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5 Movie Franchises That Got Better With Each Installment

Movie franchises decay at an alarming rate. Narratives which had no business continuing in the first place have soaked the realms of cinema with thousands of unnecessary continuations, most of which have proved mediocre and damaging to their source material. Think Resident Evil, or Saw, two perfect examples of movie franchises which constantly have to drum up banal reasons for bringing their characters back into the fray. Sequels like these only serve to push their characters into territories which compromise their established personalities and motives, or to rehash the same plot elements all over again, essentially destroying the integrity of the original story.

5) Mission: Impossible (1996-2011)

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The Movies: Mission: Impossible (1996), Mission: Impossible 2 (2000), Mission: Impossible 3 (2006), Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol (2011)

Mission: Impossible (1996) (Dir. Brian De Palma)

The original Mission: Impossible flick isn’t half bad, but it’s by no means a groundbreaking addition to the action canon. Based on a far more kosher 80s TV series, director Brian De Palma amped up the explosions and espionage, and gave Tom Cruise room to deliver a fine, charismatic performance as slick secret agent Ethan Hunt. The story suffered from being a little confusing and strangely unconnected, though De Palma’s camerawork is reliably neat. (3.0/5)

Mission: Impossible 2 (2000) (Dir. John Woo)

Hong Kong action master John Woo took over for the next entry, establishing Mission: Impossible as a movie franchise and bringing a kung-fu and a comic book sensibility to the series. Though the story is arguably weak, Woo plays the entire film as an excuse for pure escapism, essentially shedding the overcomplicated story elements that made the first film so confusing. Though some might see see the intellectual aspects of the franchise as a loss, Woo’s entry actually paved the way for Mission: Impossible‘s fun and set-piece orientated future. (3.0/5)

Mission: Impossible 3 (2007) (Dir. J.J. Abrams)

Taking his cues from John Woo, J.J. Abrams delivered the most entirely solid movie in the franchise up to that point, granting the series a host of new and intriguing characters and a brand new tone that felt fresh and exciting. Mission: Impossible 3 granted imagination in droves, great banter, and a sense of darkness that gave proceedings a little added weight. The bridge sequence, in particular, emerged as one of the series’ best ever set-pieces, pitting Ethan Hunt against a helicopter in a truly explosive confrontation that saw him going toe-to-toe with Philip Seymour Hoffman.(3.5/5)

Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol (2011) (Dir. Brad Bird)

In his first ever live-action movie, Pixar veteran Brad Bird crafted an immaculate and arguably genre-perfect spy flick, incorporating a wide range of stunning set-pieces, a sense of fun and sexy, and a movie that ultimately served to bring Ethan Hunt up to date with more contemporary action heroes like Jason Bourne and James Bond. Not just the best ever Mission: Impossible installment, but one of the best popcorn features of 2011, Ghost Protocol proved that – given the right director – the fourth film in a series didn’t have to be the worst. To our mind, there isn’t actually another franchise out there in which the fourth entry could actually be called the best. Congrats, Brad: can we have another one? (4.0/5)

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