The Ever-Changing Hero of Mission Impossible
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- Опубліковано 3 чер 2024
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Video Chapters:
Who is Ethan Hunt? - 00:00
Sponsor - 01:59
The Many Faces of Ethan Hunt - 03:10
Actions Speak Loudest - 13:23
The Very Last Second - 27:46
The Sound of Silence - 38:43
Credits - 44:42
Footage Used From:
Mission: Impossible
Mission: Impossible 2
Mission: Impossible 3
Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol
Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation
Mission: Impossible - Fallout
Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One
Batman Begins
Casino Royale
The Bourne Supremacy
Baby Driver
Creed
Wolf Children - Розваги
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Engagement Question: What's your favorite Mission Impossible set piece? I told you two of mine in the video, but there's also the opera sequence in Rogue Nation, the iconic Langley infiltration in the first movie, the bridge sequence in 3. Mission Impossible is full of incredible set pieces.
And as always, thank you so much for watching! I hope it meant something to you.
He's no Roger Moore.
" I will always value your life more than my own"
" You don't even know me"
"What difference does that make?"
Ethan Hunt
I LOVE how after all the drama and huge climax Fallout ends up with:
"-So? How close were we?
-The usual." (the last second) *enter credits and MI theme*
At the end, this saga is about a group of friends having the craziest adventures doing what they love.
What? They don't love it though? They do the job because it's necessary. It literally tore apart Ethan's marriage.
@@dxcSOUL Ghost protocol ends with them having a beer, and Fallout ends with all of them laughing about it so I'd say they are adrenaline addicts just like Tom in real life.
Remarkable thing about Ghost Protocol is that…EVERYTHING GOES WRONG! Everyone screws just about Everything up and the world comes THIS close to ending until they finally get a lucky break at the last possible second…And yet it’s still a fantastic movie!😊
I remember telling my partner my head was hurting almost every 10 minutes because something else went wrong and it was stressing me out 🤣🤣🤣🤣 such am awesome ending though!
While I agree that Ghost Protocol masterfully combined Ethan’s personality from MI1-3, I do think MI3 deserves more credit. It’s pretty much the film that soft rebooted the franchise to the point where you could start from MI3 and act like it’s the first film. It gave the franchise newly defined tension and momentum. Ethan’s humanity, friends, and personality carry over into the rest of the films onward. I agree that Ghost Protocol refined these things before moving onto the McQuarrie saga, but I wouldn’t exactly call MI3 “safe”.
Do you think that Ethan's desire not to lose any of his friends stems from the first movie, where he lost the entire team?
Agreed. MI3 was damn good imo. Having said that MI1 was amazing. MI2 was the only one I actually didn't like. Dead Reckoning Pt1 didn't do it for me but it was still okay-ish.
@@lloydharris8766dead reckoning had good sequences. Like I loved the Venice scenes but I think fallout is just too good to top
"..Rebecca Ferguson being the best damn thing to happen to this franchise..."
Yes. Yes. Yes. I love their cat-and-mouse, emotionally grounded, ultimately collegiate, professional relationship, and she plays SUCH a believable badass. Love the character, how she pulls it off 100%, and how she totally elevates the franchise.
But her fate in DR Part 1…
The antagonist in Dead Reckoning being a damn near all knowing AI is the perfect (assumably) finale to truly test Ethan’s core principle. Luther says so explicitly.
When it was fully revealed in the club scene, I was hooked. It’s not an extremely dangerous man (the anti-Ethan Hunt, Solomon Lane) heading a rogue nation, but rather a rogue AI.
Ethan Hunt is one of my favorite action heroes. His character from 4-6 has been handled incredibly well, with Fallout especially being a character study about him & the choices he makes. I'm really excited to see how his story concludes with Dead Reckoning. And obviously great video!
Fallout is not that much of a character study about him. Just him being his usual self.
@@spacemann1425 That's obvious there's much more depth to him & what he does. It's not Logan but it's pretty good imo
@@spacemann1425agree….but I think this is part of what makes these films so enjoyable. It’s not an in depth study of a man. Just enough character development to move the plot along.
Need more movies like this please
It's good that they humanise him, but honestly I think it's pretty one-dimensional. Ethan cares about the individual person as much as, and sometimes more than, the many, and that influences the decisions he makes - and that's about it.
