A Little Push - Thoughts on the Hollywood Machine 06.13.09

Posted by Rick Tym on 06.13.2009

Some thoughts on the Mission: Impossible franchise and its future, more news on the Whedon-less Buffy front, the rumors of disaster surrounding G.I. Joe and more as the days get hotter and the nights get longer!

Mission? Impossible. To Keep Cruise Down, That Is.

Listen, the Push is going to go out on a limb and say something that may surprise some people: Tom Cruise is a good actor. Let's ignore his couch-jumping, Xenu-woshipping, anti-antidepressant rants for a minute and concentrate on the good rather than the ugly.

For a long, long time Cruise was the go-to guy in Hollywood. This dude played everything from a fighter pilot to a Vietnam veteran to a pool shark alongside none other than "Fast Eddie" Felson—and he did it well. Early in his career he had what could be considered a dream list of roles. Maybe not every gig was Oscar worthy (although his performance in Magnolia certainly was) but who else could say they had the chance to play every character under the sun, from the Top Gun just mentioned to NASCAR driver to pool shark to sports agent? In addition to writing a weekly news report yours truly also likes to dabble in the art of fiction writing, simply because while I do hold a day job there are simply too many other things out there in the world that I'm interested in. Writing short stories and the like allows one to explore almost anything and any genre, examine any topic that inspires and, at the very least, learn something about whatever may float your boat at a particular place and time. Imagine how much fun it must be to be able to do that as an actual job, make tons of money from it and even if it's just "pretend" get to "live the life" of someone you could in all probability never really be? Sounds like a pretty sweet gig, and in order to keep the train rolling for more than two decades, you've got to be doing something right.

The Push's favorite roles inhabited by the Cruiser are the ones where he played against type like the Frank T.J. Mackey character in Magnolia or his convincing turn as a hitman in Collateral. However, there's also a little franchise in which the actor played superspy Ethan Hunt, member of an impossible mission force which started off well enough, veered into a one man show in part two and made a respectable return to form in the third installment. The Push loved every one of them, these Missions Impossible.


Physicality? Check. Drama and suspense? Check. Kick-ass CIA counter-measured chamber with sound, temperature and pressure alarms? Check, check and check.
Brian De Palma's first installment of the M:I series is often derided as being boring and convoluted. For the Push and many others, however, it was a great time at the movies that summer. The team concept was there (at least at the beginning, before the entire group was pretty much dismantled—who could forget Emilio Estevez's encounter with those elevator prongs?) and the level of espionage and action was immensely satisfying. Although the scene referenced in the picture above was undoubtedly one of the high points in the film (along with the helicopter-in-a-tunnel ending), the Push's favorite will always be the exchange between Tom Cruise and Jon Voight where Hunt pieces together what really happened to his IMF team, speaking aloud with Jim Phelps while scenes interspersed amidst the dialogue show the audience Ethan's realization of just how dastardly a man his risen-from-the-dead boss truly is. The Langley sequence and the obstacles hurdled while obtaining that NOC list was and is fantastic to be sure, but Ethan's masterful dissection of Phelps's master plan was pulled off superbly by one Mr. Tom Cruise. From that point on, Tom Cruise was Ethan Hunt.


Some say that MI:II was a prime example of why John Woo should stick to Hong Kong cinema, but the Push liked it.
Whereas De Palma's MI brought the suspense and intrigue along with the action, John Woo took a different route with the 2000 sequel. This is where the IMF train almost derailed according to some folks because it forsook the team concept and evolved (or devolved, depending on who you ask) into the Tom Cruise Ethan Hunt show. While Luther (Ving Rhames, the only actor to appear in all three movies besides Tommy boy) the computer hacker extraordinaire returned as part of the team and helicopter pilot Billy Baird (John Polson) was brought into the fold, it was mainly Cruise's Ethan Hunt versus Dougray Scott's Sean Ambrose in the battle for the super-virus Chimera and the affection of thief-tress Nyah Nordoff-Hall (Thandie Newton). Crazy motorcycle stunt work and requisite Woo usage of flying dove imagery notwithstanding, the Push enjoyed the further adventures of Ethan Hunt even if it, too, longed for the days of a team working together to achieve their goal. While the action was over the top and almost (?) unbelievable, Cruise inhabited the role sufficiently enough to make the movie enjoyable—and more importantly, to make paying customers want to see what menace the IMF agent would try to quell in the next go-around.


