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Lost In The Mission - The Mission Impossible Franchise
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This week on Lost In The Frame, we are discussing each entry in the Mission Impossible franchise.
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Transcript
Introduction and Setup
00:00:20
Speaker
oh Sorry.
00:00:23
Speaker
I was looking away. okay. Hold on. Let's try it again.
00:00:39
Speaker
Welcome back to Lost in the Frame. I'm your host, Malik. I'm your other host, Alex. your other host Tachi. And if you couldn't tell from that intro music today, we're about to have a yap session on Mission Impossible.
00:00:58
Speaker
How you guys doing? Ready for it. I'm doing great. I'm real excited. Yeah? It's going good one, I think.
Anticipation and Personal Experiences
00:01:05
Speaker
Yeah, we we got a lot to discuss because I feel like we haven't really talked about any of these yet.
00:01:12
Speaker
Except for the 30 minutes two episodes ago where Malik and I talked about it. We kept like getting like backtracked. i don't even know how a like Mission Impossible got brought up that many times in that episode. It was the news. It was our news time.
00:01:25
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah, we just and we got caught up in it. So I've been looking forward to doing doing this episode. And i honestly, I never get to talk about Mission Impossible with anybody. Why? i don't Well, Cam doesn't like them. What?
00:01:40
Speaker
feel like they are like like it's like good it's a dude movie. Do you feel like they're dude movies? I think they're dude movies because I i saw like um I saw a tweet and it was like every girl out there has sat down and watched Mission Impossible for some guy. she hasn't yet.
00:01:57
Speaker
i was like sit down and watch with me. She said no. hmm but she she did she did watch i'm trying to she did watch the final reckoning with me spoiler alert she didn't like it that's of course she didn't like it she had no idea what was going on i know i'm like you gotta like kind of like you don't have to watch them all to know like what's going on but like it helps to care about the characters at least to see the first reckoning i think would help yeah i mean i i wanted to start with See, in my mind, was just like, okay, let's just start with Fallout, because that
Entry Points and Character Understanding
00:02:30
Speaker
one's really good. And then was like, oh, but Rogue Nation's really good. And they're like, oh, but 3 is really good, too.
00:02:34
Speaker
was like, let's just watch the entire series. I feel like if you're going to start, like, randomly in the middle of it, you probably want to start with 3. I would say so. Yeah.
00:02:46
Speaker
Yeah. 3 is where it kind of starts to tie in... Like it just starts to have tie-ins and what happens in that movie has consequences in the next movie.
00:02:57
Speaker
Yeah, agree. One and two are really standalone. And that's exactly what we're going to get into today. Before we get started with all of that, we've got a couple pieces of fan mail that we wanted to shout out. um The first from Brittany. Someone had called that the Swifties were going to come for us.
00:03:15
Speaker
Alex, I think you said that. ah This is the first. Yeah. reads oh hell no y'all didn't just come after Swifties that had to be some weird distortion coming through the stream and then she said in all seriousness though I just watched callback amazing job you all were right to the makeup work to depict that bruising was absolutely stellar way to go Cam thanks Brittany and then the second was from not shy Mackenzie um She suggested that we do a review of The Last of Us Season 2 bonus points if we played the game.
Comparisons with Other Franchises
00:03:48
Speaker
I told her they you guys hadn't seen it or played the game. I've seen it. But I want you guys to. Sorry, McKenzie.
00:04:01
Speaker
She said, I thought Carlino would for sure have opinions on it. Spread the good word, Malik, a.k.a. make him watch a 10-hour gameplay. So at least that. So what both of you watched the 10 hour gameplay.
00:04:13
Speaker
thought you haven't played the games, right? I played the games, but I watched the show.
Analysis of Mission Impossible Films
00:04:17
Speaker
Wait, wait, wait, what? Yeah, wait, what? oh Wait, what did I say? You said, I played the games, but I watched the show.
00:04:24
Speaker
I have not played the games. However, i have watched the show. Real quick, what did you think of season two? and Non-spoiler. um i I can appreciate...
00:04:38
Speaker
what I guess just say what you actually think say what you feel okay I won't talk around it um season one was better And season two was really ambitious in some ways, but some I think ultimately season one is just better almost in every single way.
00:05:03
Speaker
Ambitious is a interesting word. Yeah. To use. I think you know what i'm talking about. I wouldn't use ambitious. Would you use stupid? Yeah, I'd use bad. Okay.
00:05:17
Speaker
Not good. Yeah. Not a good time. See, having having not seen it, my opinion of it right now is formed off of just everybody hating it, so I feel like I might like it.
00:05:29
Speaker
You won't. i would I would have no opinion on it. I promise. Or no good opinion going into it. I would be shocked if you came out of season two and you were like, that was good.
00:05:41
Speaker
Everyone's wrong. I'd be shocked. didn't i Didn't we go through this when... um when a true detective night country came out and you liked it. Yeah. noon No, no, no, no, no. But didn't I like juke you out of your shoes or something by being like, I liked this, but and then like spent 40 minutes completely trashing it.
00:06:05
Speaker
Yeah. Cause I did not like that all. I didn't like it either. I thought it was actually offensive. I don't think anyone in that group chat liked it. I think we were all watching it at the same time. We were just like, what's happening?
00:06:19
Speaker
No, it was so bad. It wasn't horrible. It's better than The Last of Us Season 2. I'll say that. that That's crazy. Because I thought Night Country was like bottom of the barrel television that I've seen recently.
00:06:31
Speaker
It's kind of what The Last of Us Season 2 feels like. Like if if season one a True Detective is a 10 out of 10, I would give seat Night Country like 2 out of 10. And I'm not even exaggerating.
00:06:42
Speaker
Okay. I would say the same thing. yeah I would say if The Last of Us 2 game is a 10 out of 10, then season two is 1.5. That's crazy. that's crazy There's your review, Mackenzie. There's your episode.
00:06:53
Speaker
I gotta watch this, I guess, so I can have an opinion. Yeah. Because right now it's purely based off of what Reddit recommends me and none of it is good. And I feel a little left out.
00:07:04
Speaker
Yeah. Cool. Well, let's get into Mission Impossible. um I was curious, like I said, since I never get to talk about this franchise with anybody, when did you guys first watch this franchise? Like, when did you first get familiar with the the god known as Ethan Hunt?
00:07:23
Speaker
May 13th, 2025. What do you mean? That's when I watched the first one for the first time and started watching them. Wow. oh this was your first time watching them.
00:07:36
Speaker
Yeah. ah Would you consider yourself a fan? Yes. Yes, I would. Okay. Good. Tachi, how about you?
00:07:47
Speaker
I don't know if I saw the first two in theaters. I feel like I did. No, the first one was 96. There's no way. like You were two, maybe? I probably saw the third one in theaters. um But no, I did grow up watching them pretty early, but not when I was a baby.
00:08:08
Speaker
But close. I mean, no, that's that's pretty. I mean, if when three came out, you had to be like eight. Yeah. maybe Yeah. Elementary school. did And did you watch
Impact of Ghost Protocol and Beyond
00:08:17
Speaker
um the rest of them in theaters? Like, did you catch Fallout in theaters?
00:08:21
Speaker
I'm pretty sure I saw all them in theaters except for Rogue Nation. think I caught that one later. But yeah, I've i've been pretty consistent with it. um Always enjoyed it.
00:08:33
Speaker
so i you've been You've been with this franchise the longest then, so you better have the most most spicy hot takes here. i them I watched them for the first time two years ago. So similar to you, Alex, since you got caught up for the final reckoning, I got caught up for dead reckoning.
00:08:50
Speaker
And yeah, these movies growing up were never in my radar. I think I knew of them. Um, I'm realizing that like a lot of the big action franchises I just wasn't like in tune with.
00:09:04
Speaker
Like I've still have never seen us like a single 007 movie or James Bond. That's crazy. That's crazy. Yeah. I've never seen who's the other guy. The born identity. Oh, those are so good. and Yeah.
00:09:17
Speaker
John Wick was never my thing. I watched those way later. And then, yeah, Mission Impossible just wasn't there. And I think when Dead Reckoning came out was the first time ah Mission Impossible movie was coming out when I was a bit more plugged into like the film scene.
00:09:32
Speaker
And so was just like, oh, I've heard good things about this franchise. I'll check it out. and boy oh boy oh i can't believe you've never seen a bond movie not a single one like not even i couldn't i couldn't tell you anything about any of them all i know is daniel craig and the adele song that that's nuts bond is i love james bond i haven't even seen all of them but like the ones i've seen bangers Well, there's a lot, right? Because James Bond goes back to like... There's like 34? Way back. 34? Yeah. Do I have to watch all of them?
00:10:09
Speaker
There's... No, you don't. I haven't seen them all. Because I won't do that. You could probably just start with Daniel Craig. Maybe a Pierce Brosnan, but... I don't know. Oh, Pierce Brosnan. You got to watch Connery.
00:10:21
Speaker
I did play ah one of the video games when I was younger. Is it GoldenEye? It's GoldenEagle, actually. Okay. No, just kidding. It's GoldenEye. You tried to trick me. No. Wait, is it GoldenEye or GoldenEagle?
00:10:34
Speaker
It's GoldenEye. Oh, GoldenEye. I pulled a double whammy on you. Damn it. I don't know if I've played it but I've heard all about it. Yeah. From the old heads.
00:10:45
Speaker
I feel, I'm sure, I'm sure you have. I think like someone like we all had a friend with the Nintendo 64 that probably had it. Cause I remember seeing like the boot up screen and and then hearing the theme song, but right.
00:10:56
Speaker
Yeah. So yeah, the first time I watched mission possible was a couple years ago and yeah, I, I loved it. It was so good. I'm glad. Should we get into our film by film breakdown of the mission impossible franchise?
00:11:09
Speaker
Let's do it.
00:11:17
Speaker
The year is 1994. Ethan Hunt is on a mission. Hey, that was kind of good. That was pretty good. Anytime I hear that song, just want to... Your mission, viewers, should you choose to accept it... There we go....is to get through this episode. Get through the entire thing.
00:11:36
Speaker
Yeah. um Please accept it. Please accept it. What happens if they don't accept... Well, then the podcast self-destructs and it blows up. No, I mean... ah They're driving and the car just explodes.
00:11:51
Speaker
No, I mean like in the movies. like If Ethan doesn't accept... I feel like it's implied that in the later movies that it's like they can't not accept.
00:12:04
Speaker
I think so, too. Do they kill them, we think? No, but I feel like it would be... bad for their job security and it's a tough economy out there you know they give you the option they do but maybe it's just like a courtesy think you just can't say no because the implication it's possible very possible all right mission impossible one released may 22nd 1996 i was one years old about to do about to turn wait
00:12:41
Speaker
Yeah, about to turn two. No, about to turn one.
00:12:46
Speaker
and The synopsis reads, when U.S. government operative Ethan Hunt and his mentor Jim Phelps go on a cover covert assignment that takes a disastrous turn, Jim is killed and Ethan becomes the prime murder suspect.
00:12:58
Speaker
Now fugitive Hunt recruits brilliant hacker Luther Stickle and maverick pilot Franz Krieger to help him sneak into a heavily guarded CIA building to retrieve a confidential computer file that will prove his innocence.
00:13:10
Speaker
And this is directed by none other than Brian De Palma, starring Tom Cruise, John Voight, Henry Cerny, Ving Rhames, and Kristen Scott Thomas.
00:13:21
Speaker
How do you guys feel about Mission Impossible 1? do you have Do you guys know any of the history from the Mission and Impossible TV series? I don't. I'm not familiar with it.
00:13:33
Speaker
I'm also not familiar with it. So this was kind of completely yeah new to me. Yeah. yeah Who wants to kick us off with but general feelings and thoughts about this movie? I was not I would think, of whelmed by it.