It feels like a plot device as much as anything else.
3-6
McQuarrie is the key. Not only did he write Usual Suspects, he re-wrote Ghost Protocol and has helmed the franchise since. Bravo
Ethan's philosophy was best summarised by himself in Dead Reckoning, Part 1: "Your life will always matter more to me than my own."
It's his greatest strength but also sadly one of his greatest weaknesses because he has seen so many people that matter to him die.
God, I love that line. It truly says everything about the person Ethan Hunt.
It's very hard to get that from a character who's actually perfectly fine with, ahem, "banishing people to the shadow realm" as it were, so long as they're a "villain" or one of their goons. Extremely inconsistent and hypocritical. However, if you have a character such as, for example, Batman say that then it actually WOULDN'T be inconsistent or hypocritical.
@@DavidRYates-tk2tq No, not at all. Ethan has always been the guy who tries to keep bloodshed at a minimum and the loss of his teammates in MI 1 was his defining moment of him always devoted to saving lives
The Dubai setpiece perfectly embodies the magic of Ghost Protocol: everything goes wrong. Throughout the entire film, roadblocks keep popping up and forcing the characters to improvise. The gloves glitch, Ethan slams his head into the window, the mask maker burns out, the fake wall projector malfunctions, the villains notice the fake contact lenses, etc. I love when heroes aren’t able to use their usual toys and have to adapt to the situation (Iron Man 3 does this too).
MI3 was my fave in the series until Fallout, it gave almost every action a certain scary weight. That first scene with Hoffman counting down still gets my anxiety up. I loved how dire things felt even if the world-ending threat wasn’t the forefront. I get how it can feel “safe” or “basic” especially when competing with Casino Royals and the Bourne movies, but it piqued my interest in how the writing of the series would progress and it’s why I stayed with the series so far.
Yes, and sometimes the best movies are the ones where the stakes are more personal and not as world ending. I also think there's mystery built into the mcguffin the rabbits foot, which makes the movie an even better thriller.
both are bad movies
@@madhousenetwork7765 you're a bad movie
I completely agree and think MI3 has aged nicely compared to recent action films or even its competition at the time. The personal stakes, as well as the mcguffin, help its last power.
I knew from the opening scene with PSH that MI3 was different. I was like "Who is this actor? He's terrifying." When I heard he died of heroin overdose, it all made sense. That guy lived his life like a mad man, to the extreme. I'll never forget that moment in the opening of that film.
@26:00 isn't it established earlier that one of Hunt's talents is a photographic memory? He even drew a picture of Solomon Lane so accurate Luther was able to figure out who it was with a face scan! Still a good essay. I'm probably not the first to mention this.
The fact that you can get me to start tearing up during a video about the Mission Impossible series continues to show the depth of your writings’ ability to strike the emotional core of whatever you’re working on. As always, thank you for writing another beautiful analysis!😊😊
I was just thinking the same (:
It's always a good day when StoryStreet uploads
Agreed.
Yes!!!
Amen!
It used to be that Mission Impossible was always that more secondary action franchise, having been uneven at best. Now, the films have become my favorite espionage and action films, with Tom Cruise being my favorite actor, not just for the stunts he performs but also at the age he performs them at. Hes a huge inspiration to always keep trying, even at the age of 62!
When you think about how Bond getting old was such a huge plot point in Skyfall, when Craig was 44 years old, its astounding to think that Cruise has never made that an issue and is doing practical stunts that no James Bond movie has attempted.
Ethan Hunt is the true James Bond of the US. There's no action hero as iconic and as humane as Ethan. All we need is another 50 years of Mission Impossibles. Maybe Tom Cruise wont be with us, but maybe Ethan Hunt will be.
All we can do is hope
James bond is not an action hero unless you put him in quantum of solace which was terrible.. the moment you make james bond an action hero he will drift away with all his usual charm and what makes him james bond. To continue love james bond it's important not to turn him into an action hero and let him do the smooth pacing, wine and dine, sneaking, dominant villains which is all the trademark of james bond spy not action hero let him be a spy.
@@utkarshkumar4990 so, Ilsa is more James Bond type of character.
