THB #705: Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning

“Their eyes were bigger than their stomachs.”

Earlier, the reference that I thought was right for this movie was, “They Shoot Franchises, Don’t They?” But that’s not really how I feel. I don’t think that really expresses what happened to this movie. It doesn’t feel like some new low for a fun, successful franchise and maybe they should take it out behind the barn. It feels more like the thing most missing from the film’s promotion is a very special episode of the TV show Hoarders.

One of the great and very unusual things about Mission: Impossible when it was TV show, were the long stretches of silent, unexplained action with some music underneath… you watched them plan... like you were part of the IM Force. It wasn’t overly showy as a production and you weren’t really even sure what actors might be on the show week-to-week.

The first 4 of the 8 Mission: Impossible movies were directed by 4 different and very differently talented directors. Then Tom Cruise movie-married Chris McQuarrie a…