Tag Archives: Artificial Intelligence

MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE–DEAD RECKONING PART 1 movie review

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Exhilarating! Pure, unadulterated cinema! Tom Cruise and the whole Mission Impossible team deliver what is likely the most epic movie of the year!! It’s thrilling, funny, and suspenseful from beginning to explosive ending! Part 1 is both a complete story and sets up Part 2 exceptionally well. If I am to be objective, Mission: Impossible III delivers the best story; however, audiences are still going to love this movie because feels like cinema in every measurable way. Move over James Cameron, Christopher Nolan, and yes even Martin Scorsese, for it is Tom Cruise whom knows how to deliver cinema to audiences.

Ethan Hunt (Cruise) and the IMF team must track down a terrifying new weapon that threatens all of humanity if it falls into the wrong hands. With control of the future and the fate of the world at stake, a deadly race around the globe begins. Confronted by a mysterious, all-powerful enemy, Ethan is forced to consider that nothing can matter more than the mission — not even the lives of those he cares about most.

After the massive success, both critically and financially, of Top Gun: Maverick I was curious to witness whether or not Cruise would pull off another cinematic hit. Suffice it to say, he did just that! The last remaining movie star, in the classical sense, Tom Cruise continues to deliver entertaining and thoughtful cinema. In an era overridden by form over function motion pictures (though, there is certainly a place for those stylistic films), Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning Part 1 (MI7) proves that cinema is should generally concern itself with both the form and function equally. By sticking to foundational screenwriting conventions, pairing it with sequences that make the most of every square inch of that big silver screen, the entire MI team demonstrate why cinema is not only about the art of the narrative but also in a larger-than-life experience.

The entire auditorium was electric at the screening I attended. I don’t think I felt the level of kinetic energy at the cinema since Top Gun: Maverick. It even surpassed the high-energy of the more recent The Flash. Perhaps it is the combination of classical espionage/action plotting and epic-sized set pieces and locations. While MI7 feels very much contemporary, it also never forgets its roots in both the previous MI movies or in the original TV show. Of course there are those that will overly critique the dialogue, more specifically its lack of subtext, but I argue that it is on brand with and perfectly appropriate for this genre movie. Does that mean writers and directors should simply aim for status quo? No, MI3 proved that MI movies can be exciting and full of heart, complete with characters rich with dimension. But the dialogue should not significantly impact the overall experience of this movie.

Without getting into spoilers, the mission, should you choose to accept it, is to stop the character of opposition from unleashing a destructive artificial intelligence (AI) on the world. Talk about timely social and tech commentary. The film broaches topics such as truth (subjective/interpretive truth) and truth (as in universal truth). By extension, this same idea is carried over into fact vs opinion and predictive decisions (in the vein of Minority Report). In short, the crisis that Ethan is attempting to prevent is one that would completely disrupt, retcon, and violate the very informational fabric of life. Think Skynet. While I wouldn’t characterize MI7 as being inordinately deep or thoughtful, concerning truth and AI, it does posit these questions and subjects, which provides opportunities for more discerning audiences to discuss the advantages and disadvantages of AI. More specifically, the dangers of AI falling into the wrong hands.

The set pieces and locations are cinematic in both scale and scope. From the beginning of the movie on a submarine in the Bearing Sea to the Alpine vistas of Austria, the best way to experience this motion picture is in a premium format at your local cinema. Moreover, the biggest screen with best sound possible will make the car chases and Tom Cruise’s stunts all the more outstanding! Even though we’ve all seen that stunt in which Cruise launches himself off the mountain on a motorcycle in various promotional content for this movie, watching it in the third act of the film was still so incredibly impressive!

While Cruise performing most of his own death-defying stunts is unparalleled and impressive enough, what makes these car chases and stunts even more adrenaline-pumping is the fact so little CGI is used. Tom Cruise is literally launching himself off a mountain, and he (and others) are literally driving cars through the streets of Rome. The lack of overt CGI or relying upon it to take the real danger out of the stunt sequences removes just that–the danger. These stunt sequences are all the more exciting because they are real–there is little to no simulation employed. Not to over simplify, but the dimension of real beats the flat, lifeless CGI sequences every time. Real>artificial.

And that’s precisely what we have here real cinema! On a personal note, I am so incredibly grateful for Tom Cruise keeping cinema alive! He has demonstrated through Maverick and now with MI7 that he understands what it means to craft cinematic stories for the silver screen! Before you @ me, I am fully aware that cinema takes various forms, form intimate character studies to the avant-garde, but the power of a genre movie that follows screenwriting conventions should never be devalued. Genre movies are what helped build cinema, and folkslike Tom Cruise keep them coming to entertain and thrill us.

Ryan teaches Film Studies and Screenwriting at the University of Tampa and is a member of the Critics Association of Central Florida and Indie Film Critics of America. If you like this article, check out the others and FOLLOW this blog! Interested in Ryan making a guest appearance on your podcast or contributing to your website? Send him a DM on Twitter. If you’re ever in Tampa or Orlando, feel free to catch a movie with him.

Follow him on Twitter: RLTerry1 and LetterBoxd: RLTerry

M3GAN horror movie review

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Old school plot meets 2020s world. Universal and Blumhouse’s M3GAN sets the bar high for 2023 horror movies. Solidly written, this horror movie proves that some ideas and themes are simply timeless! M3GAN can be read as a cautionary tale of the terrors of technology. Moreover, a closer reading reveals that it also concerns itself with an exploration of the responses to grief, sudden life change, and fears of parenting. While the movie takes itself seriously, the conflict and violence is done for laughs–and it certainly delivers both chilling and laughable moments! I can easily see it becoming a house at a future Halloween Horror Nights at Universal Orlando and Hollywood.