Well technically Jack Ryan is the James Bond of US. Ethan Hunt, is just Ethan Hunt.
@@utkarshkumar4990James Bond is most definitely an action hero. Sure he is all about charm and luxury, but all about action, excitement and danger too. He's literally a man of action, a man who lives on the edge. The danger around him is what makes him so attractive. The highest grossing Bond movies have been the action packed ones. Adjusted or not adjusted for inflation. Sure it started out much more subtle, but with The Living Daylights(1987) the franchise was finally catapulted into high octane action. And it left everything slow about it behind.
@@utkarshkumar4990 also James Bond is not a spy. He's known as a spy but really he's not that good of a spy. Ethan Hunt, in fact, is better as a spy than James Bond. Bond is more of an operative and an assassin(hence the double-O, the licence to kill).
Just returned from the theater after watching MI:7. While watching the movie, I had an insight: The choices we REPEAT make us who we are. That idea made the movie resonate even more with me and I think it encapsulates Ethan as a character and make him so humanly relatable to us.
I follow your work since the Spider-Man's and sincerity video. This one is great, as always.
Much love from Portugal.
I love that we both came to the same conclusion. It occurred to me a few days ago to think about why Fallout is so good, and I was waiting for you or someone to make a video like this. Then I found myself thinking about how he put the world in danger to save Luther, and then how he risked his life and the mission to save that female police officer, proving that he’s not just willing to save his best friend, but anyone in harm’s way. That’s Ethan Hunt.
Mission Impossible III is criminally underrated.
WOW..
I got here expecting a simple "Ethan has changed across movies" commentary, only to find one of the most inspiring things I've heard as of late. Huge respect man 👏🏻👏🏻
Yep, very inteligent video
I'll grant the video this: it has a more convincing argument for SOME consistency in characterization than Patrick Willems saying Ethan is the public perception of Tom Cruise.
27:52 Fallout is probably one of the greatest action of the last decade, if not of all time. The story, action and the characters from start to finish is a masterpiece in expert storytelling and scene crafting.
Greatest Action Film of ALL Time. Period. And that's a hard feat, considering we have the John Wick series getting better and better with each new entry, and the EXTRACTION films on Netflix.
@@dustinhogle3844 I mean you have Aliens, Terminator 2, etc
@@tashrif46 Great movies. Sequels better than their originals. But not even on the level of FALLOUT, John Wick 4, or Extraction.
@@dustinhogle3844 I dont agree with that. Terminator 2 especially rivals any action movie ever.
@@tashrif46 Good for you. Like I said; T2, great movie. Better than its predecessor. But nowhere near on the level of M:I6, John Wick 2 and 4, or the first EXTRACTION film. Especially after Arnold embarrassed himself, and lost all respect by over half of his fans. "Screw your freedoms, get your COVID vaccine or else". Bahahahaha.
Fun fact: I put this on for some background noise while I cleaned. Then about 15 minutes in,I stopped, sat down and listened to the entire thing full focus. This is a brilliant analysis. Thank you for making it.
Usually I hate video essays longer than 10 minutes, they always feel unneccesarily bloated, but when watching this video the time flew by. Thanks for not wasting my time.
Ethan Hunt is an incredible example of great characterization. When we were introduced to him in the first movie, he possessed certain personality traits that were carried throughout the following movies. His selflessness, intelligence, and charm are defining character traits. However these traits weren't overwhelming. In many franchises we see that a characters most memorable characteristics are overused through each movie untill they are simply dumbed down to those traits. This isn't the case for Ethan. His selflessness didn't turn into blind devotion, his intelligence didn't turn him into a know-it-all, and his charm wasn't turned into a blatant womanizer. There may some exceptions throughout the franchise however, I find his character to be refreshingly consistent and detailed. I think this is why he's stayed so iconic throughout the years (bu it also doesn't hurt that he's also played by Tom Cruise). Thats it. Thank you for coming to my Ted Talk. Great video as always.
What's so cool about The Vinyl Offer scene is that it is also a throwback to the TV series. Cruise has never forgotten the source material even as the franchise turned more into an action series than espionage.
