is the best in the series so far.
This installment is produced by J.J. and co. But directed by none other Brad Bird; director of classics like The Iron Giant and PIxar's The Incredibles. As with the Fast and Furious series I'm hoping Ghost Protocol brings about a fresh new take on the series and takes it to some incredible feats! This will be with all prints of Transformers: Dark of Moon this week/weekend.
For the last couple years, and unfortunately I don't think they are doing this year, but every sunday during the summer, Marcus Cinema's in Orland Park, IL would show 35MM classic movies. Two that I was lucky enough to see on the big screen were Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan and Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark. Both times I walked out of the theater thinking "how cool it must have been to have seen those at their initial release."
Last night I got to feel what that was like with J.J. Abrams Super 8.
J.J. Abrams first feature length movie was Mission: Impossible III. In Mission: Impossible III, Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) must get a hold of the "Rabbit's Foot" or else his wife will die at the hands of the films villain Owen Davian. Most movies would put great emphasis on what the Rabbit's foot is, where it came from, who created it and what can it do. Not Abrams, he puts at the forefront what is most important; his characters. Since Mission Impossible 1, Ethan Hunt has been this immortal-like spy who can get out of anything, but with M:I-III his family is in peril and he's no longer a spy, but a husband out to do whatever he can to save his wife. The humanizing of larger than life characters is something that is the key to Abrams films thus far. In his second directorial success, Star Trek, its the relationship between Kirk and Spock and with his third film Super 8, it's exploring the universal traits of friendship, loyalty, curiosity, and bravery in a group of young friends who are making a short movie but then get thrown into an adventure that put all those traits to the maximum test.
The cast of this movie succeeds in spades! Kyle Chandler who I'll always remember from the show Early Edition, plays Sheriff Lamb, his son Joe is at the center of the films mysterious goings on. But the supporting cast of Joe's friends take the cake, they all are almost a great modern day but "back then" version of the Goonies! yes I said The Goonies. Most of the comedic relief comes with these characters; its not forced but well deserved and believable. This adds to the authenticity of the films adventure. Also the relationship between father and son is a broken one at the beginning of the movie but is paid off with one of the most unique metaphors of letting go.
Steven Spielberg is a giant part of this success because he serves as Executive Producer on this passion project of Abrams, of which Speilberg is the grandfather of. Watching Super 8 I was reminded of movies like Jurassic Park, Jaws, and E.T. That sense of wonder and awe is so perfectly emulated in this movie that there were moments I was on the edge of my seat and my jaw was wide open. Another credit to the movie is that it gets underway almost immediately. The audience was not subjected to an hour long prologue before the meat of the movie started as so many movies do today.
The only downside I can see to this movie is that with all its hype, people will expect more than what they receive by the time they are walking out of the theater. Did the movie live up to the hype in my eyes? Obviously, yes. But I hope that when you go to see this movie and YOU SHOULD. You should know that while the main story revolves around a mysterious train crash and its contents, the real story is about the people involved and how they overcome such amazing obstacles. If your in the mood for adventure, comedy, horror, action; then this is your movie!
I throughly enjoyed the nostalgic and childlike feeling this movie gave me. I encourage everyone to run out and support this movie this weekend. Bring the whole family and enjoy!
Super 8 is in full release in conventional theaters and IMAX on Friday June 10
If Pepper Potts and Evelyn Salt got into a fight, who would take that crown?
Salt, is the brand new or re-used story idea, starring Angelina Jolie. Before I begin the open heart surgery on this trailer, let me say that overall it feels like a big kid screaming at me; ( in annoying child taunting talk) "I have a secret and I won't tell you!!!". That shit is annoying. We get it, there is a possible twist somewhere in this movie. Way to give away the one thing you might have going for you!
The beginning of the trailer starts off with Ms. Jolie being hauled off by cops, a quick action sequence later and we are at yet another question; " You think everyone is who they say they are?" Well no, if your asking. There are so many questions in this movie trailer that I get the feeling that's what I'll be left with at the end of the movie. Questions.
The next few scenes look like episodes of the TNT show The Closer as we are informed by Liev Schreiber's character that no one can crack people faster in a room, than Salt. Angelina plays the title character: Evelyn Salt. A C.I.A agent who is "revealed" to be a Russian assassin set to kill the President of the United States. So... as any normal American would do, she goes rogue, jumps off a few expressways, turns herself into a Maxim model and attempts to prove her innocence, all in this rom-com of an action/spy thriller.
Its really a shame that nothing in this trailer looks original. There are hints of Mission Impossible 3 with her pulling a fake face off, walking along the edges of buildings and close shot chase sequences bring back memories of The Bourne Movies and the fact that she might be potentially framed for killing an important political figure is straight from the movie Shooter, with Mark Wahlberg. I cringe at the what future taglines of this movie might be. "Salt is the new Bourne!" or "Its Mission Impossible meets Bourne with a Shooter mixed in."
Don't get me wrong, I'm a fan of action and spy movies, but from the trailer it just doesn't look like there is anything that sets it apart from the mentioned movies. The supporting cast consists of some top gents, who are always at the top of their game; Liev Schreiber and Chiwetel Ejiofor. Schreiber was recently seen in the disappointing X-Men Origins: Wolverine in which he played Wolverine's nemesis Sabertooth. Ejiofor has played memorable villains in Four Brothers and the sci-fi action pic Serenity.
I really like both these actors and after doing research on the movie I found out that the original incarnation of the script had the main character as a man. Beat! Perhaps Salt is really a man? It might have been more cliche but if the original script was the one being shot, how would Liev or Chiwetel faired as the agent with a questionable identity? I think both of them are of the caliber of actors to bring something new to a role like that, if done correctly. Much like what Matt Damon did with Jason Bourne.
The movie is directed by Phillip Noyce whose past work includes The Bone Collector (urg!) which also starred Angelina Jolie. Patriot Games and Clear and Present Danger both starring Harrison Ford and both are notable films is the Jack Ryan series. So its clear that Mr. Noyce is no stranger to the spy game, but why does this movies look like SPAM. I wonder how the tone would have been if the trailer had more of a Jack Ryan feel.
The movie is written by Kurt Wimmer and I would say he is the only reason I'm curious about this movie. I was first exposed to Kurt Wimmer with a movie he wrote and directed called Equilibrium, that starred Christian Bale. AMAZING shit! Go out and find it now, if you haven't seen it. His next writing credits included The Recruit, Ultraviolet, The Thomas Crown Affair, and most recently Law Abiding Citizen, which starred Jamie Foxx and Gerard Butler. Each of these movies, except for perhaps Ultraviolet, were really good, watchable thrillers. The Thomas Crown Affair and Law Abiding Citizen especially. So its obvious the guy knows how to write, so I'm hoping that's what saves this trailer.
Aside from me picking apart this trailer, I do plan to see what its all about. Despite being overly cliche the trailer does do a good job of establishing tension, suspicion, and action. But as a fan of Kurt Wimmer in particular, I hope that he's thrown something in here that makes it worth my time at the movies.
