Mission: Impossible, a series following a covert agency dubbed the Impossible Mission Force, has encountered its own seemingly impossible mission: improving its villains.
The Tom Cruise-led franchise peaked early on the antagonist front and has since seen a dearth of memorable, effective bad guys.
That limitation has become the wildly imaginative series’ most consistent impediment.
One might argue that a conceit like Mission: Impossible doesn’t necessitate good villains because that’s technically not what the story’s about; we’re here for the stunts and the silliness.
But for Ethan Hunt’s world-saving achievements to be truly impressive, the Imf’s missions should be impossible because of the threat a single person poses as much as the entertaining spy hijinks.
After all, what’s a hero without a villain?…
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