To say I loved this video is an understatement. Everything about this video is filmed to perfection, and precisely narrows down everything it needs to convey. No other form of media has been able to directly show the level of distinctiveness between Ethan Hunt's humanity and overall persona. The metaphorical statements throughout the video scream absolute beauty to my ears. The idea of identity being identified not by words, but by silence, is one of the most fascinating concepts I've had the opportunity to appreciate and think about when it comes to humanity and its flaws. One thing I adore about Ethan Hunt (among the many others) is just how humane he is in a way that can be perceived as someone with a lack of human emotion to someone who is overly emotional, only he's learned how to suppress the emotions and hide them from others due to his work in the field. He's someone who's understood the risks of showing his true self, yet he somehow always fails to follow through. He always manages to reveal who he truly is, and that's why he fails so much in this franchise. Ethan may lose many battles, but through seemingly impossible measures he's always won the war. He is a character defined not only by the directors, but by the audience themselves. Making him a very distinctive character throughout all of television. This video perfectly explains everything and goes into such great lengths of detail to provide you with the most informative piece of work that best describes Ethan and how his humane qualities affect his work, friendship, and lives of others.
Thank you so much for posting this. Greatly enjoyed it! 46 minutes has never gone by as quick.
This channel feels like my favorite coffee shop that nobody has discovered yet. It’s a damn crime that you don’t have more subs. Glad to see you had a sponsor though. Hopefully you’re being compensated properly for this amazing videos.
I’ve never seen a mission impossible movie before but you found a way for me to care about the whole series. Exceptional work and I can’t wait to witness your journey on UA-cam.
Totally agree about Ilsa Faust being the best thing about the franchise so far and easily the most interesting character introduced, in part because of how well she is written and utilized but crucially because of how well Ferguson capitalises on the material - her naturalistic performance is so intuitive that her character feels the most real out of the IMF team and Ferguson chooses to maintain a strong sense of mystery for Faust throughout the last 3 movies that always makes the character so intriguing to watch.
MI3 is the best in the franchise and the most important to lay its foundations...
Even mentioning other films starts massively from there
Fallout is the most philosophical movie, with its (serious and wise...."please dont make me laugh.... even if my name is Tom Cruise!") assumption that the impossible mission is... living itself
Absolutely BRILLIANT video, man. Everything you said rings true. Especially what you said about Fallout. I felt the exact same way about it that you did. I just couldn't quite figure out why I liked it. You gave words to my feelings. Thank you very much :)
It ain't over until it is over.
I was enjoying your discussion of the world outside MI3 when it was released (Batman Begins, Casino Royale, Bourne). You forgot to include in your analysis the world of Tom Cruise when MI3 was released -- this was the couch-jumping Tom Cruise of the mid-00s, the one who knocked-up and married Katie Holmes (Michelle Monaghan, who played Julia, looked a lot like Katie), the one who was having a public relations meltdown. If the movie felt like it was having an identity crisis, it was because the star was having one too.
I actually think it's the most focused in the entire series.
What's wrong jumping on a couch? im not american
Everything is a parallel to Tom Cruise's career.
MI1 - He was this hot shot actor who was doing a lot of thriller flicks.
MI2 - He was an action hero movie star
MI3 - His personal life was in spotlight, with a new wife and lots of discussion about his personal stuff
MI4/5/6/7 - He is considered a crazy actor but so focused and committed to his craft and movies that you can't do nothing but respect him
I love the character’s internal conflict and have that externalized by the situations, events, or the other characters
This is an amazingly put together movie. I remember reading a review of Ghost Protocol from someone who said after 4 movies, they still didn't know who Ethan Hunt was, a comment that didn't affect my enjoyment of the series, but I kept it in the back of my mind. When I saw Rogue Nation, it finally clicked: Ethan is an analyst. He's someone who considers every possible outcome, every conceivable way, to save everyone he can. But in analyzing the entire franchise at the time, I realized that had always been the case. It just took an incredibly talented screenwriter/director to finally tie all those layers together and bring the audience with him to say, 'You see? That's Ethan Hunt. That's this character!'
I also like what you said about how if you aren't always able to articulate what you feel towards something, that means it's not there. But that's never true. Feelings are there, and sometimes they are more powerful than an thought could ever be. You put it very eloquently.
Thanks for your video.
