Mission: Impossible is Now Better Than James Bond

With the release of Tom Cruise’s James Bond as the best spy series in Hollywood.

When, in 1996, Brian de Palma and Tom Cruise, two of the biggest names in Hollywood at the time, chose to remake a popular television series from the 1960s for the big screen, few could have imagined that the franchise would become one of Hollywood’s most enduring properties. It’s been 22 years since Ethan Hunt accepted his mission and the film industry has changed in major ways since then. The A-List model of stardom is on the wane, CGI dominates the blockbuster medium, and expanded universe franchises rule the roost, with particular focus on high-concept genre fare like Marvel, DC and Star Wars. It seems almost unfeasible that the Mission: Impossible films would go from strength to strength, as its leading man gets older and audiences’ expectations for glossy Summer viewing increase.

Yet the Mission: Impossible series has done that and become as much a critical darling as a commercial one. To date, the first five films in the series have grossed a total of $2.7bn worldwide. From the second film onward, the aggregate scores for the film's critical response on Rotten Tomatoes and Metacritic have increased with each addition to the franchise. Currently, Fallout sits at 98% on the Tomatometer. As of the writing of this piece, Fallout is projected to James Bond.

This Page: How Mission: Impossible And Bond Have Changed
Page 2: How Rogue Nation and Fallout Are Better Than Skyfall and Spectre

Bond and Mission: Impossible Are Nothing Like They Were At The Start

Ethan Hunt hangs off a plane in Mission Impossible Rogue Nation

The James Bond franchise has a solid 34 years over Mission: Impossible, as well as nearly 20 extra films. To compare them is inherently faulty but not without merit. Bond arguably stands as the most iconic action hero in cinema, and through his various iterations, he's helped to redefine the genre again and again. 007 is the suave gentleman of impeccable breeding who likes good cocktails, fast cars, beautiful women and ruthless efficiency in his work. He's the best at what he does but is often smothered by his own vices. Every actor who has played him has put their own spin on the character, and the franchise has been smart enough to drop some of Bond's less attractive attributes over the ing years.

The Ethan Hunt films have changed a lot since their inception albeit in less drastic ways. They’ve dropped all pretenses of sticking to the original source material, a move which is for the better, and they’ve placed less emphasis on the intricacies of plotting. The first film is deeply focused on its often-labyrinthine plot, although this doesn't always pay off as the script wobbles in the details Ethan Hunt himself is also, as is befitting the protagonist, given a more rounded character arc than he would receive in later films. He's established but his narrative isn't all that exciting. The audiences care less about Ethan Hunt than they do Tom Cruise. As the franchise moved on, hiring directors like John Woo, major stunts, and that's what viewers want to see.

Both franchises have had to adapt to changing tastes or risk becoming irrelevant. The Bond series spent many years leaning into its knowing camp nature until the double-entendre names, increasingly silly gadgets and convoluted villains became too much for viewers. It happened mostly with Spectre, was released, its direction seemed like such a step back. It did not want to stray from its iconic formula.

Both Franchises Have Formula... But Is Bond's Flawed?

Ethan Hunt flies through fire on motorcycle in Mission: Impossible 2

Everyone knows what to expect from these dueling franchises. Mission: Impossible will give you death-defying stunts and Tom Cruise at his most Tom Cruise-y; James Bond will give you high-class mystery, daring action and impeccable Britishness. Bond, in that sense, is far more rooted in a cultural consciousness than Ethan Hunt, because Bond is consistently held up as a British idol in a way Hunt isn’t with Americans.

That makes it harder for the Bond franchise to stray from its formula, mostly because audiences are more strongly connected to it: you have to have the martinis – shaken, not stirred – even if that drink doesn’t make much sense as a beverage of choice in 2018; you have to have the gadgets and state-of-the-art technology, even as such things become less fantastical to everyday audiences; you have to have the Bond Girls, despite that concept being horribly outdated and at odds with modern cinema. All of these things can be changed, and they have over the years, but the urge to return to what audiences know is frequently too strong to ignore. Mission: Impossible hasn’t had to worry so much about these things, mostly because the franchise doesn’t have those kinds of iconic markers. They have the self-destructing messages and such but none of these things define the movies in quite the same way an Aston Martin and sexy woman with a sexual pun for a name defines Bond. They can afford to tinker with their formula more dramatically.

