With Mission: Impossible Fallout on it’s way to theaters this week, I began watching/rewatching the entire series a few weeks ago. I am a huge fan of the series, but I had a take it or leave it attitude with John Woo’s Mission: Impossible II. The first film felt like a movie length version of the original series, and I liked that. It was familiar territory, but bigger. The sequel had a much different feel. It was a different animal. The stunts were bigger, the IMF was darker and the movie itself is very John Woo. None of these are bad things, but it felt very foreign to me at the time and left me uncertain about how the movie fit in that world. 

Fast forward to summer 2018 and I am watching this movie with different eyes. I see the world much differently than I did 17 years ago and something about the movie clicked. The is the one that began the big stunts the series is known for and it firmly establishes itself as being different from it’s predecessor. Ethan Hunt is not a good soldier and sees the IMF for what it is. He is loyal, but knows that his masters do not have his best interests at heart. Add to that an engaging villain and a nagging feeling that this shadow war may be actually playing out while we watch prime time television and you have a movie that has gone from simply “OK” to a definitely rewatchable film.