Always loved the 1st and 3rd. I like to imagine that these are pretty much the “beginning” (when he’s only a couple years into his career) and when he’s trying to wrap things up. He’s shown in the third to be mentoring what is effectively his replacement, getting married, and then everything just goes wrong. The 4th movie is made even better because they “tried” to pull him out
I love that ya'll giving Ghost Protocol its well deserved flowers. ♥
When I saved this video I was not at all expecting it to be this heartfelt and deep.
36:09 this is such an excellent retelling.. esp after not having seen this in forever. I was like 😮😳😱😰😰😰🥳
THIS VIDEO IS SO GOOD!!! I recently binged all these movies in a very short time frame bcuz both of my siblings were huge fans and we were gonna go watch Dead Reckoning, leaving me 4 days to complete these six movies. While I'm not a huge action fan, I still loved Ghost Protocol and Fallout the most (even Dead Reckoning is up there now), but I didn't truly get to appreciate the movies as I was watching them on my tiny laptop screen. This video makes me realize the appeal of this franchise, even though I don't connect to it all that much as I do with other genres/movies.
Also I love your explanations and ur Spider-Man PS4 video is my fav
Twitchy Ethan in the first film is awesome. He's never fully in control of the situation, always playing the odds (which is carried through most of the movies) but the difference is how vulnerable Ethan is the entire time.
One of the best video essays I've ever had the privilege of watching. A masterclass in analysis and editing.
Dude great video. And thanks for not getting tacky about hating MI2 like so many others, and showing it is integral to his character. Like I always saw it as he’s now the head but he can’t really trust anyone or get attached to a team (other than Luther)
I think a lot of the hate for Mi:2 is hipster backlash against John Woo. He was a cinephile darling when he was doing Hong Kong action movies, but once he came to the states and started doing big budget movies, he wasn’t their special little secret anymore. He had gone mainstream. Combine that and the backlash against nu Metal and Metallica’s Napster dust up over “I Disappear,” and Mi:2 gets a lot of hate it doesn’t deserve.
@@bobcobb3654 I don't hate the film, but I certainly think it's the franchise's weakest link. Every MI I watched till now got me hooked and intrigued until the very last second, apart from MI:2. There was a certain corniness and overdramatic shots that I couldn't get into (I watched from MI:3 till Fallout before, then watched the first 2 just last year for the first time). That watching order probably didn't help my case, cos I wanted to like it as I know about Woo and don't dislike his other films. With that said though, this was certainly the Woo-iest film, and the weakest MI film for me
Fallout isn't the first dream sequence. There was one in the first film where Jim comes to Ethan, bloodied and blaming him, after the operation goes wrong and he's fallen asleep mid-work.
The way they changed the protagonist of the show to be the villain of the first movie in that film was honestly genius. And how they played it around the theme of cold war, with Jim Phelps still being able to knock tf out of Ethan with one punch because he is, well, THE Jim Phelps of the Mission Impossible show, and the only reason Ethan wins is by sheer luck. The same luck he'll continue to have in the upcoming films.
@@spacemann1425Disrespecting the original series is not genius
@@jesseowenvillamor6348 I don't see how it was "disrespect" . It was just great character transformation. Jim Phelps turned bad, and with great writing to support his transformation, but he was every bit as cool, tough and awesome. Which is why the film was such a great adaptation.
@@spacemann1425 No. Jim Phelps was never a villain. Period.
@@jesseowenvillamor6348 he wasn't but he became one
mission impossible 3 is my favourite so it doesn't matter james bond came out that year or bourne identity came out the year prior, it is still the best out of all of them imo, batman is kind of its own thing but I get the relevance in why you brought it up
I just want to say
I heard so many essays in my life (cause I like to).....But I never find a person with such an understanding of what a story is and such talent for telling essays as you. Listening to you is an honor. Keep doing what you do cause you're really good at it.
Paramount must join your highest tier.
Ethan Hunt never felt like an iconic character to me like James Bond, or even Jason Bourne. What you did was magical - to really make me care, feel inspired about this character, through a video essay no less. I just love your final conclusion when you talk about how you couldn't put this feeling into words. Made me realize these emotions can't be put into words because they run so deep, it takes deep contemplation like this essay to understand it fully.
Anyways, I will definitely watch more of your videos. Amazing work.
