This morning when I showed this trailer to my wife, she confessed to me that she had never seen a MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE film. While that clicked for a moment (she hates Tom Cruise), I still found it somewhat odd in consideration of how massively successful the first two were, and how much fun the fourth one was.

I can understand a person saying they didn’t care for the tangled web of DePalma’s or the silliness of Woo’s (not to mention the relative understatement of Abrams’), but to not have seen them altogether felt flat-out odd.

But then I thought harder and wondered what this series of films really was – and reminded myself that I am having these thoughts as the series gets ready to enter its twentieth year. These weren’t the sort of action films that bred copycats like TWISTER. These weren’t blockbusters that launched their various cast members into superstardom like INDEPENDENCE DAY. They were serviceable, stoked their star’s bank account and ego, and take advantage of a name that allows brand recognition.

In short, as the Wilco song says, “Impossible is Nothing”. Nothing to write home about…nothing that someone like my wife is missing out on.

So how was it that I found myself getting back on-board with the fourth entry, and even find myself excited by the first glimpse at the fifth entry?