00:13:50
Speaker
I gave it like a six out 10. It was fine, but it felt like a little bland almost. Like I'm sure at the time it was really groundbreaking. But I just remember sitting there and for the the viewers, um some some backstory is ah the day after I got my surgery was when I watched the first three of these.
00:14:11
Speaker
And so I watched all of these in a like a post anesthesia fog. um So one through one through three is all like just like it was like back to back.
00:14:23
Speaker
The first would end and I'd start the second and the second and I started the third. It was just a six hours of mission impossible. Um, but I wasn't nice super well with the first. I just remember thinking like, this is fine.
00:14:37
Speaker
I think this one feels which, which makes sense as being the first in the franchise, like looking at the character of Ethan hunt, it feel like that's not, that's not Ethan.
00:14:48
Speaker
Like, I don't know who that man is. Hmm. I mean, I don't really have, I can't really say anything negative about it because it just kind of does feel like a product of the nineties and like they wanted their own kind of like 007, um, moment.
00:15:02
Speaker
But I mean, mean, we've got the iconic CIA break in like, yeah. Langley sequences. Insane. Top notch. Just like no score.
00:15:13
Speaker
Like that is, that is very, that is a top notch scene. What about you, Tachi? How do you feel about this one? Um, probably about the same. Like, i think at this time it was kind of groundbreaking in, in what they were trying to do, but yeah, he, Ethan Hunt's not really ah character. He's just like a, he's just like the driving force of the movie with, I don't know, just no personality, which is kind of sad. and there's I feel like there's a hint of personality in one particular scene when he's doing the close-up magic.
00:15:49
Speaker
Because that's something that we see like later on in the franchise as well. I'm like, at least he's liked close-up magic from the beginning. He's like sleight of hand. So i think I think that's pretty cool. But for yeah, I definitely agree with you for the most part. and And similarly to to Luther as well.
00:16:06
Speaker
I think it's hilarious. like I think Luther is so funny in this movie just because I'm like, that's not Luther. Right. It's kind of like the first season of The Office. Yeah. Honestly.
00:16:17
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. it's yeah it's like that It's like that with a lot of shows. where're I'm actually rewatching New Girl right now. And i I made the comment that New Girl feels a little bit different from like other sitcoms where like the first season of The Office, it takes a season to get familiar with the characters and for the characters like to become who we know them to be later in the seasons.
00:16:39
Speaker
But New Girl kicks it off like pretty quick. like Episode 2, Episode 3... Like they're each character is them already. Like it doesn't even take a full season to like, oh, you just got to get to the first season. It's like one and two and they're still they're still kind of there. Like if if that makes sense.
00:16:55
Speaker
Except for Winston. I don't think Winston hits his stride until like season three. No, I don't. i I disagree. I think Winston is off in his first episode, which is episode two. And I think he's more Winston by episode four.
00:17:08
Speaker
Really? just need to need a rewatch it. I'm on like episode six right now. So it's like, it's very fresh. Okay. Well, yeah, that first episode he's in, i was just like, who is that man? Yeah. Just no one.
00:17:18
Speaker
Yeah. um Let me, we just had an and a little new girl rant. ah Let me go ahead and double check here to see what fun trivia we, oh, I clicked the wrong one. While filming the famous scene where Tom Cruise drops from the ceiling and hovers inches above the ground, Cruise's head kept hitting the floor until he got the idea to put coins in his shoes for balance.
00:17:37
Speaker
That would explain a lot. That's neat. Yeah. What, his brain damage? Yeah, probably the whole Scientology bit came from that. I think at the end of this, we should discuss what's wrong with him.
00:17:51
Speaker
Tom or Ethan? Tom. Oh, okay. And I guess Ethan. You guys know the Church of Scientology has a building in Austin, right? Like, they can come get us. Can they come get us?
00:18:02
Speaker
so you I don't see why they couldn't. Why would they come get us? We're not saying anything bad. Well, I just did. I just said brain damage caused them to join Scientology.
00:18:17
Speaker
If they're listening to this to this podcast... Thanks for listening. Shout out Scientology for real.
00:18:27
Speaker
Wait, are they? No, nevermind. Who up getting their Thetans checked?
00:18:33
Speaker
Here's another one. The trick with the disappearing reappearing CD that Ethan Hunt does to fool Franz Krieger is not a camera trick or any other visual effect, but a genuine sleight of hand trick.
00:18:44
Speaker
It's pretty cool. Actually. They really set Tom Cruise loose on Hollywood with like actually good sleight hand. Yeah. That's crazy. I just, I'm going to say this to the end when we talk about Tom. Okay. Okay.
00:18:56
Speaker
We'll talk about our rankings at the end of this. So I'd be curious to see where this one ranks for you guys at the end. But I mean, I'll just say, i feel like this movie is again, just like a product of the nineties. I love how it's shot. Like I think, I do think this movie has a lot of sauce.
00:19:12
Speaker
And spoiler alert, I like this more than two. Alex, I think you disagree with that, but we'll get into it once we talk about number two. But this movie's good. don't think it's great, but it's good. I agree.
00:19:24
Speaker
I'll give you that. I think it did a ah pretty good job too at um some of the world building and I guess what to expect from Ethan, IMF, just kind of how things operate and just the vibe of Mission Impossible.
00:19:42
Speaker
But... It's not quite there yet. It's almost there. yeah It's almost there. I think it's a really good starting shot. Yeah, really good a really good starting point. what do you guys think of the final, to wrap up Mission of Impossible 1, what do you guys think of the final ah terra reveal and in the train the train fight sequence?
00:20:01
Speaker
How does that hold up for you? I feel like it didn't hold up that great. I feel like the reveal was... telegraphed from like a mile away. I wasn't super shocked or anything.
00:20:13
Speaker
i mean, i did like seeing like how it was done, like how they pulled it off, but I wasn't like, like, whoa, they got me. was like, ah, I knew it.
00:20:25
Speaker
And I think that's a pretty common thing with the franchise. And I don't think, I don't think they really go for like the surprise the audience. I, I do feel like it's always been about like how they did it.
00:20:37
Speaker
I'll give you that, but I think for the first one, they were definitely trying to do like a surprise angle. Like a, get everyone dropped their popcorn. No way. How did the visual effects hold up for you guys?
00:20:49
Speaker
I think they held up really well. I think that was the best part of the movie. Honestly, good. and ah Pretty good. Yeah. like ah ah Again, the explosion that launches them was not bad. Yeah, I was just about to say. It looks solid, and then I thought, like...
00:21:03
Speaker
mean, again, again, to bring it up, the the whole Langley sequence just looked immaculate. It's like, well, this this does have the sauce. So for sure. Let's play a lost in the frame drinking game, viewers. Every time I say something in Mission Impossible has the sauce, take a shot.
00:21:22
Speaker
Even if you're driving, take a shot.
00:21:27
Speaker
Have it ready to go. All right. Should we jump into a Mission if Impossible 2? We're going to try to rapid fire these. Let's do it. I'm so ready. Team Money, kick us off. yeah.
00:21:38
Speaker
Number two. Mission Impossible 2. Ethan Hunt leads his IMF team on a mission to capture a deadly German virus before it's released by terrorists. Sick. That's pretty much it.
00:21:49
Speaker
Directed by John Woo. Directed by John Woo. um i have a feeling i have an idea of what his filmography is going to be like. What do you think before you look it up?
00:22:02
Speaker
ah Kung Fu. Yeah. I can't.
00:22:07
Speaker
I have to enable my ads for Rotten Tomatoes. Hold on.
00:22:13
Speaker
Okay. Yeah. Looks like a lot of martial arts movies. um And it shows in this movie. There was far too much slow-mo on upon my rewatch.
00:22:26
Speaker
Like an insane amount of slow-mo. Yeah. Zack Snyder levels? More.
00:22:36
Speaker
just to Just straight up too much. On scenes that really didn't even need it. I don't know why. However, i think you're right in that there are some really cool moments, Alex.
00:22:47
Speaker
I'll agree with you there. um Some of the chase sequences ah were pretty cool. Some of the shots um on the bikes were cool. But um as a whole, pretty cheesy movie and extremely tonally different from the the rest of the movies inf franchise.
00:23:10
Speaker
I agree. i think like we're talking about with number one, with Ethan Hunt, not really being a character, like even from one to two, like this is a completely different guy from the first one.
00:23:22
Speaker
Like this one, he's just a lot more like suave and sexy. And like, like he, he felt like a James Bond ripoff in this one. Yeah. Like flirting really hard, you know, like yeah it if you had stuck Sean Connery or Pierce Brosnan in the role, like it it could have been the opening to a Bond movie, especially that first sequence at the party.
00:23:46
Speaker
yeah. He had great hair, though. Oh, he had great hair in this one. This might be this could be the best hair he has. I think like just like just the like the entire like towards the end of the movie motorcycle sequences of him with the glasses like that's sick like wielding a gun like I think if the movie was like a bit more of that I'd be like I'd be on board but yeah this one this one this one's good but it doesn't really do it for me but Alex i think you might be the hottest shooter for this one
00:24:24
Speaker
i I am a shooter for this one. I think this one gets a lot of just unjust hate online. I'm not going to sit here and say it's good, but I don't think it's that bad.
00:24:36
Speaker
Have you guys ever seen um the movie The Heroic Trio? No, no. It's a yeah it' it's from the 90s directed by ah Johnny To.
00:24:47
Speaker
It's a Hong Kong action movie. Pretty popular. um Michelle Yao is in it. um Love her. She's awesome. But it's probably one of like the cheesiest, most ridiculous movies that I have ever seen.
00:25:08
Speaker
But it's so fun. And from what I can understand, that a lot of these Hong Kong 90s action movies are a lot like the heroic trio.
00:25:22
Speaker
And so when I saw that Mission Impossible 2 was directed by someone from this scene, it really clicked and made a lot more sense at... like, oh this is what's happening.
00:25:34
Speaker
yeah it really it That movie truly is like a ninety s hong kong kung fu movie but it stars Tom Cruise and some other guy.
00:25:46
Speaker
And um it's just so... Like, if you watch the Heroic Trio and then watch this again, you'll probably be like, oh, I get it.
00:25:57
Speaker
Yeah. Like, ah not that there's anything to get. It's like trying to be deep, but... I really appreciated that vibe, actually, because I think it's something that like like American action movies are, you know, they try and be serious in the cheese.
00:26:14
Speaker
um And these Hong Kong kung fu movies don't like Heroic Trio knows exactly what it is. It is just insane. And this movie was like, all right, screw it. Like we're throwing out all the norms of, ah you know, traditional American action movie. And we're just going to do something insane.
00:26:37
Speaker
Like the dove shot into it's just the slow-mo dove, like randomly flying out of that building. Like it makes no sense, but it was just so stupid With Tom Cruise coming around the corner that I'm like, this rips.
00:26:56
Speaker
This absolutely rips. I think the opening sequence is actually pretty good. And like the end, the motorcycle fight scene where they both jump off the bikes at the same time. It's awesome.
00:27:09
Speaker
It's sick. The plot. I couldn't tell you one thing that happened. Um, but I just see people online. They say like, they're like, oh, this is really just stupid. It's dumb. And it's like, yes, it is.
00:27:23
Speaker
But it's, it's like, it is camp. This is the campiest Mission Impossible movie. And it was supposed to be the campiest Mission Impossible movie.
00:27:34
Speaker
And I think it just, i don't know. People dog on it a lot, and I watched it and I really appreciated it. I wouldn't say I liked it. It's, spoiler, nowhere near the top of my Mission Impossible list. um But, man, I just...
00:27:52
Speaker
It has the sauce. Take a drink.