Where this franchise fares stronger than Bond is in the freedom it has with its protagonist. Ethan Hunt is a cipher more than a definable character. You watch him and know you’re just watching Tom Cruise (and he has played the role in each film for over 22 years, whereas Bond refreshes itself regularly with a new actor). While Cruise has proven himself repeatedly to be a talented actor, he has been a megastar of gigantic proportions for most of his career, and that defines him more than any character he plays. Where that would be limiting for many, Cruise has embraced it, using the franchise and the role of Ethan Hunt as a stepping stone for the kind of ambitious stunt work most actors could only dream of. By not caring all that much about the character, Cruise can do more with the films. Bond doesn’t have that luxury, for better or worse.

The problem with the Bond formula is that so much of it is rooted in ideas that simply don’t fly in 2018. The books are far more lascivious than the movies, with Bond frequently expressing racist and homophobic views, as well as drinking and smoking to levels that would send most normal people to the emergency room. Nowadays, Bond doesn’t smoke and is less heavy with the puns, but many of those traditional markers remain, the most notable being the Bond girls. There will always be gorgeous women with unusual names for Bond to seduce. They’ll typically be a decade or so younger than him (Daniel Craig has been vocal in calling the character a misogynist. Yet, for better or worse, that is his character, so how can you make that formula evolve beyond surface level changes and have it stick?

Page 2 of 2: How Rogue Nation and Fallout Are Better Than Skyfall and Spectre

Rebecca Ferguson and Tom Cruise in Mission Impossible Fallout cropped

Both Bond and Mission: Impossible Have Questioned Their Relevance

The Bond Girl problem is a solid stand-in for the issue of relevance that both franchises have faced. Audiences have far greater choice in of movie series these days and competition for the top spot remains tight. How do mere spies, regardless of their coolness, compete with Mission: Impossible and Bond keep making money, their respective studios will keep making more additions to the franchises. That can make it difficult to keep up the tension and stakes: how do you creative life-changing stories for these characters, then swing back to the status quo in the next movie?

That’s a problem both franchises have faced. Rebecca Ferguson).

Mission: Impossible had a luxury the Bond films didn’t. These are films that can strip back their components and be unconcerned about things the Bond franchise has to care about. The problem is that the Bond series hasn’t always been able to figure out how to keep moving forward. They have the option to essentially reboot the franchise every time they change actors, which can provide a refreshing change of pace but there’s only so many times you can do that before audiences grow tired. They also can’t tinker too much with the character of Bond himself. He can show growth, but it may not always carry over to the next film. Because multiple actors have played the role, there’s a sense of disposability around the character that Ethan Hunt doesn't have. Many actors have been Bond, but Tom Cruise will always be Ethan Hunt (and they're unlikely to recast Cruise).

Mission: Impossible Knows Exactly What It Is

Tom Cruise in Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation

Bond’s identity as a character and franchise is clearer than that of Ethan Hunt, but that does not make its foundations sturdier in the long run. These movies can, will and must change, but it’s Mission: Impossible that has retained its core essence more than Bond. Here is a franchise that knows exactly what it is: a major movie star, big stunts, and high stakes the audience are free to care about should they so desire but it’s not crucial to the story. It’s not a franchise weighed down by its own history.

Tom Cruise has the kind of freedom most actors will never possess. He’s wildly famous, incredibly rich, a producer in his own right, and someone whose star power has endured for decades, both in the United States and worldwide. That means he’s essentially able to do whatever he wants with the Mission: Impossible movies, and with the franchise, he has chosen to become a patron saint of action. He does all those incredible stunts and the films go to great pains to remind you of that. While Cruise is still seen as something of a joke by many, mostly thanks to those couch jumping days, he’s seriously good as Ethan Hunt. The films serve as the sort of star vehicle Hollywood doesn’t make much nowadays for its big names, as the franchise takes pride of importance over the actor. Henry Cavill may be Superman but even he plays second fiddle to Tom Cruise.

In that sense, Mission: Impossible feels like a franchise from a bygone era. This is blockbuster filmmaking where spectacle and star power are key, far more than the universe they inhabit. The Hollywood magic is evident, but the action feels impeccably real. Audiences’ tastes may change but there will always be a very large demographic who wants to see some old-school action scenes where there’s an actual person riding that motorcycle or hanging from the tallest building in the world.

Daniel Craig will soon reprise his role in where the franchise will take Craig and Bond and how they can continue on in this new age of cinema. There will always be a place at the table for James Bond but it’s Ethan Hunt who has carved a path forward through fine-tuning the formula and understanding so keenly what audiences want. One can only hope that Bond can keep up with the frantic pace Mission: Impossible has set for the genre.