Mission Impossible recently became my favorite action franchise, and this video greatly captures why that is. For me I feel like Mission Impossible is great in that it puts Ethan into a variety of exciting situations and locales, which puts it so nicely into the adventure genre that I always feel is lacking. I don't want action movies that are just gritty or violent. I want that cheesy feeling that anything is possible.
I always just love the few scenes in the first movie where they forgot to remove the blue screen in the back.
This is such a terrific, well-researched video. Great work and even greater insights here.
I can't agree more! I love how you include not only the narrative of a particular film, but also the arch amongst all those on the series and even a context of other movies of their time. I'm a big fan of MI, and I think that this essay explains why in a way that I wouldn't be able to get into words. Great work!
You explained and conveyed this so well that I’m not sure there are words to express how well put this is
This was a wonderful synopsis! Thanks for putting the effort in.
What an extraordinary video about a complex, multifaceted character. Love your genius in tying it all together. Thank you for this enjoyable exploration.
This video is perfectly written and paced, great job!
This is such an exceptional video. Truly incredible analysis and editing. You’re bang on with your observations, this puts into words why Ethan Hunt is one of my favourite protagonists of all time. Thanks for this
Wow. Honestly one of the best UA-cam videos I’ve ever watched.
Thank you for this. You’ve captured everything I love and made me realise so much that I knew but hadn’t properly understood.
This is one of the best videos I’ve seen about any movie ever. Really great stuff.
This was a very thoughtful and well fleshed out evaluation. Well done sir! Well done. 👍
man, this was a very insightful, well-thought out and eloquent dissection of the series and this character. i loved it man!
Thanks for this work of love! What a nice way to roll through the whole series, I really enjoyed it!
I really love this series. It always feels new and different when watching each of these movies yet so fun.
Excellent analysis, I appreciate the insight. All the best.
Absolutely gorgeous analysis. From the bottom of my heart, thank you so much.
This essay made me cry. I recently (like the last two months) become obsessed with these movies because of a friend of mine and getting to talk about them has been some of the happiest I've felt in years. Then this essay just fucking GETS IT. It perfectly captures what I love about Ethan, while adding dimensions of analysis I hadn't even thought of. And then the entire last section is so perfect because YES THAT IS WHY THESE MOVIES MATTER TO ME. I basically never leave comments but I had to for this because it's literally exactly what I didn't know I needed from MI analysis.
I love this and I love how I relate to it. Thank you for making this video.
Honestly, the MI series is such a treat in the annals of modern action and the shapeshfting glory that is Ethan is a huge part of why it all works. You explain it better than I ever could.
Absolutely incredible video. Perfectly explains that the new movies finally figured Ethan out between all of his characters and personality traits while truly using tension and good writing to not just give us the big action scene but to also make the audience care about the mission and Ethan and his teams lives. The building scene in ghost protocol is so great showing the tension of him doing the climb while also then when you think it’s guna slow down it just brings the tension up when the meeting happens. After watching dead reckoning I would love to hear your thoughts on it.
Fantastic essay. Thank you.
That's one of the best breakdowns I've ever heard. Thank you for putting it out there
Brilliant essay!!
Hope you'll do a follow up on the last two installments.
Happy to see another video by you :)
Gg to the making of this video! Truly inspiring.
Thanks for the work!
This is one of the best videos I’ve ever seen on UA-cam. Thank you.
Long live Ethan Hunt and Mission Impossible.
Thanks for this awesome video on my favorite action franchise!
Now subscribed! 😉👍🏽
Yet another beautiful video
Remarkable video! The ending brought me to tears 😭
Your narration on uncertainty is beautiful. The best part of this video
Excellent video! I think your thesis on all the different aspects of Ethan's character being ultimately combined in Ghost Protocol is a good one. I think the evolution of Ethan's character, particularly in MI:3, can also be explained by the passage of time. The premise of MI:3 is really about what it is to get older, take stock of what's important, and making decisions about what we want out of life. A lot of Ethan's most defined character traits go back to MI:1, when he lost his team in Prague, that was a traumatic event that forever changed him. That's where his unwillingness to sacrifice lives (especially his team) comes from. It's also where that desire for normalcy comes from, don't forget how close he came to just walking away from the IMF at the end of MI:1.
