Mission: Impossible III (2006)

SPOILER ALERT: The death of one character early on in the film is discussed.

After getting such directors as John Woo and Brian DePalma, the Mission: Impossible franchise has some weight behind it even if it has only been mediocre at best. So who do you pass the torch onto? If there’s one thing Hollywood loves more than milking name recognition it’s sticking some exciting new guy behind the camera. Enter J.J. Abrams, the creator of Alias. As much as I love some of Abrams work, I have to say he really surprised me here. I thought whoever came after Woo’s colossal mess would find it hard to follow up to but Abrams far surpasses him by making the most confusing and incoherent installment yet.

Mission: Impossible II (2000)

It’s rare that I watch a movie and wonder how it ever got off the ground but with Mission: Impossible II I had a hard time believing that such a crappy script could make it to screen. Just like good writing can make a mediocre film worth recommending bad writing can take that same film and cast it into the realm of utter crap. Granted, John Woo saves the film from falling too far back into the pit of disaster but there’s no denying this is two poor hours of action tied together by thin plotting.

Mission: Impossible (1996)

Back in the day people didn’t go for this whole hyper-realism action stuff. They wanted sleek and sexy action films with James Bond gadgets and the likes. Realism was for real life and the war pictures, the action genre was that place of gadgets, guns and the likes. Mission: Impossible serves to that desire but I’m not sure how it became so popular, I’m not sure what made this so different and fresh and I’m really not sure why I keep watching this film.

District B13 (2006)

Say what you will about the French, they know how the craft a flamboyant action film. Or, at least, a certain Frenchman named Luc Besson knows how to craft a flamboyant action flick. He directed such stylized flicks as The Professional and The Fifth Element, decidedly human pictures despite all their action sequences. This time Besson is sticking strictly to the pen, writing the screenplay of District B13, a film similar in style to his own but perhaps not as human as his other efforts.

Hard Target (1993)

John Woo’s first American picture shows a distinct shift in the director’s work. While his films will contain his distinct style and excessive slow motion, his American films are much tamer than his Hong Kong pictures. In many ways one begins to see Woo’s assimilation into the Hollywood mentality as the heroes become more idealized, the line between good and evil is straightforward and the violence is tamed back.

Hard Boiled (1993)

Moving on now to some more serious John Woo, Hard Boiled is perhaps John Woo’s most well known film, or at least the film he is most well known for. The crime drama starring Hong Kong’s action poster boy, Chow Yun-Fat, serves as another vehicle for excessive slow motion and an ocean of bullets, shells and grenades. But there’s a bit of subtly at work here, something beyond all the shootouts.

Once a Thief (1991)

The Killer is the John Woo film I should be starting with but seeing as I’m unable to obtain a copy we’ll start with Once a Thief, an early ‘90s feature while Woo was still working in Hong Kong. All of Woo’s films are ridiculous, sometimes it’s the action, sometimes it’s the camerawork but sometimes the film is trying to be silly. In some ways Once a Thief seems to be Woo poking fun at himself in other ways it’s more of the Woo madness.

Cliffhanger (1993)

Sylvester Stallone stands as one of the great action actors of Hollywood and while he’s seen some solid films he’s also waded in some mediocrity. Such greats often get an entire film built around their stardom instead of actually being any good. Cliffhanger is such a film, desperately clinging to Stallone’s star power instead of structuring anything beneath him.

Snatch (2001)

After making Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, Guy Ritchie returns to give us another helping of flashy filmmaking and exaggerated characters. It’s a tale of diamonds, boxing guns and dags. You know, dags. Short little things with wet noses, run around, bite stuff, swallow squeaky toys whole. Don’t speak Irish? I’m talking about dogs. And speaking of dogs, can Ritchie prove himself one of the top dogs when it comes to stylistic filmmaking or is he simply left amidst the crap?

Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (1999)

Most action movies, as strange as it may sound, are rather restrained in their violence. Sure, there are brawls, broads and bullets but to a great degree the action is grounded in some kind of reality, mainly through the narrative logic. Director Guy Ritchie can’t be bothered with reality, logic or even time itself. If he’s gonna go about making an action sequence it’s going to be crazy, silly, over the top and utterly awesome.