00:27:56
Speaker
I can agree with you on a lot of those points. And while the movie doesn't fully work for me, knowing that it embraces like exactly what it's going for and and having kind of that cheesy that cheesy feel to it, like I can appreciate it. So...
00:28:14
Speaker
So i can't I can't agree with you with a lot of those points. I also do think that this is a pretty forgetful movie as far as the plot goes. Like, I don't know I'm honestly, I just watched these and I'm trying to remember like what like what we're what are we doing? all i All I can see in my head are the s slow-mo shots, the doves, and the motorcycles.
00:28:38
Speaker
That's all I see when I think of this movie. I think there was a disease in it. I watched it two days ago and I still don't really remember happened.
00:28:49
Speaker
I also think they really squandered the ah female lead. I was going to ask, yeah, how do you guys feel about Thandie Newton? and She was, they just put her around. She wasn't really part of the movie.
00:29:01
Speaker
She was just kind of used as a prop. Yeah, she didn't have a role outside of like get close to the main baddie. Her usefulness wore off pretty quickly and that was unfortunate. So I think she's a pretty talented actress.
00:29:13
Speaker
Yeah, and I find with this franchise, like a big part of my enjoyment does come from the team aspect. right Because like as we later or as we learn later on for like Ethan Hunt, like as just a character, his whole thing is like are his friends.
00:29:30
Speaker
And so with this one having really no team, it's kind of just him and this woman, ah it it's definitely lacking there for me. I mean, Taji, you're the one who's seen this the most recently.
00:29:43
Speaker
Was there a team at all in this one? Because I don't really remember anybody else besides Tom Cruise and Thandie Newton. Yeah, there kind of was. i mean, Luther was there in a few scenes, just kind kind of scattered about.
00:29:57
Speaker
They could have replaced that Australian guy with literally anyone in the world, and the movie wouldn't have been any different. Who was he? Wait, which Australian guy? The villain or the other guy?
00:30:09
Speaker
The other guy on there who on the team, yeah. Who would fly the helicopter? Yeah. He had a hat on, I think. ah Hat guy. Yeah, Australian hat guy. Let me find his name. I see him when I take too much Benadryl.
00:30:24
Speaker
Better him than the alternative hat man. John Polson. Sorry if I'm disrespecting you. You're unfortunately very forgettable. Uh, one of the cool facts I saw of this one was Doug Ray Scott, who plays the villain was going to play Logan in X-Men 2000 when filming for this went over schedule and he was injured in a motorbike accident.
00:30:46
Speaker
He was forced to drop out and was replaced by Hugh Jackman. wow The stars aligned. Yeah. Is there a reality where we see Doug Ray Scott as our Wolverine with Deadpool?
00:31:02
Speaker
That would be so weird. and Who is this man? Yeah, this is the only thing I've seen him in. Man, could you imagine that happening to you and just living to see what devastating what the character of Wolverine became? But also, like maybe it wouldn't have ever happened if it wasn't Hugh Jackman.
00:31:21
Speaker
I don't know. Sounds like he yeah he should have landed the stunt. did Yeah. Yeah.
00:31:28
Speaker
Be better, bro. What a loser. Yeah. Skill issue. Yeah. That's the summary of this movie. Be better. This movie's fine. This movie's fine. Yeah, it's just fine. I have no problem watching it. ah' all That's all I'll say about that.
00:31:40
Speaker
I only do just because there's so many better Mission Impossibles. Like if you're going watch one, it would never be this. I agree. And I think that's a good good route to take us to number three.
00:31:54
Speaker
Is it my turn to introduce it? Yeah. Oh, didn't realize we assigned turns. We said that at the beginning. Well, i mean I was eating my dinner.
00:32:08
Speaker
Your butterless chicken. piless chicken Yeah, it's not my proudest culinary moment. um IMF agent Ethan Hunt comes into con conflict with a dangerous and sadistic arms dealer who threatens his life and his fiancee in response.
00:32:26
Speaker
Directed by J.J. Abrams and starring, surprise, Tom Cruise, Michelle Monaghan, Ving Rhames, and Philip Seymour Hoffman. Hell yeah.
00:32:37
Speaker
This one, as I had kind of said earlier, it felt like the start of these movies becoming a little more like a part of an overarching like character universe instead of a like episodic villain of the week type thing. yeah.
00:33:00
Speaker
Like Tom Cruise, Ethan Hunt. I keep saying Tom Cruise. The problem is whenever I say Ethan Hunt, I want to say Ethan Hawke. So I always just default to Tom Cruise. I think Tom Cruise and Ethan Hunt are interchangeable at this point.
00:33:15
Speaker
Probably. They are the same. So Ethan having a fiance, i think added, it i feel like that added a ah ah huge dimension to his character. I think the way this movie opens also throws you just right into it.
00:33:29
Speaker
Yeah. And i was just, I really enjoyed it. This was, think, I think think Philip Seymour Hoffman was my favorite villain. from any of the mission impossible movies it was definitely the best acted by far i agree but i think that's just philip seymour hoffman having the sauce take a shot he made the sauce he did he set the blueprint for me for for villains for this franchise and as we'll get into later
00:34:01
Speaker
There's a villain I like and then ah villain I don't care too much about. But in the back of my mind, i just think of Philip Seymour Hoffman and and how great this performance was.
00:34:13
Speaker
I also see online... This movie seems to have like the most, I feel like the most conversation around it, around those who shoot for it and those who don't.
00:34:25
Speaker
um I love this movie. Same. Like, I think this movie's sick. People... hate J.J. Abrams now because of Star Wars, but I mean, think we've talked about before in this podcast too. I mean, there was a time when I feel like he had lot He was in Yeah, he was in his bag. like He had a lot of America in his chokehold.
00:34:45
Speaker
And this movie's no different for me. Like... I don't know. I don't have anything bad to say about this. Like once, like I like one, two is good. But like once I get to three, there's just like a vibe shift and I'm just, I'm just locked in for it.
00:35:02
Speaker
And I do love the inclusion of Ethan having a fiance. I think that was, and think that was integral to his character and works really well. um As far as like a team goes, how do we feel about the team in this one? Who was, who was, who was on this team? Let's double check that.
00:35:19
Speaker
Worked a lot better. Luther Maggie Q. That's that her last name. Q. Yeah. And this was also where Simon Pegg was introduced. showed up.
00:35:30
Speaker
Mm hmm. Thank God. Oh, that's right. That's right. Yeah. That's a desk guy. It's the other guy. Oh, Jonathan Myers. Yeah. Yeah, he was a him and Kerry Russell are in August Rush. Have you guys seen? Oh, yeah.
00:35:48
Speaker
Yeah. Good movie. I love August Rush. Yeah. and I haven't seen it in years. I feel like if I watch it now, I'd be like, oh, it's not that good. Last time i watched it, I think I rented it from Blockbuster. Oh, my God. Anything negative you guys have about this movie? How does this movie fit into the Mission Impossible franchise for you?
00:36:07
Speaker
I think it's, to me, it almost feels like the true start. Ethan feels like his own character, and it's the terminus of of what's to come for the rest of it.
00:36:19
Speaker
I think the romantic aspect definitely brings a whole new element to Ethan. Fleshes out his character more. Puts more personal stakes into his motivations and wanting to save as many people as he possibly can.
00:36:36
Speaker
i don't know if I can pick something I don't like about this movie. I love it all. I'm a huge, huge fanboy of three. um i think it's easily my top three and it's not three.
00:36:49
Speaker
So... It could be too. Spoiler. Whoa. It could be too. That's true. i think I'll say one thing that I don't like about this movie that doesn't work for me is we get the the scene of him in the chair with Philip Seymour Hoffman kind of kind of like pleading when he's when he's tied up in the chair.
00:37:13
Speaker
We get that really early on as kind of like a flash forward sequence. But I'm just not a fan of of when movies do that. Like I feel like that scene would hit a lot harder if we didn't know it was coming.
00:37:25
Speaker
You know, that's the... But besides that, that's like the only the only gripe i can I have with it. um Is this the one where he says Humpty Dumpty sat on wall? I was just about to get there. Okay. It's the most iconic line for me for the whole series, actually.
00:37:40
Speaker
Why did he do that? I don't know. But I love it. Do you remember that part or were you were you little loopy? I think I was loopy. I don't... write I think I vaguely remember it, but...
00:37:54
Speaker
I couldn't tell you the context. I just remember thinking like, why did they say Humpty Dumpty? Does he break the fourth wall? I think he looks into the camera. He looks into the camera. Okay, he does. Like, it's a really cool, and I feel like, backtracking to number two, what what was the big stunt in two?
00:38:11
Speaker
just there was just a motorcycle yeah i think it was the motorcycle. was the motorcycles. Okay, so I think, yeah, so I feel like three is when we're starting to to kind of grease the wheels a little bit as far as stunts go. i was watching some behind the scenes of them. ah of how they kind of did the Rome scene of him running up the wall before before he does the Humpty Dumpty scene. so So that was pretty cool.
00:38:30
Speaker
But the Shanghai, I guess the entire Shanghai thing, like the the building jump. Yeah. We get our first iconic running scene. We do.
00:38:41
Speaker
We do. This is the start. Right. is Also, I think this is arguably the best mask scene in the movie. Yeah. is the one where oh he encounters Philip Seymour Hoffman in the bathroom.
00:38:55
Speaker
Yes. And then Philip Seymour Hoffman has to act like Ethan Hunt. Oh, yeah. I just, I was like, this is awesome. That's, yeah, that entire sequence is one of my favorites, favorites too.
00:39:06
Speaker
when Towards the end of it, when they pull up in the car um and they're trying to go up from the sewer and it's Philip Seymour Hoffman and then i and then the woman in the car, ah they're looking down at Ethan and he's like, sup?
00:39:19
Speaker
I think that's really funny. This is also, I think where i think these movies incorporate comedy very well too. yeah Like this is also a pretty funny movie. It is. Yeah. I mean, we got Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall.
00:39:31
Speaker
Right. Can't top that. I just want to know why. it can be topped. Yeah. there's so There's a crazier line coming. Oh, where?
00:39:43
Speaker
I already told you guys, but I won't remind you, so I'll just let but you hear it again in the podcast. I think I know what it is, but we'll see. Okay. and Any final thoughts on Mission Impossible 3? um I think it also... kind of like how I just mentioned with Shanghai.
00:40:00
Speaker
i think this also establishes the whole final act being... just pedal to the metal, go, go, go. Um, everything's on the line in the last like 30 minutes.
00:40:11
Speaker
I think it also does that really well. Yeah. If we, Oh, go ahead. I was, I was going to say Kerry Russell, I think was pretty cool in this movie. I do like Harry Russell in this. I would love to see, like, i really like appreciated seeing kind of the flashbacks.
00:40:29
Speaker
Um, and we got them, we got them really quick. The flashbacks of Ethan kind of training her. i think, I think that'd be really cool. I mean, I don't know what movie would get it in now. Um, but it'd be really cool to kind of see that expanded for him training other, like newer IMF agents.
00:40:46
Speaker
Cause I thought, I thought possible nine after the reckoning. Yeah. but so that yeah that i thought I thought that was something that I really appreciated. After three, though, is when we start getting some names for these.
00:40:57
Speaker
So if we had to name three instead of it being Mission Impossible three, what would you guys name this one? I'd name it fiance. But I think they were already married, right? No, they get married in the movie in the in the hospital chapel.
00:41:12
Speaker
Oh, OK. You're right. Yeah. Mission Impossible Fiance. we're We're never making it out of the podcast.
00:41:22
Speaker
show I don't want to call it Rabbit's Foot. Oh, yeah. That's our thing in this. The Rabbit's Foot. Do you guys care about the Rabbit's Foot? No.