Excellent video, man.
Been in-love with tom cruise and the mission impossible franchise so this video is just perfect to watch before Dead Reckoning
Fascinating character study, good work!
I also think, in my head canon, the drastic changes in his personality make some sense throughout the series based on his age / experiences.
You saw a bit of “crazy” Ethan at the start of MI1, in their meetings - the Tom Cruise look. At that time he was more of a team guy though, and not some action hero. At the end of MI1 however, he gets the first taste of that adrenaline rush… the “I should have died” feeling as he leaped from a moving train to a helicopter and blew it up, the blast carrying him back to the train. I could see that, combined with knowing he saved the world, being a major adrenaline rush for him, which leads to…
… him being more of a crazy adrenaline junky after that, which we see in MI2, in both his (newfound?) motorcycle skills and especially with the rock climbing sequence in the beginning. He knows he’s not invincible, but he feels like he is, something that young hotshots deal with. But…
… then he gets older. Wants to settle down. Meets Julia. Moves on from the field. Etc. The start of MI3 is moving on from that crazy formative life and training new agents, until he’s called back into the field and forced into it.
I could go on… but I think I’m getting my point across ok. A combination of age plus experience in each of the first three movies could largely be the cause of their being “3 completely different Ethans.”
Whereas pretty much all of them, since Ghost Protocol, I agree, he becomes more consistent. Again, age plus experience. He’s not a young hotshot anymore, as he’s getting older and his body weaker, but he can still be the “crazy” hero when he absolutely has to be. He retains the head knowledge skills going back to MI1, and his confidence in his abilities to pull off crazy stunts is next level… because he keeps surviving each time!
Beautiful video essay!
Similarly to superhero movies, the shift between MI2 (2000) and MI3 (2006) can be explained by 9/11 and Irak War. Before those pyschologically traumatic events, America was all powerful, cool and fun. After facing horror, weakness and lies, it started doubting itself. The whole culture was impacted.
I love your story telling to fully describe the riveting emotions and cinematic prowess in the MI franchise.
What a great analysis!
Great analysis!!
My god, finally someone who gets it. Excellent video.
This was very entertaining to watch thank you!
MI:III is one of my favorites and one I've watched many times. Loved the gritty realness and of course, it has the best villain
Just watched the pilot of the 60s tv series and the main protagonist went into a record shop and played his mission on a record. The original protagonist was played by Steven HIll who later went on to be the older district attorney on Law & Order in the 1990s.
I never cared for Tom Cruise, but he's now one of my favourite actors. He really is the last true movie star.
I am a fanatic of Ethan Hunt. The way he think and act in a very difficult situation and making decision is what makes me idolize him.
Very thoughtful and impressive.
awesome video as always bud
Really enjoyed this video essay on Ethan hunt and mission impossible this is my favorite action franchise
Hey Alex, unrelated to the video but just wanted to say I got hellblade recently because of your video on videogame stories and I absolutely loved it. super glad I got to experience this game for myself after hearing you speak so passionately about it.
ha what a great birthday upload... keep up the great work
Thank you for creating this. This truly captures the reason why I am a huge fan of this series and the complex character that Ethan Hunt is. I could not stop watching this, it was made in a very captivating way.
Have not thought about that Ethan Hunt is so different in the three first movies, but I saw it now. I think I have just thought of it as a natural evolution and growth from the man himself as he got older. Yes, of course, very different movies because of the directors, but as a huge Bond fan as well, I'm kind of used to that side of creating a character with a different director almost every time, but also different actors.
The movies from Rogue Nation is almost like the Bond movies in the Craig-era when the movies are a contious story. Curious if they are meant to end in the same manner. Time will tell......
one thing I do miss from tv series or mi3 is the teamwork. and I dont mean Simon yelling in front of computer or one fight here and there from Jeremy , but actual team work to get things done like in MI3 or even MI1 at the beginning.
its fun to see tom cruise and he is what makes the show but core value of MI series has always been team work
28:07 I agree the fight scenes took a major leap, the haunting score by Lorne Balfe is spine-tingling in some areas and Rebecca Ferguson steals every scene she is in, and they make her one of the best characters in the franchise.
another story street banger thank you. MIP is definitely one of if not the best action series of all time