A robotics engineer at a toy company builds a life-like doll that begins to take on a life of its own. Short synopsis, but that’s pretty much it. Simple, yet effective storytelling.

From the 1930s to the 1950s, horror/sci-fi movies were often about the dangers of technology. Ultimately, it can be boiled down to fear of the unknown, but this exploration of when technology rebels against its creator is a premise that remains timeless as technology is always changing. Back in the early to mid 20th century, it was robots; and here we are in the 21st century, and it’s still robots (well, more accurately androids or AI). The possibility of intelligent robots turning on us has always stoked fear because of the loss of control. Even in Terminator and Terminator 2, we witness the attempt to wipe out humanity. I appreciate this movie’s premise and themes for taking direct inspiration from and paying homage to all the horror-scifi movies to comes before it that fall within this subgenre of horror.

M3GAN reminds me of a feature length episode of Black Mirror or The Twilight Zone. Written by Akela Cooper (writer of Malignant), the pacing and structure are lean and never lag; however, there are elements of the story (provided by James Wan) that should have been better developed. These shortcomings do not significantly impact the movie’s immense enjoyment factor. Where the film most noticeably struggles is in the direction by relatively new director Gerard Johnstone. That’s not to say that it’s poorly directed–not at all–but had the directing been stronger, the performative dimension would have benefitted. Still, I’m eager to continue to follow Johnstone as he develops as a director.

Universal and Blumhouse take the terror of a killer android and place it within a child’s toy. Again, this isn’t new, but it is a new approach to the Talkie Tina episode of The Twilight Zone or Child’s Play. Much like Black Mirror was a better Twilight Zone than Jordan Peele’s Twilight Zone remake, M3GAN may be a better Child’s Play than the remake/reboot of Child’s Play from 2019. I haven’t rewatched the Child’s Play remake since it released, so I will be careful not to presume M3GAN to be better. But my gut reaction is that I enjoyed this movie more than the quintessential killer doll legacy property.

Beneath the outside/action plot of the self-aware killer robot, are themes of grief/loss and parenting fears. After Katie loses her parents in a tragic car accident, she is placed under the guardianship of her (moderately) estranged aunt Gemma whom is an engineer for a Funko-like toy company (in the movie, the toy company is named Funki). Clearly, Katie’s aunt is uninterested in being a parent–she wasn’t even interested in being an aunt–but Katie has nowhere else to go except to her father’s weird family in Jacksonville, FL. So Gemma reluctantly becomes her guardian. Where the film is particularly fascinating, in the area of commentary on parenting in the 2020s, is Gema and Katie’s interactions (or lack thereof) with one another.

Gemma takes an analytical approach to parenting by identifying logistical problems and providing measurable solutions. When Katie doesn’t respond as anticipated, Gemma is at a loss as to what to do. Gemma lacks the empathy and emotive responses that a parent (biological or adopted) needs to exhibit when rearing a child. Gemma’s life plan was abruptly interrupted and introduced to dynamics over which she had little control. In her desire to control, she builds M3GAN as both a groundbreaking toy and as a surrogate parent-like figure in Katie’s life. Through the events of the movie, Gemma learns that there is more to being a parent than providing food, shelter, clothing, and companionship. Furthermore, this serves as a cautionary tale of parents turning child rearing and education over to technology. Without human empathy, critical thinking, and intuition, a child’s cognitive and social development may be warped.

The other area on which this horror movie provides commentary is on grief/loss. Not a new theme in horror movies, it is explored in a new way in M3GAN. Katie suffers the worst loss a child can: the death of both parents. Because of the lack of real empathy and emotive care from aunt Gemma, Katie forms an unhealthy attachment to M3GAN. Because Gemma and Katie never talk about what happened (and the therapist is pretty much useless), Katie never goes through all the stages of grief and therefore never processes (to what extent a child can) the tragedy and how to move forward. M3GAN provides that which is (and should be) provided by parents and friends, but as the events of the movie unfold, we learn just how dangerous that attachment can be for Katie and those around her.

While the writing is mostly strong (save a couple of setups that aren’t followed through in a substantive way), the direction is weak in places. Over all, fairly well directed. But the performative dimension is where the movie struggles. Even though some of the characters are more-or-less caricatures of types of people we have in our lives, there are several scenes in which the performances aren’t campy enough to be funny nor are they realistic enough to be taken more seriously. Some performances fall somewhere in the middle. Perhaps it’s a casting issue, but this is where a director needs to be strong enough to get the appropriate performance out of the actor.

For those that are so often worried about a horror movie with a PG-13 rating (a sentiment that I’ve never understood), rest assured that M3GAN is wildly entertaining and, yes, you still get some fun kills and bone-chilling scenes. That said, I imagine that there will be an unrated or R-rated release of the movie on BluRay. If this movie is an indicator of that we are to expect from 2023 horror, it may be a banner year! Only time will tell, but regardless, it is one that horror fans are sure to enjoy!

Don’t wait for M3GAN to his Peacock or Prime, if you’re a horror fan, then you want to see it on the big screen! You’re definitely in for a wild ride that will have you jumping and laughing.

Ryan teaches Film Studies and Screenwriting at the University of Tampa and is a member of the Critics Association of Central Florida and Indie Critics of America. If you like this article, check out the others and FOLLOW this blog! Interested in Ryan making a guest appearance on your podcast or contributing to your website? Send him a DM on Twitter. If you’re ever in Tampa or Orlando, feel free to catch a movie with him.

Follow him on Twitter: RLTerry1 and LetterBoxd: RLTerry