00:41:34
Speaker
I like that I didn't know what it was. It wasn't important. It was just like, this can't fall into the wrong hands. I was fine with that. Right. But I think it kind of worked out in the end that it was kind of left intentionally vague.
00:41:49
Speaker
You think so? Yeah. so yeah But I don't know. I did like um that there was sort of a second antagonist. I don't know if any other movie really had that.
00:42:03
Speaker
Or maybe not even an antagonist, just... A morally gray character that's not... It's it's leaning more bad than good. and will it Willing to trade lives, unlike Cap.
00:42:16
Speaker
I wish Lawrence Fishburne was in more Mission Impossibles. Agreed. I didn't like that this was the only one he was in. I do think he was a really good addition to this. I think, i mean, that's like a, it's that's like a love hate thing. It's like, we'll get really good features, really good features that I would love to see more of, but it just kind of makes me appreciate that performance in that movie. Just, just a bit more. If we move on to ghost protocol.
00:42:43
Speaker
Sure. Let's do it. All right. It's your turn, Malik. It is my turn. Ghost Protocol released December 21st, 2011. Blamed for a terrorist attack on the Kremlin, Ethan Hunt and the entire IMF agency are disavowed by the U.S. government while the president initiates the Ghost Protocol.
00:43:00
Speaker
is There's a longer synopsis, but I'll just i'll just leave it at that. ah This one is directed by none other none other than Brad Bird, starring Tom Cruise, Jeremy Renner, Simon Pegg, Paula Patton, um and friends.
00:43:15
Speaker
Let's talk about... Brad Bird. This is the first, or this is the last time that we don't have a consistent director. Up until this point, each entry into this franchise has had a different director.
00:43:30
Speaker
All kind of bringing their own style. Whether we like it or not, they bring something they bring something new to the table. I like the vibe J.J. Avons brought, but I think the vibe that Brad Bird brings...
00:43:42
Speaker
If number three sets the tone for Ethan as a character, i think number four sets the tone for Mission Impossible as a franchise.
00:43:53
Speaker
i agree. I also agree. Do you guys want to hear a fun fact about this? I do. Please. This was the first time that Brad Bird directed a movie with real people in it.
00:44:06
Speaker
Was it really? Because up until then, he had directed The Iron Giant, yeah The Incredibles, and Bratatouille. And then Mission Impossible Ghost Protocol. What a leap.
00:44:17
Speaker
What a filmography. Then after that, he did Tomorrowland and then Incredibles 2. So he kind of... Tomorrowland was very disappointing. And then for Incredibles 3, he's not coming back as the director, but he's writing.
00:44:31
Speaker
Nope. Well, there's our news for the week. Incredibles 3 is a thing. Yeah. That's news to me. Yep. So is he in director jail? Because and I know people don't like Incredibles 2.
00:44:42
Speaker
I think he left Disney. to stir er pixar i guess to start his own animation thing and i know some people from the og pixar team did and there's a new there's a a new um studio that's trying to capture that old pixar magic i don't know if brad bird went with them or not i think he should do more live action movies with to Well, he's one and two, so... Just just in general.
00:45:16
Speaker
don't i don't know if I want to say it. Say it. What? Okay.
00:45:25
Speaker
I've reshuffled my list a few times. Of... Of the ranking like of this franchise. Okay. It's not currently. It could change by the end of the episode. But for a very long time, this was my number one.
00:45:39
Speaker
Honestly, it's respectable. I really enjoy this movie. I wish we had more Jeremy Renner. I agree. Mm-hmm. The team is solid in this.
00:45:49
Speaker
We've got the Burj Khalif scene. So good. That's like the... That is our first actually insane stunt. That picture of him sitting on top of it with no shoes.
00:46:04
Speaker
Have you guys seen it? And he's just... yeah Like a yeah Sunday morning. What is wrong with this man? A lot. I've seen it compared to the picture of like Will Smith where he's in like an astronaut suit.
00:46:16
Speaker
don't know. um this movie was where i went from liking mission impossible to i became a fan of mission impossible yeah i went from thinking like oh these are pretty solid to like oh but i I want to watch the next one, you know?
00:46:31
Speaker
And I think it was somewhere around the Burst-Cleeve scene where i was just like, these are awesome. And they also started to really not take themselves seriously.
00:46:42
Speaker
and I liked that. They leaned into the ridiculousness a little bit more and any sort of grounding was gone. i mean, the the movie ends with Tom Cruise deciding to ah descend a parking garage by just driving off of it.
00:46:55
Speaker
It's so good. And it's like, he would have died, but it looked cool. He's got bones of steel. A fun fact that I have... Talking about how grounded it is. Director Brad Bird specifically wanted every gadget to break or malfunction in the film.
00:47:12
Speaker
And I think that's a really cool choice. Like the gloves. Yeah, like the gloves. um The computer in the hallway when they have the the the screen up. Also, that's a sick gadget.
00:47:23
Speaker
Yeah. It was cool. Super cool. That's so cool. that Because I really like that. Because the one thing that I'm just like, ah, like I've never quite gotten used to it is them just having like a gadget for every possible scenario. It's like, yeah, like, oh, like you figured out our plan.
00:47:41
Speaker
Well, you didn't know I had the gazooter pin and then they just whip it out and like get out of the situation using it. Yeah, so I think that really works for this, having every gadget break or malfunction um and just brings a whole new element of it. Like just that on top of the entire team being disavowed from the IMF and them really being on their own, just bring something something very juicy to the table.
00:48:07
Speaker
And this movie just slaps. Favorite, any favorite scenes besides the Burj Khalifa? The sandstorm right after that was really cool. Oh, sandstorm's good.
00:48:17
Speaker
What was yours, Alex?
00:48:21
Speaker
I don't know. it's I liked all of the interactions um between the two female lead characters. ah So, Lea Seydoux and then... I'm forgetting... Paula Patton.
00:48:34
Speaker
Paula Patton. um I really liked the dynamic between those two characters a lot. And so, the scene where Lea Seydoux gets kicked out the window basically by accident.
00:48:45
Speaker
Oh, it was crazy. It was kind of funny. I think that's... I think... like right after the Burst Cleave of him climbing it, I think that whole sequence is also one of my favorites of the mask malfunctioning um and then the the opposite rooms and that whole meeting and and how that goes down.
00:49:02
Speaker
That's like a solid like 40 minutes of me just like perked up in my seat. that was That was really good, and I think this was the first one where like the end sequence, it felt like it had, like, ooh, these were huge stakes.
00:49:16
Speaker
Yeah. um And so you're sitting there waiting with bated breath on if Ethan's going to get it done or not. Spoiler, he does. That's our boy. He's always going to get it done.
00:49:28
Speaker
he always delivers. He's like DiGiorno. Yeah. I don't think DiGiorno delivers. That's okay. That's all right. I will say the villain was really forgettable. i I didn't even remember him until I just saw the picture.
00:49:46
Speaker
oh I don't know who that man is. Yeah. Yeah. He was the guy, right? He was like Swedish or something. He was the dude. was a guy. Like there's one, there's the reveal.
00:49:57
Speaker
i think when Ethan catches up to him in the sandstorm, it's either when he catches up to him in the sandstorm or the sandstorm is about to begin, but he reaches into the car and kind of rips, like he grabs his face and then it rips the mask.
00:50:12
Speaker
And that was supposed to be like a big reveal. But like whenever, like we saw like who it was, I was like, who is that? like Like totally forgetting that that was the main villain. um ah Unfortunately, he's no Philip Seymour Hoffman who steals every scene, but that's okay.
00:50:26
Speaker
They can't all be Philip Seymour Hoffman. Yeah. It's hard. It's hard to keep up. Let's go to Fallout. Rogue Nation's next. Rogue Nation. How dare you? I'm joking. You know... You're in timeout. I'm sorry.
00:50:39
Speaker
i I will say... Like as much as I love Ghost Protocol, I do get confused between Ghost Protocol and Rogue Nation a lot. So I might need some refreshers.
00:50:51
Speaker
So let's go to Rogue Nation. Let's. All right. Rogue Nation number five. With the IMF now disbanded and Ethan Hunt out in the cold. A new threat called the syndicate soon emerges.
00:51:04
Speaker
The syndicate is a network of highly skilled operatives who are dedicated to establishing a new world order via an escalating series of terrorist attacks. And this one has a delightful debut.
00:51:15
Speaker
Who's this one directed by? ah Your boy, Christopher McQuarrie. He's here. The man, the myth, the legend. Who is the lovely addition you're talking about?
00:51:27
Speaker
Miss Ilsa Faust. Yes. I mean, literally her debut scene is just like, whew!
00:51:36
Speaker
Nice.
00:51:39
Speaker
Careful, Mr. Newlywed.
00:51:43
Speaker
You're right. ah It was awful. I hated watching it, and i hate this movie. Yeah. You heard it here first, folks. Rogue Nation, zero out of ten.
00:51:55
Speaker
Ilsa Faust, terrible addition. Terrible addition. None of us like that. ah Rebecca Ferguson is great, though. I think she really you know understood the vibe of Mission Impossible.
00:52:07
Speaker
What is our opening sequence in this?
00:52:13
Speaker
Is this the prison? or that Is this the prison? This is prison. Okay. That was cool. I like the prison. The prison was awesome. Even just the very beginning when he's like throwing the ball at the wall.
00:52:27
Speaker
Oh, it's so smooth. So cool. He's just aura farming in prison. No one's even watching and he just, he's just doing it. Yeah. Just for the love of the game.
00:52:38
Speaker
um Yeah, opening sequence of the jail is just, it's so good, and it's so funny too. Just like the communication between him and Benji, and him asking like to open the doors, like just that that just gets me every time.
00:52:52
Speaker
Benji, I think, really comes into his own. um Not just in Ghost Protocol, but like really, like really like very much so very much so in this one. And for the team aspect, I feel...
00:53:04
Speaker
like i feel like this is just where like like those are my those are my people like i would wait would die for them prison is not this one prison's not this one no i think this one opens where no this is really and oh oh you're right prison prison is ghost protocol no i think prison is prison is not fallout That can't be right. think Prisons Fallout. Prisons not Fallout.
00:53:36
Speaker
No, because... Wait, is it? no it has to be Rogue Nation. It's not. Rogue Nation opens with... um Oh my god, it's not. He's in the record store. The record store. That's embarrassing.
00:53:55
Speaker
In my defense, I haven't watched this in a few years. In my defense, I haven't watched in...
00:54:02
Speaker
two weeks i don't even remember a record store very beginning your mission should you choose to accept it and then this is our first look at um what's his name lane at solomon lane oh right right right and he traps him in in the room and kills the girl in front of ethan that's right yep yeah ghost protocol is prison that makes sense we were just kidding but we still love the chase scene We just lost.
00:54:31
Speaker
How many episodes have we had? Nine. Nine episodes of credibility. It's okay. We're still babies. We're still babies. How does Rogue Nation fit into this franchise? There's eight of these. Yeah. How does Rogue Nation fit into and into this franchise for you guys?
00:54:47
Speaker
I liked it a little less than Ghost Protocol, so I thought it was a little bit of a step down. um I wasn't disappointed by it. I was just like, ah, it's not as good as Ghost Protocol. And that's okay.
00:54:58
Speaker
And that's okay. I think that's what's, and i I think we'll have this conversation with the later movies too, but that's what's difficult with this franchise. It's like you have some of like just the best, just the best stuff.
00:55:13
Speaker
And then if the next movie isn't really up to that level, like it's still good, but it's just, I don't know. It's hard to grapple with your emotions with the rankings of these.
00:55:26
Speaker
I feel like I'm losing my mind. We can turn this into a therapy session. What did Tom Cruise do to you? um How do you feel about, go ahead. I would say this one did have that awesome hanging off the plane stunt.
