Mission: Impossible - Fallout

Mission: Impossible - Fallout (2018)

Starring Tom Cruise, Henry Cavill, Ving Rhames, Simon Pegg, Rebecca Ferguson, Sean Harris, Angela Bassett, Michelle Monaghan, Vanessa Kirby, Wes Bentley, and Alec Baldwin

Directed by Christopher McQuarrie

Written by Christopher McQuarrie

Summary (in 500 words or less):  When his team's mission fails, Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) and his crew (Ving Rhames and Simon Pegg) are forced to be shadowed by CIA agent August Walker (Henry Cavill) at the behest of CIA director Erica Sloane (Angela Bassett).  At odds, Hunt and Walker attempt to track down missing plutonium before it falls into the hands of a terrorist group known as the "Apostles" who want to create several nuclear weapons and cause massive damage across the globe. 

Click here for my Letterboxd review

The RyMickey Rating:  B+

Mission: Impossible III

-- Mission: Impossible Week --
Please note that all Mission: Impossible Week film reviews may contain spoilers related to both the film that is being reviewed and other films in the series.

Mission: Impossible III (2006)

Starring Tom Cruise, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Ving Rhames, Billy Crudup, Michelle Monaghan, Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Keri Russell, Maggie Q, Simon Pegg, Eddie Marsan, and Laurence Fishburne

Directed by J.J. Abrams

After the absolute debacle that was Mission: Impossible II, anything -- and I mean absolutely anything -- would've been an improvement.  Fortunately, this third installment in the M:I series leaves behind John Woo's white doves and fiery orange color palette for an admittedly much more cookie-cutter action picture.  Still, director J.J. Abrams' debut feature film rounded up a great cast (which as mentioned before is a bit of a staple for the M:I pics) and showed Hollywood that he had potential as a feature film helmer.

The film begins with Ethan Hunt (Cruise) setting out on a mission (impossible) to rescue fellow IMF agent Lindsey Farris (Keri Russell) whom Hunt himself trained from an undercover assignment that has gone horribly wrong.  Unfortunately, the rescue is a failure and Lindsey ends up dead (much to the chagrin of this blogger and longtime fan of Ms. Russell).  Determined to find the person who killed her, Hunt and his team (this time made up of newcomers Maggie Q, Jonathan Rhys Meyers, and returnee Ving Rhames) begin to hunt down arms dealer Declan Gormley (Philip Seymour Hoffman) whose "business" Lindsey was attempting to infiltrate.

While the action sequences are certainly solid, what makes Mission: Impossible III stand out is Philip Seymour Hoffman's villain.  Hoffman relishes the maniacal nature of his character and from his opening scene to his last, he brings a vibrancy to the flick that we hadn't quite seen yet in the pictures in the franchise.  To balance Hoffman out, Cruise's Hunt is given a serious love interest in this film in Michelle Monaghan's Julia and the relationship gives us a more well-rounded picture of the series' main protagonist.

The negative to this film -- and admittedly it's a bit of a problem -- is that it's oddly forgettable.  As I sit here typing up this review a week after watching the flick, I found myself finding it difficult to remember key action pieces.  Even in the dismal M:I II, I recalled moments.  With Mission: Impossible III, however, it feels a bit too generic for its own good.  Without a particularly unique stylization from an auteur, Abrams has crafted a well-made action movie, but one that feels like it could've been a part of any other franchise.  Still, the film works and it works pretty well.  However, as you'll see soon, improvements could still be made on the franchise to really make it shine.

The RyMickey Rating:  B-

Movie Review - Fort Bliss

Fort Bliss (2014)

Starring Michelle Monaghan, Pablo Schreiber, Ron Livingston, Emmanuelle Chriqui, and Oakes Fegley

Directed by Claudia Myers

***This film is currently streaming on Netflix***

A character study of a female US medic soldier dealing with her return home to her young son after over a year fighting in Afghanistan, Fort Bliss brings a slightly different spin to the typical post traumatic stress aspect we've seen in movies over the past several years.  Here, Maggie Swann (Michelle Monaghan) comes back to the States to Fort Bliss in Texas to find that her young son Paul (Oakes Fegley) has seemingly forgot about their relationship.  Having lived with his Maggie's ex -- his dad Richard (Ron Livingston) -- along with Richard's fiancée Alma (Emmanuelle Chriqui), Paul has a very negative reaction to Maggie's return.  Obviously upset, Maggie finds herself desperately trying to reconnect with Paul while also dealing with the fact that she feels a strong commitment to her job and country as she ponders whether to reenlist again and head back to war leaving her son behind.

