From: arthur@alum.calberkeley.org   
      
   On 2/5/2026 12:29 PM, Ian J. Ball wrote:   
   > On 2/5/26 9:21 AM, The True Melissa wrote:   
   >   
   >> What did everyone else watch?   
   >   
   > I finally got around to watching "Mission Impossible: The Final   
   > Reckoning" on the Pee+. On balance, it didn't really work for me. I did   
   > like Esai Morales chewing the scenery as the EVOL!! baddie. And there   
   > were some amazing stunts in this (though the planes sequence probably   
   > goes on too long). I also liked a few of the callbacks to the earlier   
   > films (though there weren't enough of those), esp. the minor character   
   > they pulled from the first film to make a major supporting character   
   > here. But I think they really needed to kill Ethan Hunt off at the end   
   > of this one, and didn't, so the "open-ended" ending really didn't work   
   > for me - this is the film they really should have used to completely   
   > wrap up the "Ethan Hunt arc".   
   >   
      
   I liked Final Reckoning.  The submarine and plane sequences were worth   
   the price of admission.  And I also liked the unexpected character   
   callback.  That being said, the movie definitely had issues!  It was   
   pretty obvious they reshot and recut the film creating weird character   
   beats as a result.   
      
   > I guess I've mostly enjoyed this franchise (though I still think "II"   
   > was a massive dog!). But my favorite is still "Ghost Protocol" ("IV"?),   
   > and all the ones after that seemed to generally decline from there,   
   > especially as they kept getting rid of some of the franchise's better   
   > cast members.   
   >   
   > So, in the end, "Final Reckoning", which also took itself too seriously   
   > (on top of its ridiculous AI-takes-over-the-world premise!), left me   
   > mostly "blah".   
   >   
   > I also watched some DOOL, but it's not worth recapping.   
   >   
   >   
      
   I'll try to do a multi-day catch up later.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)