00:55:36
Speaker
I was like, think that was the first time we had that in a Mission Impossible movie. Mm-hmm. Tom Cruise being dragged across the sky.
00:55:46
Speaker
That's, I think that might be one of the scariest stunts for me to watch. And we get that very early on in the film. Why did he do that? I don't remember.
00:55:58
Speaker
There was something in the plane. He was aura farming. He was just, yeah, it's, I think, if I think this is like the, like and the opening of the movie, but there's something on the plane that he needed to get.
00:56:09
Speaker
Okay. And Benji's trying to direct him to get him on the plane. He's supposed to get into the ramp ramp closes. So he's hanging off the side and Benji's trying to open the doors for him to, for him to get in.
00:56:22
Speaker
And then we get into the, and into the title card. This one's good. This one's really good. i think Rebecca Ferguson is a great addition to this. um The theater scene. That was so cool.
00:56:33
Speaker
What can i That's, I think, top five Mission Impossible sequence for me was the theater scene. It was so good. I loved the cat and mouse of it. that's this whole That's this whole thing, but I totally agree.
00:56:44
Speaker
It might be might be top three sequences for me for sure, and it's not three. it It could be one. It could be one. But it could be two.
00:56:55
Speaker
It can never be one for me. What's your one? It's coming up. And the next one? Yes, sir. Who takes us there? Alex? ah wait. I think I do.
00:57:07
Speaker
Are we choosing to accept going on to the next movie? I guess so. Yeah, Rogue Nation's great. That's it. Rogue Nation's good. We can move on. Yeah.
00:57:23
Speaker
All right. Mission Impossible Fallout came out in 2018. A group of terrorists plans to detonate three plutonium cores for a simultaneous nuclear attack on different cities.
00:57:36
Speaker
Ethan Hunt, along with his IMF team, sets out to stop the carnage. Starring, you guessed it, Tom Cruise. Henry Cavill, Ving Rhames, Simon Pegg, Rebecca Faust.
00:57:52
Speaker
I mean, Rebecca Ferguson. We are not on our A game today. They're merging.
00:58:02
Speaker
um And also Vanessa Kirby. This one takes the cake for me for the craziest line in any Mission Impossible movie.
00:58:15
Speaker
This one caught me and my roommate so off guard. That we had to pause the movie. Oh, what is it?
00:58:26
Speaker
And it wasn't necessarily like what was said. It's the context of who said it. Because Alec Baldwin. Oh, yes.
00:58:40
Speaker
Alec Baldwin. and
00:58:44
Speaker
says to a character, i think this gun's loaded. Do you want to find out? As he points the gun at somebody.
00:58:57
Speaker
Oh, no.
00:59:05
Speaker
It's... I don't think there's a line that has aged worse in cinema that doesn't involve like some sort of slur. You can't write this stuff.
00:59:16
Speaker
You can't make it up. You can't make it up.
00:59:21
Speaker
It has aged so monumentally badly. Without him saying anything offensive. And I think that is actually just truly special and incredible. And it deserves some sort of an award.
00:59:37
Speaker
I mean, put it in the Library of Congress for all I care. It's just, I mean, it's just an incredible, incredible moment in cinema. I think I might have to like print out screenshots of that scene and just post them all over.
00:59:53
Speaker
But the movie is pretty good, too. um I think Christopher McQuarrie really found his footing in this one. um I think it was a step up from Rogue Nation. I think you guys would both agree with me because I've seen your letterbox ratings.
01:00:08
Speaker
This one was, I think, probably the best technically. I think it was shot the best. think it looked the best. And I think the stunts overall were at a higher level than some of the other movies.
01:00:23
Speaker
And i just loved Henry Cavill in it. I really like Henry Cavill in this. It might be his best role to date. So do you guys... I don't know about that.
01:00:35
Speaker
ah said might. Wait, what would you argue is his best role? I think The Man from Uncle was perfect. haven't seen that. For him, for him at least. It's not a perfect movie, but... Do you guys remember during the Batman versus Superman era, the whole discussion around, uh, there's a shot in it of Superman with a CG eight out CGI'd out mustache. You guys remember all that?
01:01:01
Speaker
Yes. Yep. And so that was due to reshoots of this movie and him not being able to shave the mustache. Is that, is that correct? Yeah. I believe so. Sounds correct.
01:01:13
Speaker
It's ringing a bell. So this movie has to be perfect. And not only technicality, but the Alec Baldwin quote.
01:01:25
Speaker
And it gave us the CGI i Superman upper lip with no upper lip. Like outside of this movie, it gave us so much. It really had an effect on the culture.
01:01:36
Speaker
It really did. Yeah. And it didn't mean to. It was just genuine. Also, this was the movie where I finally pinned down that every Mission Impossible movie ends with some bureaucrat who hated Ethan Hunt being like, now I see the light.
01:01:54
Speaker
And it's like, why don't you just read the mission report and see this guy is just an absolute tank. And if any other country had him, you would spend hundreds of millions of dollars trying to kill him. Yeah.
01:02:06
Speaker
It's like, no, like we we don't want the IMF working this mission. Like, are you on drugs? Like, why wouldn't you? think it's called um think it's got the best, I guess, hand-to-hand choreography, fight choreography.
01:02:22
Speaker
um My favorite sequence that i was kind of hinting at earlier is in this movie, the the bathroom scene at the, it's a club, right? Yeah. Yeah, like at the rave.
01:02:33
Speaker
yeah it's uh one-on-one on one kind of with uh ethan hunt uh henry galville's character and then asian john lark and it was just chef's guess asian or agent asian okay
01:02:54
Speaker
um yeah that is a really good scene yeah uh we got the henry yeah the arm reload gets me every time yeah genius one of my favorite uh it's a lot of people's favorite i think is just the skydiving sequence oh i love watching behind the scenes of that that was shot so well oh my god and it just seems like like it's i watch these movies and i'm like how did they pull this off Like, it's crazy that they pulled this off.
01:03:24
Speaker
But just, like, watching someone fall backwards with a big camera, like, attached them, and they tried it so many times to, like... Have him in focus. So they would... they were like I know they had like a like a wireless focus system.
01:03:37
Speaker
And they had to figure out kind of the distance between the camera and Tom Cruise like while they were falling. Because for a lot of like the first takes, like they were too far.
01:03:48
Speaker
And so the the wireless focus would get out of range. And so they couldn't do it. And so just like the technical aspects that go into all of that. It's just...
01:03:59
Speaker
it just blows my mind and then i texted you guys i was i had the i have the 4k disc um and in that scene and then in all the scenes that are shot in imax like it does the the ratio change like on the 4k like at home and so you're you're in the plane and it's starting to back up and the screen goes with like the black bars and they just like start to widen and i didn't know it did that i was in my living room i was just
01:04:27
Speaker
Whatever streaming service I watched, it had that. Oh, did it really? too Yeah, I can't remember if I watched it on Paramount or Canopy, but it had it. ah Because when it happened, I was like, whoa. yeah Yeah, it was awesome And the masks looked so cool, too.
01:04:43
Speaker
oh And the fact that it's freaking Tom Cruise just jumping out of a plane. I don't know. if No love for the cameraman, though. ah You got the shot and it's true you jumped out of the plane backwards. just gave all the love to the cameraman.
01:04:57
Speaker
I just had a whole thing about that. Yeah, but I want to talk about him too. Okay, you go go go ahead and talk about I don't know his name, but shout out to him.
01:05:08
Speaker
He had the sauce. Take a shot.
01:05:12
Speaker
I'm just taking sip my This movie just full of sauce. Sauce was the main ingredient. Mm-hmm. Also, our first appearance of Vanessa Kirby. Oh, yeah. Who was a fun, recurring character there for a bit.
01:05:25
Speaker
I do like the character of the White Widow. Oh! This is one of my favorite sequences. Towards the beginning, when they lose, the Beninging, when they lose, and they've got ah one of the guys in the in the hospital room, and they're trying to get him to...
01:05:45
Speaker
I guess like kind of like admit, I forget exactly what they're what they're trying to get him to admit, but Ethan Hunt is kind of bargaining with him that they'll read his manifesto on live air because we're seeing ah sequences of the news and Wolf Blitzer makes a, makes a cool cameo um that we're seeing all of these nuclear attacks that quote unquote happened.
01:06:04
Speaker
And so he gets Wolf Blitzer to read the manifesto, basically getting them to get a confession out. And then the walls fall and we see that they're in a studio. Oh my God. ah super And the government wants to take these people's budget away.
01:06:19
Speaker
Are they stupid? Two of my other favorite fun facts were, you know, this is like the Lord of the Rings version of for Mission Impossible. ah Tom Cruise is the movie where he broke his ankle ah doing stunt.
01:06:32
Speaker
The one where he's jumping from rooftop to rooftop. Yeah, when he's chasing Henry Cavill. Yep. And he breaks his ankle and he looked at the cameraman. He goes, did we get it? Did we get the shot?
01:06:43
Speaker
And they go, yes. And then he started reacting to the pain. Yep. And then my second favorite fact about this one is that for the helicopter chase in the end of the movie, guess who learned to fly a helicopter for this movie?
01:06:56
Speaker
Tom Cruise. It was Tom. Dude, that's actually insane. Something's wrong with him. We're going to get to that. The inclusion of ah of Julia in the end of this, first time I watched it, just pulled on my heart strings.
01:07:15
Speaker
I said, that's a really cool way to bring it all full circle. It really is. Yeah, I liked that a lot too. and And put that like personal, whatever I mentioned about the third movie, like um yeah yeah put the personal stakes into it for for Ethan's character.
01:07:35
Speaker
Yeah, and I think to double-click into that, I think it shrinks the world a little bit. Mission Impossible, whatever movie you pick, they travel around the world and they go everywhere.
01:07:45
Speaker
yeah And it's like, oh, we're jetting around everywhere. But that moment, I thought, really shrunk it down. It's like, this feels you know important, real, like like, oh, here's someone we care about and don't want harmed because they don't really have a part of this. is They're in the thick of the action as well.
01:08:04
Speaker
Yeah. All I'm thinking about is like the ranking that we're doing at the very I had a feeling. Yeah. yeah Then we should just rip through the next two then. All right. let's rip through let's Let's rip through the next two. So the next one we got is Mission Impossible, Dead Reckoning.
01:08:18
Speaker
ah Synopsis reads, Ethan Hunt and his IMF team embark on their most dangerous mission yet to track down a terrifying new weapon that threatens all of humanity before it falls into the wrong hands.
01:08:29
Speaker
I'll just leave it at that. Directed by Christopher McQuarrie, starring... tom cruise hayley atwell being rames simon pegg rebecca ferguson our boys this movie's all about ai very timely topic how do you guys feel about this movie the entity is what ultron should have been
01:08:52
Speaker
that's the first thing that came to my mind when i finished it elaborate on that like as far as the reach The reach it has, like do you think Ultron kind of having a physical appearance and not really doing much like that? Yeah, it's just like the entity felt way more threatening, even though Ultron had James Spader's voice and was dropping banger one-liners.
01:09:16
Speaker
um But the entity felt like, whoa. i mean, it's it's the first time that like the weapon is like the scariest part of the movie instead of the guy trying to use it. Because it's like, this thing can just do and whatever it wants. Yeah. yeah And you have Gabriel trying to simp for it.
01:09:38
Speaker
I hate Gabriel. i do, too. i'm so thankful you said it. Yeah, he sucks. He is my least favorite part. Of these final two movies.
01:09:49
Speaker
I don't care. what were they going for? i don't really understand. He's so written cheesy. He's such cartoon villain. cornball. It's like, okay.