Run from da CHOPPA!
And what a go-around it was. J.J. Abrams, he of Lost and Alias fame, was brought on board to helm the third installment released in 2006. Sometimes the camera was shaky, sometimes the direction was a little too television-y in its framing, and of course he went to the oft-used well of "let's start the show somewhere near the end and then backtrack to get to the meat of the story," but Abrams pulled off MI:III rather successfully. Finally Ethan Hunt was given a romantic interest the audience could actually buy into, and the team concept was brought back to the forefront with every IMF member doing their part to assist the point man of the operation. The Rabbit's Foot was a great MacGuffin because sometimes you don't need every single thing spelled out for you onscreen as long as you believe in the proceedings themselves, and never before had the Push been so invested in Ethan Hunt successfully completing his mission. Hunt's interaction with his team made one believe that they would follow him straight into the fire, and his exchanges with Philip Seymour Hoffman's Owen Davian were excellent. (Speaking of excellent, Hoffman was deliciously sinister as a villain in MI:III. Here's hoping he gets to portray some more bad guys in the future. No, Doubt does not count. Too many shades of gray there.) Abrams and Cruise worked together to craft a great installment in the Mission: Impossible franchise. (The only bad part of the movie? Killing off Agent Felicity.)

Since MI:III, Tom Cruise has been largely silent on the Hollywood front, surfacing for Lions for Lambs and Valkyrie. Neither made much of a dent in terms of box office, critical notice or public consciousness. He did have a gut-busting turn as Les Grossman in Tropic Thunder (he of the sausage fingers was indeed laugh-out-loud funny) and has a number of projects listed as "in development" on IMDB, but other than that even the Scientology controversies and bad blood with Paramount have cooled off from their respective boiling points. (And really, a few ill-advised public rants aside, who really cares what religion the actor chooses to subscribe to? Lemme tell ya something, folks: there are a lot more pressing issues in the world to concern ourselves with.) After the split with Paramount he and producing partner Paula Wagner took the reins at United Artists, the studio responsible for the non-comedic films listed at the top of this paragraph. Wagner stepped down from her chief executive position at UA in August of 2008 (although she does maintain her stake in the studio) and now Tom sits atop the mountain all alone, looking upon the Hollywood kingdom in search of the next project that may propel him back to the good fortunes he once enjoyed.

Where to go, where to go? Back to the well, baby. And that's a good thing.


No, no. Like this.
J.J. Abrams, hot off the success of Star Trek, told TV Guide that he is onboard to produce the fourth Mission: Impossible film, saying, "I am incredibly honored that Tom has invited me back as a producer on ‘Mission: Impossible 4.' Tom and I have come up with a really cool idea we are pursuing." No word right now on whether he will be directing as well.

The Push really hopes that Abrams decides to direct as well as produce. The man has been nothing but stellar on the small screen and has grown immensely in only a few tries on the big one. Although I personally really like MI:III (as well as the rest of the series as indicated by the ramblings above) it was the least successful in terms of box office revenue. Still, the entire franchise is a largely profitable one and another sequel is a no-brainer. Best of all, the universe occupied by the M:I series doesn't need strict continuity, which often has the ability to hinder as much as it tries to help. Bring back Ving Rhames as Luther and Michelle Monaghan as Julia and start up another rip-roaring action espionage adventure. (Seriously. They've gotta bring back Julia in some capacity as long as she's not the damsel in distress. Otherwise the goodness of MI:III will be forever spoiled.) And bring back J.J. C'mon, Abrams! You know you want to.

As for plot, I really hope that that "really cool idea" is not an empty promise. They've done the CIA intrigue story, the killer superflu tale and the glowing briefcase (read: MacGuffin) film. What should come next? Nothing that too closely resembles the real world, that's for sure. No way does the Push want Ethan Hunt going overseas to disarm North Korean nukes or crawling through caves hunting for bin Laden (who's most likely dead and dusty by now anyway). I also don't necessarily want to see the next IMF squad following clues tied into the Rambaldi prophecy either. But you've got a bunch of great original TV show seasons to pillage, and exotic locales not yet visited (for some reason I feel like an icy set is in store for the next one; see: Trek, Star) so let's get on it, folks. I believe in J.J. Abrams as a producer and storyteller (and director…keep those fingers crossed) but more importantly, I believe in Tom Cruise as Ethan Hunt. He's given me too much enjoyment with the character to think otherwise, and the potential of MI:IV has the Push more than cautiously optimistic.

Oh No He Didn't!

Oh yes he did. A few weeks back the Push talked about plans for a Buffy the Vampire Slayer reboot/remake/re-what-the-frick-ever without any involvement from Joss Whedon, the man responsible for the good version of the concept brought to the small screen, not the other one. I was obviously not the only one decrying this idea, and Entertainment Weekly has revealed that amidst all the nay saying the new project's producers did in fact reach out to Whedon to gauge his interest in participating. His response was short but definitely not sweet: "I think that's something better left untouched by me. So I wish them luck," he told EW.