While director/screenwriter Claudia Myers' film doesn't particularly reinvent the wheel when it comes to post-war films (and a rather pointless "meaningful" quickie relationship between Maggie and a repairman [Pablo Schreiber] doesn't really add anything to the overall tone/plot), Fort Bliss does uniquely detail the emotions of a woman attempting to overcome the struggles we hear about soldiers facing their return home.  While her character feels slightly stereotypical at the beginning, Michelle Monaghan does a really nice job of rounding out Maggie as the film progresses, allowing us to fully understand the reasons behind her difficult decision of determining whether family or country comes first.  There's a beautiful (though uncomfortable to witness) scene in a diner in which Maggie tells a fellow soldier that she feels like an awful mother for even contemplating heading back to Afghanistan that is difficult to watch, but ultimately fitting like a glove with Monaghan's portrayal.

Fort Bliss lacks the editing eye of a more experienced filmmaker, but in only her second feature film as a director, Myers shows a deft hand at giving us a glimpse of a much needed though very underseen type of character -- a mom who loves her family dearly, but questions whether her loyalty needs to be placed elsewhere for the better good of all.  This is an interesting film and one that I'm quite glad I watched.

The RyMickey Rating:  B

Movie Review - Source Code

Source Code (2011)

Starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Michelle Monaghan, Vera Farmiga, and Jeffrey Wright

Directed by Duncan Jones

Duncan Jones's previous directorial effort Moon was quite a mindgame and the bigger-budgeted Source Code attempts to be the same thing, but doesn't fare nearly as well.  For all intents and purposes, Source Code is trying to be suspenseful, but instead this 90-minute affair simply plodded along rather than keep me intrigued.

A commuter train headed into downtown Chicago blows up one morning in an act of terrorism killing every onboard.  The government has knowledge that another larger attack is imminent, so in order to try and prevent the second bombing, a new military program called Source Code is called into play.  Air Force pilot Colter Stevens (Jake Gyllenhaal) is essentially placed in the body of a passenger on the train eight minutes prior to it blowing up.  Within those eight minutes (which can be looped over and over again ad infinitum), he must attempt to discover who planted the bomb.  While he can't change the past, he can possibly alter the future by helping the military nab the bomber to prevent the future attack.

The concept of seeing the same thing over and over again with minor changes just flat out bored me (unlike the more successful Groundhog Day which essentially plays up the same basic premise but with a comedic edge).  Dull is an apt word to describe my feelings towards Source Code.  From the direction to the performances to the premise -- all of it can be deemed "dull."  Tack on an ending that completely negates everything that's been told to the viewer throughout the whole film and I can't help but feel that I was somewhat tricked (even though the ending could be seen a mile away).

In the end, the praise and 91% Fresh rating heaped on this film by the Rotten Tomatoes critics is kind of astounding to me.  Yes, it's nice to have more adult-centric, smart films in the marketplace, but this one really lacked an iota of pizzazz needed to sustain my interest.

The RyMickey Rating:  D+

Movie Review - Trucker (2009)

Starring Michelle Monaghan, Nathan Fillion, Benjamin Bratt, and Jimmy Bennett
Directed by James Mottern

When I am going to learn that Roger Ebert's word stands for nothing anymore? Granted, I didn't read his review of this flick, but on the website of the theater I saw this at today, there was a quote from him that said something along the lines of "Michelle Monaghan deserves to be nominated for an Oscar for this role. Four stars."

Let me tell you something, Roger. She doesn't at all. Not even remotely. And this isn't even close to a four star movie. What the hell were you smoking?

And it's not that Monaghan was godawful as Diane, a trucker whose son she gave away appears on her doorstep one afternoon. It's just that she was given some ridiculous things to spout and, as a character, you never really get any sense of evolution. It's darn obvious that her tough-as-nails trucker character is going to end up having a "heart of gold" in the end, but there are really no reasons for her to have gotten to that point. The character's really a failure and while it's mostly because of the way it was written, I think Monaghan also had something to do with it. I never believed that she was tough for a second...and that's a problem.

Nathan Fillion, Benjamin Bratt, and the kid Jimmy Bennett were all pretty awful as well.

There's nothing here...don't bother at all.

The RyMickey Rating: D