01:10:00
Speaker
Why didn't Ethan just call him corny? That would have got him. like i I really don't like him. There is part... In the final reckoning, where I think it kind of just comes full circle for cheese for Gabriel, where he quite literally at one point is driving in a cave and says, catch me if you can, Ethan.
01:10:22
Speaker
Even his final line was... Like Tom and Jerry cartoon. Yeah. i I just... I never... I did not care about him. I'll tell you a fun fact about the final reckoning um when we get to that one. But yeah, I just...
01:10:39
Speaker
To go from like the villains in Rogue Nation and Fallout to that, it was like, ooh. Really disappointing and really confusing.
01:10:51
Speaker
How do you guys feel about Hayley Atwell's performance in this in addition to this cast? Loved her. Yeah. I thought she was such a good addition.
01:11:02
Speaker
She brought a lot of Bond girl vibes without just being like... Ooh, I'm a girl. I'm here. Like she was a very useful character. She was her own, but she brought the, the same sort of energy and the dynamic that some of the bond girls bring to like a James Bond film.
01:11:22
Speaker
I agree. And she gets the, uh, the privilege of getting some of that up close slide of hand magic with Ethan at the airport. Um, I've got a fun fact here. It says when Ethan and grace meet for the first time at the airport, Tom Cruise insisted on performing the magic trick with two halves of the key. Practically, despite numerous failed takes, the desired effect was ultimately achieved in camera with no visual effects.
01:11:47
Speaker
I would expect that's crazy. I also try and do magic when I'm meeting girls for the first time. Does work? No, it doesn't work.
01:12:01
Speaker
Going back to the entity, he's really scary and this in this movie. For sure. Like the whole airport sequence of Benji um trying to defuse the quote-unquote bomb.
01:12:13
Speaker
Hello? Hello? like And it's just like it just creates this sense of paranoia in this movie that I really appreciate because it's just it's so out of their hands. And I think this is almost the first time in the franchise where I feel like.
01:12:31
Speaker
I feel the hopelessness in a way because like I'm watching all of them. I'm like, Oh no, how are they going to get out of this? But the back of my mind is like, I know how they're going get out of this. But I think these, this was like the first time was just like, Oh shit.
01:12:42
Speaker
Like you genuinely genuinely is like, they can't get out of this. I'm like, what are they going to do? And then being able to see that in the character of Ethan Hunt and how frantic he gets and he's usually pretty cool and composed, but I mean,
01:13:00
Speaker
he's just faced with so many of these like huge decisions between like the fate of the world and and his friends. And it just actually leaves me breathless. Like when I watch it, cause I'm like, Holy shit. Like, I don't know. It just, I think, I think it works really well. The first time I watched this movie, I thought it was good.
01:13:19
Speaker
i didn't love it on a rewatch. I really enjoy this. I didn't, I w I wasn't thrilled with it. Like, I mean, I liked it, but I wasn't like, whoa, like it didn't really actually make me want to see what happened, like what happens in the second one, other than the fact that it has no conclusion.
01:13:41
Speaker
Like, i I actually don't think it did that great of a job leading into the second. I agree. That's fair. I think the last 20 minutes are pretty rough and it kind of just like you're just like, I remember being in the theater, like, oh.
01:13:53
Speaker
Wait, like when the of part one comes up on screen, was like, oh, OK, well. I thought the train scene was pretty good, but I did think it was hilarious that the trains just kept sliding off the track. It's so good. For like 20 minutes.
01:14:05
Speaker
I was like, how long is this going to go on? long this going to take? How do you guys feel about the about the base jump? That was sick. Yes, that awesome.
01:14:17
Speaker
What happened to the bike, though? Did it just get destroyed? was kind of pissed. I think in reality, the bike had a parachute, if I'm not mistaken, from watching some of the behind-the-scenes.
01:14:29
Speaker
Okay, good. Like, it's got its own little, like... That was a perfectly fine dirt bike. Did not need to be destroyed. Hey, it happens sometimes, you know? ah for the It's all for the mission.
01:14:40
Speaker
It's really hard to destroy a dirt bike, so...
Exploration of Dead Reckoning and AI Themes
01:14:43
Speaker
I think you could do it from that high a cliff and it falling down. I think it'd be all right. You would be shocked at how tough these things are. We'll ask Tom Cruise.
01:14:52
Speaker
Should we move to the final movie? Is there anything else you guys want to say about Dead Reckoning? Let's do it because i just want to talk about the final reckoning. Okay. the Dead Reckoning is all just leading up into the final reckoning. All right. Tachi, take us to Final Reckoning.
01:15:03
Speaker
All right. Our lives are the sum of our choices. Tom Cruise is Ethan Hunt in Mission Impossible, The Final Reckoning. uh interesting synopsis there oh wait that was it yeah
01:15:16
Speaker
um yeah so this is basically just the the second part of the final movie where um they're trying to stop this ai program called the entity that just has the capability of doing literally anything it wants starring Almost everyone from the previous movie.
01:15:36
Speaker
And some fun flashbacks. We got some fun glup. we Guys, we got some glup shittows in this. We just got so many glup shittows. We got glup shittowed in this. This movie. Oh, you're right.
01:15:48
Speaker
You could talk about it in three phases. The good, the bad, and the glup shittow. Let's do it exactly like that. Let's talk about the good.
01:16:00
Speaker
I think this movie did tension the best out of any of them. ah The submarine scene was... i was on the edge of my seat my whole time. It might be my favorite sequence in any of the Mission Impossible movies. really want to watch it again.
01:16:17
Speaker
It was so good in theaters, especially like the first half of it. like the The sense of dread that it carried um was just...
01:16:30
Speaker
Like it it felt like a Herculean task that Ethan was going to go do. Yep. um And then even like the the secondary scenes with like the Madam President in the situation room. I thought that was so so like such an interesting choice to with like how much time we spent with the president and the others in that situation room.
01:16:54
Speaker
And I thought it it worked so well. i agree. I thought it worked so, so well. But the whole time in the back of my mind, you know, how as she's trying to figure out which city would we choose of our own would we choose to nuke?
01:17:10
Speaker
I kept thinking, how would Trump react to this situation? I'm going to be honest, like I had the same thought. Like a president with empathy.
01:17:24
Speaker
We're just nuking Newark. We're getting rid of it Right off the map. We don't even have to discuss this. It's going. It's gone. It's gone. No, like sir, we didn't even ask.
01:17:38
Speaker
I've made the decision. Give me the codes. Just the one. We just need to get rid of this. Might offer a second one. Yeah, the most unbelievable part of this movie was having a president with empathy.
01:17:51
Speaker
Angela Bassett for president. Dang. I'd be on board. Why'd you say dang? It'd just really be like that sometimes.
01:18:02
Speaker
It do be like that. Tachi, what's good about this movie for you? What's good? um Tramiel Tillman. So good. Such a He stole everything. So sensual.
01:18:16
Speaker
And he's just so smooth. His line delivery is like perfect. How he do it? And you must be out of your mind. Yes. Exactly. So funny. Hey, mister.
01:18:29
Speaker
Oh, I love that he just kept calling him mister.
01:18:33
Speaker
yeah He was awesome. I loved him in this. That entire submarine was... They they were giving Ethan some looks. i was feeling some... It was palpable.
01:18:46
Speaker
It gets really lonely on the subs. I thought they were going to kiss. Who? All of them. whole Every single person on that submarine. Would have been said of Mission Impossible, The Final Reckoning, it was Mission Impossible, the Final Freakinging.
01:19:31
Speaker
and but I haven't been brought to tears since or a while sober in a very long time. So stupid. Well done, Alex. i wish I can't even finish the joke because it's like just the reaction to the first bit was so good.
01:19:49
Speaker
Oh my God.
01:19:52
Speaker
Thank you. Now we have to talk about the bad. Gabriel. Yes. God.
Critique and Paradoxes
01:20:01
Speaker
do you So my fun fact about Gabriel in this movie is I was so locked in for the whole thing, and I forgot he died.
01:20:11
Speaker
yeah literally I'm driving with my roommate out of the theater, and like it's just crazy. like What happened to Gabriel, though? And he goes, you got his head split open, and I'm like, oh, yeah.
01:20:23
Speaker
And it was kind of a loud sound, too. like You could hear the... Well, I remember even being in theaters like, whoa, like, I didn't expect it to be that gory. Like, I mean, that thing was split like a melon.
01:20:36
Speaker
And then he just I just immediately deleted him from my mind. he just like feels like he was in the wrong movie. Yeah. It it seems like he just appeared on set and they're like, sure, we'll give you a character.
01:20:52
Speaker
Yeah. And it just happened to be villain. they're remember that thing you were doing in Dead Reckoning? Let's turn that up to 11. Let's Everything everyone complained about, let's make it worse. Yeah.
01:21:06
Speaker
Okay, real quick, one question I had. So, you know, in the flashbacks, like at this point in the franchise, I don't think we needed more lore to Ethan. No. So the inclusion of Gabriel literally from the start just doesn't work.
01:21:21
Speaker
Who was that that he killed? Was that his mom? Or is it like a... like I think it was like so some person. i don't know. how I thought it was his mom in dead reckoning. And something in the final reckoning happened.
01:21:34
Speaker
Someone said something that that was like his lover. Yeah, I always thought a love interest. Okay, I always thought it was his mom. But I don't know why they didn't just pull like someone that we've seen before. There have been seven movies at this point.
01:21:47
Speaker
Like, I don't know who that woman is. And then we only get that one flashback. We've seen that a lot. yeah Another bad part of this movie, which i which I get, these movies do well in the box office.
01:22:02
Speaker
So this kind of felt like a studio decision. But to kind of like shoehorn the first seven movies in the opening five minutes of this,
01:22:13
Speaker
The first 25 minutes this movie. Yeah, the first 25 minutes of this, I was just like, oh, this is not off to a great start. Like, it was just like, it's just trying to get people re-familiar with what's happened. But but remember, this, I think, would have been swept up in the writer's strike.
01:22:32
Speaker
And suddenly it made sense. wow Oh. Because you had probably Tom Cruise, like, we just got to write the script. Damn.
01:22:44
Speaker
And that's a shame. Because that is... That does not work for me. No. Whatsoever. um I kind of wish...
01:22:55
Speaker
While I enjoy, again, kind of the global threat of the Entity, I feel like we just didn't get ah good glimpse into the world that was a that was kind of outside of Ethan's immediate circle.
01:23:12
Speaker
like we got it a lot We got flashes of it from news segments in the beginning of like the Entity even has like these like like a cult following, and there's all of these like protests and wars happening around the world.
01:23:24
Speaker
I wanted more of that. That would have been cool. And to see how Ethan like kind of addresses that as a whole instead of figuring it out in these couple of places that we go like this movie feels very contained in a lot of it.
01:23:41
Speaker
I mean, it's the final reckoning. It just doesn't feel like it needs to be like that type of movie. Like, I think I just feel like they would have gone like a lot larger, if that makes sense. I think if they do guys have been entity cultists.
01:23:56
Speaker
No. Maybe. Might be kind of fun. You think? Maybe. i mean, if the world's ending, it's like, well, might as well try getting good with the AI.
01:24:09
Speaker
Isn't that like a real? think there's like a real paradox involving AI where it's like, oh, what is it? It's um AI paradox.
01:24:21
Speaker
were you going say real quick, Tachi, while Alex figures this out? Oh, I was going say, if they took a little bit of time away from the submarine sequence and then the the the airplane sequence at the end, maybe mostly from that, and I think dedicated it to what you were just talking about with, I guess, the impact of the entity on the world and and everything surrounding the whole issue the problem um i think you know that would have paid dividends as well i mean i think it could have even come from like like the first half of this movie i don't even remember remember the first it's like it's hard to remember right like so just with the like we get the introduction to the entity in the final reckoning or in dead reckoning yeah
01:25:11
Speaker
And so I just don't think we needed the handholding. And it just felt like there was a lot of time and potential wasted in like that first act of the movie. Because I think in that first act, we could have we could have been deep into seeing all of that and and figuring all of that out.
