Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning and Captain America: Brave New World

A pair of action movies!

Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning

With the world facing a new threat Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise, still in good running form) is deployed again to do the impossible... defeat AI? Yep. Decent humor and action scenes (except one sword / knife fight with too much slash grappling instead of stabbing) can be found here, and an alright story to boot. I'm glad they dialed down the "this is what we hope will happen" scenes this time around and all up I do think its a stronger story than the previous one, but while it has all the necessary story arcs it certainly is still a "Part I", as it clearly warns in the title sequence. :P

Captain America: Brave New World

With the world powers in a race to claim the resources (adamantium, said to be better than the Wakandan's vibranium) from the newly risen Celestial Island (from the Eternals), new-ish Captain America Sam Wilson (played by Anthony Mackie) becomes tangled in a plot to try keep the peace. Much like the audience he's very self aware that he's not a super soldier, and humorously that Ant-Man kicked his butt that one time. Despite having improved shielding thanks to Wakandan tech his survival in this movie is more dependent on his plot armor and reliance on bad guys missing completely or definitely hitting the center of his shield with bullets. Better than I thought it would be, but still only recommended if you are an Anthony Mackie fan.

Mission Impossible: Fallout

Getting hit by lightning is nothing!

Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) is tasked in stopping a nuclear threat and assembles a team of familiar faces to do so. His plot armor has also grown thicker in this movie as things go his way through sheer dumb luck, especially towards the finale.

The cast do a good job though, as do all the stuntmen in the extended vehicle scenes and hand to hand combat near the start. Props to Tom for all that sprint training too!

He's really good at running!

The movie has a lot of gotcha moments which are both cool and annoying, having a penchant of showing 5 minutes chunks of events that don't actually happen.

Being the sixth in the franchise, it's obviously a good idea to watch the predecessors, and while its not one I'll actively seek to watch again, I suppose I will if nothing else is on. Definitely only for action and or MI fans, I give this 3 rubber masks out of 5.

Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation

Because Logic loses to Entertainment!

Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) is back with to fight "the Syndicate", an evil version of the IMF (Impossible Mission Force) just as the CIA manages to disbands the good IMF due to their unsanctioned methods. Why? Because a fully powered IMF would make this story redundant. It's also the reason why Ethan is usually cut off from their support at the start of each movie (this is the fifth installment).

While the action is great and manages to show off Rebecca Ferguson's legs at every opportunity, the plot is only "ok" for me. The first problem is the bad guy. While I do quite like how he gets his comeuppance at the end (because its a Mission Impossible movie), his entire end game and the whole reason he picks a fight with Ethan is... stupid. I thought this guy was resourceful?

It's to stabilize the rifle. *cough*

Second, the security system of the place Ethan has to break into (because its a Mission Impossible movie) is ridiculous. Can you imagine trying to maintain it? Idiotic design in that one, but definitely entertaining movie wise. Why there was a time limit on Simon Pegg's part was also dumb: he could have easily waited for Ethan to finish first but hey... its a Mission Impossible movie!

The most glaring problem for me though is Ethan's ridiculous level of plot armor. After all the previous movies where normal men would have already perished this one just ups it to eleven and goes over the line of unbelievable to totally BS. Still an OK movie to watch for action buffs I guess. All up I give it three stunts out of five, and yes I would watch it again.