COOL STORY, BRO. Ha ha ha. I said bro.

The MI series is better than the Bourne series.

I like the MI series better than the Bourne series as well.

Though I do think Bourne Supremacy is up there with the MI films.

Pricks.

No, seriously, though - this is how I see it: the Bourne-movies hardly have revelatory plots or interesting villains. In fact, the M:I-villains are rarely on a strong side, but the Bourne-villains are absolute non-entities. Bourne has some well-made action sequences (chase in Tangiers, car chase in New York), but so does Mission: Impossible. Is M:I more polished? Yes, but to what extent is that a disadvantage? It is not like Bourne's crazy stunts feel like something that would realistically go down like it, even though the movies try to make you believe that.

Now I think Ultimatum is pretty damn good and the kinetic action did leave me breatless a few times. But there is absolutey no plot or real advancement - no surprise, considering the entire film is set within the confines of its own predecessor. Eerything seems kind of redundant after a while.

And then there is another thing - In like the fun tone of the M:I-films and the fact that through different directors each has its own feel, while following a similar formula. Bourne is just so somber, humorless through and through, to the point of occasionally being just dour. I can appreciate the series tone, but after 4 movies it appears as even more of the same than Rogue Nation is more of the same.

The antagonist in the Bourne series is the sense of a sinister, amorphous government conspiracy, any physical opponent only representing a part of the ungraspable whole rather than its driving force. It is one of the franchise's strong suits, I feel.

Plus, the antagonistic supporting characters do connect: the specter of Clive Owen's assassin in The Bourne Identity is 100x more intimidating than any heavy in the last two Mission: Impossibles. And Albert Finney's Mengele-esque scientist in Ultimatum is creepy and imposing in his brief screen time.

This is entirely subjective, but I prefer the "dour," The Conversation/Three Days of the Condor-type tone to Roger-Moore-era-Bond-style goofy escapism, though there is a place for both.

That is such a huge fucking range, and MI and Bourne are in no way that far apart. Bourne is especially nowhere near the leagues of The Conversation, and if MI was Roger Moore era bond, I'd hate it immensely.

It's more A-Team vs. McGyver

Yes, but the problem is that while Bourne does go for the shady government-conspiracy thriller vibe, it still features action scenes that are ridiculous and over-the-top Now Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy is the kind of film, in which the somber tone works very well.

Also, neither Finney nor Owen left any lasting impression on me. Hell, I even forgot Owen was in this.

I finally got the chance to see this today and yeah I had fun with it. However, afterwards it gave me that same irking feeling I got once GP was over and that's I wish I got something more out of it. To this day MI3 still remains my favorite movie in the franchise and that's mainly because of how great a villain PSH was on top of the satisfying action scenes. Sean Harris was good acting wise, but he wasn't very threatening and how he got caught felt way too easy IMO. The whole third act was kind of meh overall, but this franchise is in dire need of another great villain more than anything. The action sequences were very well done though, especially the opera scene and the car/bike chase with the mild exception of that crappy CGI rendering of the car flipping. The cast is mostly at the top of their game as always and I really liked the new girl aswell as Alec Baldwin's presence in the movie. It's a shame that he and Renner didn't do much besides stand in rooms talking, but I guess they had enough to work with by focusing on Cruise, Pegg, and Ferguson getting thrown into the action. Speaking of Pegg it was weird how he got pretty much reduced to being the damsel in distress throughout the movie and I honestly still don't know if it was a good or bad thing. Also, poor Ving Rhames has nothing else to do in these movies anymore besides repeating what other characters have already said or even worse delivering iffy lines of dialogue. It would have been nice if they could actually find more for him to do.

It definitely can't be running. I was seriously like Rhames is going to die running that 5 feet to get the girl and he can't get to her. LOL, that was bad. Renner and Pegg's characterizations are almost slap in the faces to them in Ghost Protocol. It's funny how terrible the CIA is yet, the Russian cop was a greater foe in the last one.

I wonder if they had limited access to Renner due to scheduling conflicts.

Yeah, not sure what happened there...you don't have an actor like Renner in your film and have him do pretty much nothing.

This is the best action film of the summer and definitely the most fun I've had with a film this year.

Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation

Cruise nails it again! The latest IMF outing is a tense, exciting, and pleasing action-spy adventure. The movie is a blast as it circulates the globe, and it never lets up. It always feels as though the foot is on the pedal and the gear stick is in fifth. Exotic destinations, tons of gadgets, subtle humour, great action set pieces, a sexy but capable femme fatale, and a very worthy villain....it's more of a James Bond movie than a James Bond movie. Loved it.

Rebecca Ferguson rocks (want to see more of her). Simon Pegg masters his role as Benji (really funny this time around). Ving Rhames is back, Renner is back, Alec Baldwin is back. And the franchise's key performer, the one that ties it all together, Tom Cruise, is back. It's as if he doesn't age. He moves like a twenty-year old stunt man. It's fantastic to watch. It has a poignant subtlety to proceedings, too, as Ethan and Ilsa play cat and mouse with each other's feelings, and there is always an undercurrent of will-they-won't-they at play (which harkens back to Mission: Impossible III where we see Hunt's personal life), which really brings about a personal connection to the character of Hunt.

Easily the best film of the year. It's just so damn easy to give praise to this franchise because each instalment is utterly breath-taking. And the opening stunt is just amazing. I also love how it kind of sets up a sixth film.

A

1. Mission: Impossible II - A
2. Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol - A
3. Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation - A
4. Mission: Impossible III - A
5. Mission: Impossible - A-

Bar the Rocky and Rambo franchises, this is my favourite franchise.

The opera sequence is very spy-ish. I was loving it. The decoy, the femme fatale, the agent, the tech guy, the assassination...it's all so brilliant, and it plays out while the show goes on (and to "Nessun Dorma" no less).

What would it take you to give an entry an A+?

Actually, M:I-2 and Ghost Protocol are A+. But with regards to Rogue Nation, it will only get an A+ if I still feel the same way about it on repeat viewings. Which is why I very rarely give A+ on first viewing (recently only 12 Angry Men has been the exception to that rule).

The consistency of this franchise's quality amazes me too.

The second was not liked very much at all and the first and third weren't as liked as 4 and 5.

Says you. They're all relatively different and succeed. Part of reason why RN is a mild disappointment to me. But thankfully 2 is the only real miss

I'm 99% sure its not just me that says this.

The consistency as perceived by ME.

Of course!