01:25:30
Speaker
I think we got more lore on the submarine than entity. Yeah. I don't care about the submarine. Like the submarine just should have been... Like we should have just known why need he needed to go to the submarine, see it happen, but there was just so much time figuring out like how to get to the Sevastopol and doing all of that. But like, I do love the sequence, but just the whole build up to it, like that took too long.
01:25:59
Speaker
That's not that's not what what I wanted to see out of that. Alex, are you alive? I am alive. Okay. I'm diving deep into AI thought experiments. Uh-oh. I think I combined two, Rocco's Basilisk and the AI box experiment.
01:26:16
Speaker
What are these? So Rocco's ba Basilisk is a thought experiment which states that there could be an otherwise benevolent artificial superintelligence in the future that would punish anyone who knew of its potential existence but did not directly contribute to its advancement or development in order to incentivize said advancement.
01:26:34
Speaker
Uh-oh. um And then the second one is AI in the box is a thought experiment and role-playing exercise devised by Eliezer Yudkowsky to show that a suitable artificial, and suitable, a suitably advanced artificial intelligence can convince or perhaps even trick or coerce people into releasing it.
01:26:52
Speaker
That is allowing it to access infrastructure, manufacturing capabilities, the internet, and so on. This is one of the points in Yudkowsky's work at creating a friendly AI platform. So that when released, an AI won't try and destroy the human race for one reason or another.
01:27:07
Speaker
And I feel like this would be like a whole episode's worth of stuff. So I'm going to leave it. If you want to dive deeper into that, that's your own thing. But yeah, now I want to. was called again?
01:27:19
Speaker
Roko's Basilisk and the AI box experiment. But yeah, I mean, i feel like the movie kind of touched on those a little bit. And I feel like it probably could have led me to being a cultist is what my point was.
01:27:36
Speaker
ah did we want to talk about Dunlow? Oh, yeah, we got to talk about the glubs. I love this club.
01:27:46
Speaker
Me too. I think it's really cool to take a throwaway line from the first one. So if you guys remember in the first one, after he kind of, uh, admits what happens to, uh, like in the IMF headquarters, Dunlow, um,
01:28:00
Speaker
there's like i think it's like even like I think it's a split diopter shot done those in like in the background. And then Kittredge whispers to somebody, who's just like like, get him off to a ship to Alaska like first thing in the morning. And that's it.
01:28:11
Speaker
And so I just think that's really cool that we saw um the result of that also the conversation that he has with Ethan of Ethan apologizing to him for putting him in that situation. And then him kind of just consoling him, calling him friend. He's like, I would have never met the love of my life or lived the life that I did.
01:28:30
Speaker
If it was a little too glubby for me. Oh, I liked it I liked it too. It worked for me. It was cute. It was like, Like trying not to tie up any loose ends. And then like the whole thing with like tying it the entity back to the rabbit's foot. It was just like, oh, come on. Didn't like like the tie into the rabbit's foot. Didn't like the other guy who's been chasing Ethan being the son of John Voight.
01:28:56
Speaker
I was like, OK, OK, we did not need that. No, it it you had no bearing on anything. Nothing like we got the reveal and then doubt like it you changed. like They could have eliminated that and and then still had them end the same way. And it would have nothing would have changed.
01:29:12
Speaker
He was, in my opinion, a better character without the backstory. Yes, he just felt like this opposing force that was kind of there in the background. At the same time, we had his character, the black guy kind of.
01:29:25
Speaker
questioning his morality and like kind of wanting to stand with Ethan. That is so much more interesting than making the other one, the son of, uh, another glove shadow.
01:29:38
Speaker
Should we refresh the audience on glove shadow? No, I trust them to remember. Yeah. Yeah. I trust them. That glove should have something you can't forget. Yeah, sure.
01:29:51
Speaker
Uh, let's talk about Luther. Let's. Why was he sick? When did he get don't know. that was so confusing. That felt so real. What do you mean?
01:30:03
Speaker
Like it almost felt like he was sick in real life. I don't know. I just got that vibe. Because it was so random? It's not based in reality. Yeah, it was just so random.
01:30:17
Speaker
He also, I don't know if he's just that good of an actor, but he looked and acted really sick. I don't know. I love it. It was just it was strange.
01:30:28
Speaker
I love Luther and I'm kind of disappointed with how spoiler alert.
01:30:36
Speaker
With how he goes. Me too. Yeah, because it's Gabriel. Oh, Stan. What is it? Why does Gabriel have so many like plutonium bombs?
01:30:48
Speaker
Where did he get on the plutonium? He just waltzed in and put it down and go. i I didn't like... I mean, I think Ving Rhames handled it awesome, like the whole sequence, but having him be sick was just... To me, I felt like they made him sick to make it like...
01:31:08
Speaker
to make his spoiler death, less impactful. Cause it's like, well, he was going to be sick anyway. He's going to die of cancer. So we might as well just it have him go out. Cool. It felt like they were like, just trying to like pull back on the emotion a little bit.
01:31:23
Speaker
Like as soon as we see Ethan go into this cave and then we see all of the like the. Like the all the all the medical bed and like what he's doing and finding out that he's sick, I'm just like, OK, so they're clearly already setting up for this. Also, who was the nurse that was just like IMF trusted to go into the sewers? No idea. idea Like, oh, we're going to I'm going to give Ving Rhames chemo in the sewer. No idea. Yeah, the whole setup was very strange.
01:31:52
Speaker
I didn't really understand or support that plot. Writer's strike. ah You can tell what part of the movie was written during the writer's strike and what part of the movie was not written during the
Enjoyment and Stunts
01:32:04
Speaker
writer's strike. The movie does get stronger as it goes on, especially following the submarine sequence.
01:32:11
Speaker
But I mean, it's a three hour movie. And that first like hour 20, I'm just, I'm just not super on board. Yeah. I have to be honest.
01:32:23
Speaker
I get that. I don't think it took away my enjoyment as much as I think it did you guys. Because I was just like, ooh, this is rough. And then was like, well, it's going to get better. And then it got better.
01:32:36
Speaker
At the end of the day, I still very much enjoyed myself. Like, I think I'm just like talking through the problems that I have with it. but And your emotions, clearly. And my emotions.
01:32:47
Speaker
But again, like at the end of the day, like I was watching a Mission of Impossible movie in theaters and I left feeling good. It was fun. It was fun.
01:32:59
Speaker
And the biplane sequence. So good. Oh, my God. Insanity. I was reading. Didn't you have that a button? What? Oh, my God.
01:33:10
Speaker
Damn, son. Where'd you find this? Damn. biplanes where do you find those um i was watching it a interview with christopher mccquarie and they were talking about um the biplane sequence and kind of how they had to ah guess choreograph it um and he's talking I guess about like the G force to Tom Cruise's body and how they had to choreograph the way that he would move across the wires, holding the wings together. And they had to be very particular and like really careful because like, as he's laying on a wire, whether that be like on his back or on his front, when a plane flips and the G force increases, like it has the potential to basically slice through his body. Yeah.
01:33:57
Speaker
Oh my God. So like the planning and execution that had to go through that was just like, this man will die for movies.
01:34:09
Speaker
And they did that, uh, that parachute sequence with the, with the parachute on fire 19 times. That was a great story. Real flame, right? Real yeah soaked in gasoline or whatever.
01:34:22
Speaker
Yeah. And I remember being in the theater, I was thinking, because like watching his body flail around, was just like, oh, how'd they do this? And then knowing in the back of my mind, i was like, they probably did it. And then seeing the behind the scenes that they did it 19 times, i was like, okay, yeah.
01:34:35
Speaker
He set some sort of world record. I think so. I think so. And I don't know what it would have been besides most times. jumping out of the plane with a burning parachute.
01:34:47
Speaker
I can't imagine that was a high bar to clear.
01:34:52
Speaker
I'm sure he's got a number of world records. Like some, like, i don't know who would have held it before. Like some guy in world war two who had like really bad, then good luck.
01:35:04
Speaker
Do you guys think Ethan should have died? i think him dying at any point in the movie and then his team doing it without him. Would have been awesome.
01:35:17
Speaker
I agree. I think that would have been really cool to see. What would have been the best time for him to die? Maybe... After submarine? After the submarine?
01:35:29
Speaker
But then we don't get that Hayley Atwell scene, which was just... Terrible scene. Really bad. Zero out of ten. The one like immediately after the submarine when he comes up for oxygen. Yeah. And she's in she's in the ah the ah decompression chamber with him. I mean, just. That just felt like ah he did it. Okay, let's move on.
01:35:50
Speaker
Horrible scene. don't know. I could never watch it again. um i don't know. I guess I would have been okay with him dying. but would have been strange. But.
01:36:02
Speaker
I guess it it would have been, I think a choice that no director was brave enough to make. Yeah. I think I was just hoping Tom would let it happen. Yeah. I think I was just hoping that they were brave enough to do it.
01:36:15
Speaker
Cause he is so self-sacrificial. Like it makes sense. It makes sense for the character. And I think it would have been, and think it would have been a really good sendoff because I mean, i don't know if this it's the final reckoning, but like, is this the last mission and impossible movie we're going to get?
01:36:33
Speaker
Do we know with Ethan Hunt? I feel like the lead, I think so. Hmm.
Franchise Reflection and Rankings
01:36:40
Speaker
I feel like we're going to see another one. But he's 60.
01:36:45
Speaker
I think we'll see another one with someone one else in the lead and Ethan Hunt becomes our glove. Shido kind of the maybe we get maybe we get him being like the teacher. It could be like Maverick.
01:36:56
Speaker
It could be like Maverick. That could be. phone Mission Impossible Maverick. Okay. I think we're cooking. Christopher McQuarrie, call us.
01:37:08
Speaker
We'll help write a better villain than Gabriel. God, hate Gabriel. I'm glad he's dead. Gabriel sucks. He should have died in the first movie. Chat, drop us ah some fan mail if you also hated Gabriel.
01:37:21
Speaker
And I feel bad for the guy because I honestly can't tell if it's his fault or not. Like, obviously, a lot of the lines were just garbage, but... i don't think it's I don't think it's his fault. like It's just his character as a whole and the inclusion of him that I'm just not on board with.
01:37:40
Speaker
yeah I agree with that. But if I saw him in public and he gave me one of those Gabriel looks, I'd probably start swinging. and
01:37:54
Speaker
I gotta get me a key. I gotta get me a cool entity key. Yeah. The Christoform key whatever it's called. Yeah. Are we missing any other major parts of this movie or can we move on to our rankings?
01:38:07
Speaker
I think we can do rankings and then we can talk about Tom Cruise. Yeah. Let's go for it. Yeah.
01:38:16
Speaker
I don't want to go first. was going to say who's brave enough to go first. I can go first. Okay. You're going to first? Yeah. I'll go first. Okay. I'll start from the bottom and go to the top. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. In eighth place. Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. Before we do the rankings, yeah just a quick 10 second blurb.
01:38:33
Speaker
How you feel about this franchise now that it's quote unquote over? One of the greatest action franchises all time.
01:38:43
Speaker
There's my blurb. Alex? I wish I saw more of them in theaters. That was going be mine. I wish I got into this franchise a lot earlier. Rank.
01:38:54
Speaker
All right. Rank them. Wait. mean Do we have a good sound for this?
01:39:03
Speaker
That'd be good for after probably. Yeah. Yeah. Maybe. We'll see. All right. So number eight. Mission Impossible 2. I think a lot of people could have seen that coming. It's just.
