Mission Impossible: A Retrospective
Thursday, July 13, 2023 at 9:50AM 
Jumping from mountaintop into the silver screen, a death dive flight through alpine air, Tom Cruise crashes cinemas with another chapter in the Mission: Impossible franchise. Inspired by the hit 60s TV show, the movies have long ago severed whatever connection they might have had with their origin, transforming into what's best described as America's answer to the James Bond flicks. But that's a hollow description as different directors have brought distinct visions, and Ethan Hunt has so constantly changed that he's more fluid idea than character.
For the star at the center of it all, the Mission: Impossible pictures have been a chance to experiment with how far the human body can go as a tool for action entertainment. Near suicidal in their fervor, these Cruise vehicles celebrate cinema at its most muscular and obstinately analog, a scream into the darkening sky that keeps the CG night at bay. For a cinephile intent on re-watching all the movies before watching Dead Reckoning - Part One, the movie series is an enticing study of shifting priorities and tones. So, here we go, from the Hollywood of 1996 to our present crisis against AI, reconsidered as a man's mission to save Humanity by killing the man-made God…
