How does the director of Mission Impossible 2 build intrigue and establish genre in the opening sequence?

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28/11/09

Analyse the opening sequence of mission impossible 2. How does the director build intrigue and establish genre?

Mission impossible 2 was directed by John Woo. He is a director of action movies and specialises in highly choreographed action sequences. Previous films that were directed by John Woo were mainly action films such as “Hard Target” and “Face/Off”, this creates an expectation of mission impossible to be an action film with many dramatic stunts and a fasted paced plot.

     Tom Cruise had starred in many films and was already a famous and successful actor. These films were often included romance, such as “Top Gun” and “Far and Away”, therefore romance is expected to occur in Mission Impossible 2. Thandie Newton also starred in romance films such as: “The Leading Man” and “Besieged” which reinforces an expectation for the film to include romance.

     The first “Mission Impossible” also creates an expectation for “Mission Impossible 2” to have a genre of action; because, it contained lots of action itself. John Woo utilises this expectation by using the same theme tune from the first mission impossible in the title sequence to create anaphoric reference to the first mission impossible creating anticipation of action.

     Because it is an action film we expect certain conventions to be used to make it more exiting; however it needs to have a plot that makes sense. This will allow the audiences excitement to be sustained between action scenes. To do this John Woo is likely to use ellipsis so that the audience will not get bored of normal everyday events that happen in the story such as travelling. He may also use non-diegetic music to create and sustain mood.

     John Woo often uses extreme long shots and the beginning of scenes. This allows the audience to easily understand the setting and mood of the scene quickly. This is used so the film is action packed and the audience will not get bored but can still understand the plot. An example of this is the establishing extreme long tracking shot of Sydney opera house. This tells the audience that it is in Sydney because of the famous land mark. It also shows the time of day and the weather. We can tell he is using this shot for that purpose because he also uses a subtitle saying it is in Sydney to reinforce the fact that the setting is Sydney.

     John Woo uses close ups on objects and faces to show their importance. This is necessary because audiences of action films may not be following the plot or its significance may not have explained in order to create a mysterious atmosphere and make the audience curious. For example a close up of the syringe gun held by the character: “Vladimir Nekhorvich”. This shows the audience that the syringe is important and dangerous. We know that Woo was trying to create this effect because the syringe was shaped like a gun, which is a dangerous, and contained a red blood-like liquid which is associated with danger because blood leeks from people when they have been shot or injured. Another example of these close ups is when the character: “Vladimir” looks from side to side to check if he is being watched. This tells the audience that he is not meant to take the drug and is anxious about being found out. This creates an uneasy atmosphere as well as telling the audience he is a character of significance and not on the same side as the other scientists. Other examples of close ups in this scene include: close ups on the briefcase, close ups on the timer and the watch. He also uses extreme close ups to show the significance of an action. For example when “Vladimir” injects himself there is an extreme close up the liquid being shot into his arm. This tells the viewer that this action is significant to the plot and also makes it more dramatic. To create this effect he also includes the diagetic noise of the syringe combined with a non diagetic gun shot. This signifies that he has caused death of himself or others.

     John Woo uses fades to blur different shots together. This creates a sense that their has been a jump cut to a new frame or allows two images to be viewed at once. For example when the shot of the children singing “ring-a-ring-a-roses” Woo uses a fade into a reaction shot of the character “Vladimir”. This allows the audience to empathise with his feeling and it also creates an implicit meaning: “chimera” is like Black Death. Another use of the fade is in the establishing shot of the climbing scene; there is a extreme long tracking shot of mesas and buttes in the desert the shot move quickly forwards past these desert features before fading into a tracking shot that moves into a long shot of the character “Ethan Hunt”. This shows the viewer that he is far away from civilisation because of the scale of the shot and because of the speed of the tracking and the way it fades out showing the viewer that the shot would carry on even further before it gets to “Hunt” if the shot was not changed. This sense of distance from settlements means that if the character were to hurt himself then he would not be helped. Therefore he is reckless. John Woo makes him appear as reckless because it creates intrigue as the audience believes that if the character is reckless he is more likely to get into exiting situations. Woo also uses a high angle crane long shot in the climbing scene when the character “Ethan” lands on a ledge to show his recklessness. This shows his recklessness because it involves a good view of the considerable distance he would fall if he failed the jump. John Woo does this to show the audience that the character would put his life at risk for the fun of it. This shot also creates suspense as the audience fears the character will die or just because they suffer from vertigo.

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     John Woo often includes symbolic images in shots to create atmosphere; however, since it is a fast paced action film it cannot devote shots to atmosphere. This avoids making the story slow paced which suits the audience because they watch this film because they want a fast thrilling plot; therefore, it must be concentrated and only include as few shots as possible. Atmosphere still needs to be created but few shots can be spared. For example when Woo shows the reaction shots of the characters “Nyah” and “Ethan” he also includes the twilling red dresses of the flamenco ...

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