01:39:14
Speaker
I know you guys mentioned it product at the time, but man, it's corny. But anyways, number seven, this is where it gets tricky.
01:39:26
Speaker
because i was so accurate Cause I love mission impossible one. Like i really think it's a great movie. Um,
01:39:38
Speaker
But it has to go here. Because it only gets better from there. Barring number two. So number six. Final Reckoning.
01:39:49
Speaker
Number five. Dead Reckoning.
01:39:54
Speaker
And number four is when it gets really tricky. a Ghost Protocol.
01:40:01
Speaker
I love that movie. Get those numbers up. Three is Rogue Nation. Two is MI3. Wow. And I think it's solely carried by how much I love Philip Seymour Hoffman.
01:40:15
Speaker
Like, I think he really, really elevated that movie. Yeah. And then number one is Fallout because it's basically perfect to me. It is so fun and it's so well done.
01:40:30
Speaker
That's a good, look that's a good ranking. Thank you.
01:40:33
Speaker
All right, who's next? Be brave.
01:40:38
Speaker
Alex, i want to do rock, paper, scissors. Okay, we're going to go one, two, three, shoot. All right. are you do Wait, wait, are you doing best two out of three? or Just one and done. Just one and done.
01:40:48
Speaker
Alright, ready? Yeah. One, two... What? ah What do you... Why'd you start with the one? what do you mean me? You do rocks, paper, scissors, shoot. Okay, sorry. Alright, ready?
01:41:02
Speaker
Yep. Rocks, paper, scissors, shoot. Rocks, paper, scissors, shoot. Go.
01:41:14
Speaker
I lost. I threw a rock. He threw some paper. um In eighth place, we have Mission Impossible. What? Two.
01:41:24
Speaker
Okay. Nice.
01:41:28
Speaker
I'm already pissed.
01:41:32
Speaker
In seventh, we have Mission Impossible.
01:41:36
Speaker
In sixth,
01:41:40
Speaker
Mission Impossible 3. What? Wow.
01:41:45
Speaker
Wow. what Okay, we'll talk after. We'll fight after. In fifth, Mission Impossible Rogue Nation. Okay.
01:41:57
Speaker
In fourth, Dead Reckoning. Wow. in In third, the final Reckoning. Wow. In second...
01:42:10
Speaker
I know it. Fallout. ah And in first, Ghost Protocol. Wow. Interesting ranking.
01:42:21
Speaker
Why is Mission Impossible 3 so low? Because at the end of the day, as much as I technically liked it, I watched it less than 24 hours after having surgery and I wasn't feeling anything.
01:42:38
Speaker
But Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall. I don't remember that. I think you need to rewatch it. think so too. I will. I will. But you guys, it's not a coincidence that the bottom three were all the surgery. That's fair.
01:42:54
Speaker
Okay. So wait, tell me again, what was your number five and then number four? Five was Rogue Nation and four was Dead Reckoning. And then you go Final Reckoning, Ghost Protocol. Final Fallout and Ghost is one. Wow. Wow.
01:43:09
Speaker
Malik's shook. I am a little shook. Alright, here's mine. In 8th, we got Mission Impossible 2.
01:43:20
Speaker
In 7th, we have the Final Reckoning. In 6th, Mission Impossible, my first. 5th, I have Dead Reckoning.
01:43:32
Speaker
4th, Rogue Nation. In number 3, I have Mission Impossible 3. but In spot number two,
01:43:44
Speaker
we have Fallout. What?
01:43:47
Speaker
And in spot number one, we have Ghost Protocol. Ghost Protocol, Chad, rise up. We're back. Fallout. Fallout, to me, is pretty much a perfect action movie. Right.
01:44:03
Speaker
Yes. Ghost Protocol, I don't think technically is as perfect, but there's just something about it that I'm Say a line.
01:44:20
Speaker
Say it. have a loaded gun.
01:44:24
Speaker
No, I... What line? Ghost Protocol has the sauce. Take a drink. Oh, yeah. Ghost Protocol has the sauce. Take two shots.
01:44:36
Speaker
Pour one out for homies. Our listeners are dead. It does kind of feel like Ghost Protocol feels kind of the most Mission Impossible-y. it like It's very, and I think it just might be how grounded, like we said, it feels. you know like Fallout is extravagant.
01:44:57
Speaker
Fallout is loud, and it's beautiful. But Ghost Protocol is that that one just sitting to the side with a little smirk. With the glasses that just need to be removed.
01:45:10
Speaker
With the glasses that just need to be removed and the ponytail that needs to be taken out. That's ghost protocol. Fallout will cheat on you.
01:45:37
Speaker
Fallout took the kids. And
01:45:43
Speaker
that's how I feel. and When did you decide this? Ghost Protocol has been... For a second, Fallout was number one.
01:45:54
Speaker
Initially, before Dead Reckoning Part 1, and for the longest time, Ghost Protocol was number one. And on a rewatch, I just felt it had to go back.
01:46:09
Speaker
I really wish I was able to rewatch Ghost Protocol call before this episode. Because I remember it so like fondly. Yeah. Well, sorry, i cut you off. What were you going i think I think that was it. Yeah, Ghost Protocol was was number one from the beginning. The first time I watched this franchise.
01:46:29
Speaker
At some point, Fallout became number one and Ghost Protocol became number two. Second rewatch. Like I said. remembered your roots. Nothing is wrong with Fallout.
01:46:42
Speaker
Fallout is great. Pretty much flawless. We didn't really talk about Solomon Lane as a villain. mc keep We kept hitting on Gabriel. Next to Philip. Actually, I don't know. He's not as good as Philip, but he's pretty good. He's not as good Philip, but he's a very close second.
01:46:58
Speaker
He's very Bond villainy. As far as like villains ah continued from movie to movie, I wish we had more Solomon Lane. um And I think he would have been great in place of Gabriel.
01:47:10
Speaker
And he was in two movies. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And he was he was very cold and ruthless, which was nice to see. All right, we've never recorded an episode this long, and I actually only have 10 minutes left in my memory card.
Tom Cruise's Dedication and Future
01:47:23
Speaker
So let's talk about Tom Cruise. I think if Tom Cruise wasn't making movies, he would be a serial killer. I agree.
01:47:35
Speaker
I actually think that he is so... like
01:47:41
Speaker
He reminds me of like Hannibal Lecter, but he's like sort of like Clarice. He's like movies. genma I think we should be grateful because like outside of movies doesn't seem like a great person.
01:47:56
Speaker
Probably not a good probably not a good guy. But I think we can all agree he is the president of movies. He's like. What is the what is the the ranking? Like a chaotic... Neutral?
01:48:10
Speaker
um Chaotic neutral, I would say. like if you like you Yeah, I totally agree. If he wasn't making movies, I think he could be the supervillain. Yeah, he seems like... I think he would have bodies in buried in the crawlspace.
01:48:25
Speaker
He would be John Wayne Cruz.
01:48:33
Speaker
Or Tom Wayne Cruz. Dang it. I should have thought it before.
01:48:38
Speaker
Yeah. He just seems like one of those people that's capable of anything good or bad. and
01:48:45
Speaker
He's just, he's got an absurd level of self-confidence and drive ambition. you know, like you guys said, it's, it's great that he landed it on movie star.
01:49:00
Speaker
Yeah. We should be grateful that, that, that he is Mr. Movies. Mm-hmm. Because man will literally die for the movies.
01:49:09
Speaker
He might. He might. There are some movies I'd die for. we think... So he's in his 60s, you said, Tachi? Yeah. i mean Do we think he still has some juice to do some more crazy stunts somewhere? even she is gonna He is going to Tom Brady it. He is going to do stunts until he just can't anymore.
01:49:31
Speaker
ye like He is going to run the wheels off the thing. Do we think ah Just like how Jackie Chan said going to retire like 10 years ago. Still hasn't. yeah He's still acting. Still doing karate movies. so Do we think when the news headline comes out that Tom Cruise has passed away, it's going to be on a movie set?
01:49:50
Speaker
I could see it. Is this a bold prediction? This is a bold prediction for ah hopefully some decades down the line. Because we need Mission and Impossible Maverick.
01:50:02
Speaker
I agree. That'd be sick.
01:50:07
Speaker
That would be kind of sick.
01:50:10
Speaker
All right. Well, this is now our longest episode. Yeah, we beat out um
01:50:19
Speaker
our fallback episode. That was funny, by the way. You listened to it? Yeah. It was good. You guys did well. Thanks. ah a fun now We missed you, though. Yeah. Thanks.
01:50:32
Speaker
There's a void. It didn't feel like it. It felt natural. It was good. The entity wants us to fail. Real quick. ah Final reckoning.
01:50:43
Speaker
um Luther's speech at the very end did get me. Oh, yeah, that was good. I think that's why I rank final reckoning so high is because that whole sequence got me so hard. And then um just I think seeing it in theaters is like a very emotional, overwhelming Yeah.
01:51:00
Speaker
I mean, again, the first time I saw ah Dead Reckoning, I walked out and I was like, OK, I wasn't too high on it. And then on a rewatch, I was like, all right, I get it. I get it a bit more now. I could see the same happening with Final Reckoning.
01:51:12
Speaker
They should have moved Luther's death to the climax, like in that cave thing. hmm. He should have like done something. I just don't think he should have been in the cave sick.
01:51:25
Speaker
I mean, he didn't have to be sick. He didn't have to be. Yeah. It just, needed' it felt weightless at the beginning. It did with it being from Gabriel, just like kind of acting alone. it was weird.
01:51:37
Speaker
But the, the note to Ethan afterwards really, really made it up for me. I just had to say that any final thoughts on mission impossible before we sign off. Um,
01:51:50
Speaker
Fans out there, DM us which city you would have nuked if you were the president. I'm curious to see what you pick. We don't want your rankings. We want we want the city that you nuke.
01:52:03
Speaker
What would you guys pick? and american Newark is probably up there for me. no and I really like the Newark airport. It's really nice. Are you kidding me? The Newark airport is really nice.
01:52:16
Speaker
I can't tell if this is a bit or not. No, it's not a bit. I was just at the Newark airport and it's really nice. I've been there one time and when I was going through security, it was for a connection.
01:52:27
Speaker
There was literally like garbage and trash going through security when everyone had to be barefoot. It was the most disgusting, horrible airport I've ever been to in my life. There might be like an additional part of the airport that's newer at Newark.
01:52:43
Speaker
Because I know there's multiple terminals. But wherever we were flying out of was quite literally the nicest like airport hangar I've ever been in. We had very different experiences, I think.
01:52:55
Speaker
Okay, but the airport, sure. But the airport doesn't deserve... I mean, the airport doesn't do enough. Even if it's been revamped, it does not do enough to save the city from being wiped off the face of the earth. I don't know anything about the city, so I can't... It sucks.
01:53:08
Speaker
And it's in New Jersey. So you align with Trump.
01:53:14
Speaker
That's the ticket. We don't have to say our cities. um I choose Columbus, Ohio. Okay. guess she um Yeah, let us know your ranking of Mission Impossible.
01:53:28
Speaker
There's no incorrect ranking. Malik's too scared to nuke a city. I don't know what I would pick, coward. Cop out. All right, fine. You want me to pick a city? Yeah, Nuka City. San Antonio.
01:53:40
Speaker
Oh. That's crazy. So close to home. um no wait to Way to make our lives a Mission Impossible with all the fallout that'll happen in the air.
01:53:53
Speaker
we'll We'll be fine.
01:53:56
Speaker
Let us know your Mission Impossible rankings and let us know which city that you'd nuke. But thank you so much for listening. If you're still here, thank you for accepting this mission. This podcast will self-destruct in 5, 4, 3, 2, 1.