A nice little video essay that I ran across. Apparently it was split into two over some copyright bullshit.
Part I: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SXdYsoQcfj8
Part II: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FZVxuZpOmUE
MI:1 one of my favourite movies from the 90s. It has aged impeccably, De Palma was such a stylish director. I saw this in my feed on YT but didn't click, I will have a watch now though. ;)
shareI rewatched the first film a few days ago. It's interesting to compare it to the later entries. I won't go so far as to say that it's like they're from two different franchises but there's definitely a difference. The first film certainly had more of a unique sense of style and was less action-focused than everything that came after it.
share^This.
It had style and substance, it was the beginning of a franchise done right.
DePalma did a fine job with it and I think he was trying to make the film reminiscent of spy stories from previous eras, perhaps because of the M:I pedigree. (I never saw the show so I can't speak to that.) Because of the locations and sets, much of the film has a kind of old world essence to it.
It also felt much more focused on spycraft than later films. There's a lot more sneaking around and subterfuge than there is action and stunts.
100%. Its a spy film through and through. The guy in the video mentioned the fact that a gun is not even fired once in the whole film, which is something you don't expect in an action film franchise.
shareInteresting. I definitely never noticed that there are no guns fired. That actually seems kind of unbelievable.
M:I was a film that, when I saw it in the theater as a teenager, I was a little disappointed in it precisely because of the lack of action. But now as a middle-aged adult, I appreciate it a lot more. I feel confident saying the first and fifth films are the best in the franchise.
I heard that DePalma was given an offer to come back for the sequel but he declined. Rumor has it that he and Cruise didn't get along on set. It would be interesting to know what an M:I II from DePalma would look like instead of what we got from Woo.
I too saw it in theatres as a 12 year old, I actually didn't mind it but my opinion on it definitely got better after having watched it again some 20 years later. I agree too that Rogue Nation is probably the best of the rest.
shareIt's comparable to Alien and Aliens, I feel.
Alien is the slower, more gritty, more grounded original and a masterpiece in its own right, Aliens is the prequel that dials it up while still staying true to the source material.