See that look of disbelief on his face?
And so A Little Push must say "kudos" to Mr. Whedon. Apparently the idea of a Willow-less, Xander-less, Spike-less, Angel-less, and everybody-else-less Buffy is just as unappetizing to him as it is to most fans. (EW ran a poll alongside this scoop where only 3% of readers said they would go see a Whedon-less BtVS.) Sure, the man is busy with season 2 of Dollhouse and post-production on Cabin in the Woods but I for one imagine the line "So I wish them luck" coming out of Whedon's mouth in a tone more appropriate for gypsy curse invocation than actual, you know, good will. The Push too curses this idea, along with all the other freakin' remakes I've read about during my hiatus. Did you know that they're going to remake Mr. Limpet? What's next, a big screen version of Three's Company?!? (Oops. Let's hope the Machine wasn't listening.)

Then word came down the pike about Megan Fox being cast in the lead role of the BtVS movie remake. At least, that's what I think the article would've said. I did not click the link for fear my brain would actually break. This is the girl who sullied the good name of Wonder Woman and you want her to be Buffy? (I don't know who "you" is; I'm just on a ranting roll here. Sorry.) The people in charge of this little shindig would be better off bringing Kristy Swanson back. I'm glad Whedon distanced himself from this mess, because I don't think any amount of prayer or mantra-repeating (you know, "oooommm") will stop this production from being anything more than a useless addition to slayer lore.

Is G.I. Joe Really That Bad?

Wow. Just, wow. While it's a rumor, it's still a doozy.

Some of you may know that producer Don Murphy has a message board out there that discusses movies and whatnot. As a caveat I should mention that I checked it out and the tagline at the top reads "Everything you read here is a lie," so keep that in mind. Earlier this week a thread was posted on the site stating that the upcoming G.I. Joe adaptation tested lower than any movie in the history of Paramount Studios at a recent screening. It was so bad, the post went on to say, that director Stephen Sommers had been fired and producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura was told his services were no longer needed in the editing room.


Marching towards their doom, perhaps?
Here where it gets murky. Word came down from on high that the film was testing positively, so the boys over at Latino Review went straight to di Bonaventura for answers. His response:

Well listen, we tested very well and I don't compare [it to the test screening numbers for TRANSFORMERS] because they are different movies, but you know I think its really destructive for a director…it hurts a guy's career when people go around talking about that he [Sommers] was fired or he didn't do a good job and truth is he did a really good job. People are going to enjoy the movie and the test audiences enjoyed the movie.

He did a very good job the movie tested well and it couldn't be more false that the studio in anyway did anything negatively to Steve.

Verrryyy interesting. Is this damage control on the part of di Bonaventura and Paramount, or something more? All I can say is we've all seen the trailers. If you're like me, you're probably a bit befuddled by those "accelerator suits" that seem to rob Joe of any and all uniqueness associated with the source material. (Cartoon and/or action figures or not, G.I. Joe rocked my childhood.) Sommers doesn't exactly have the greatest track record (think of Van Helsing) but it's a bit hard to believe that he was booted off the project at this stage of the game. Either way, the Push doesn't trust that the film is tracking all that well given the parties involved.

Will I be seeing it in the theaters? Nope; this baby has "Redbox rental" written all over it. I'll be waiting for Inglourious Basterds, or hoping that Moon is finally playing in my neck of the woods.

Outtro

The Push would like to take this opportunity to thank Ben Piper for filling in at the very last minute last week when I was called away from my duties due to a death in the family. Mr. Piper experienced great success with his version of A Little Push—over thirty comments that consisted of discussion about his article rather than trolling or a bunch of readers arguing with each other = good stuff here at 411—and will be coming to you via his own weekly column sometime soon. Ben was nice enough to include me in his Get LOST column this year and that, along with said fill-in and general email ramblings remind me of his friendship along with how great it is to write for this site. Thank you, kind sir.

I should also mention that, being a huge Spidey fan, I loved the article he wrote as well. I've been blasting off to anyone who listened for awhile now about Kraven the Hunter being a superior villain for the fourth film. That's why Ben and I get along so swimmingly; we do indeed share the same pop culture (read: comic book nerdy) sensibilities. This past week proved that even Mick Foley reads 411. (Hi, Mick! Loved your first two autobiographies; haven't read the third or your other written works. I don't watch TNA but you must be doing something right over there.) Maybe Sam Raimi got a Google alert when Ben filled in with his musings and realized that he still has the chops to bring some horror and darkness to the table in the Spider-Man franchise, for the Kraven the Hunter tale is one that definitely should be told. (Again.)


Best. Idea. Ever. You know, for the next movie.
That'll do it for this week. It feels good to be back; hopefully all you readers feel the same way. As always, thanks for tuning in. Go out and enjoy the weekend and the days beyond and at the risk of sounding too preachy, never take a moment for granted. You always think there's more life to be lived—until it's gone.

***Like A Little Push? Love 411mania.com? Then bookmark us—or better yet, make the site your homepage!***

I don't tweet, but I hear it's popular. If you're so inclined, follow 411mania at:

TWITTER

http://www.twitter.com/411mania
http://www.twitter.com/411wrestling
http://www.twitter.com/411moviestv
http://www.twitter.com/411music
http://www.twitter.com/411games
http://www.twitter.com/411mma