Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning

~Rebel~ · 20-07-2023 11:19PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120875287#Comment_120875287

It irritated the bejesus out of me... I want to suspend my disbelief... I'm trying real hard to suspend my disbelief - why make it so difficult on such a simple scene? Like, even in a preposterous movie, you still have to have rules to ground it so at least something can matter and have stakes. But they did that "one-line-many-voices" thing instead of actual conversation a whole bunch of times throughout the film, and it just turns characters into sock puppets unnecessarily. Just seems a particularly lazy way to lash out all your exposition over and over.

tesla_newbie · 22-07-2023 11:33AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120865805#Comment_120865805

I love the first one but for me the 2011 on era is superior, the second one is poor but the third one with Philip Seymour Hoffman is the dud of the series

RickBlaine · 22-07-2023 02:56PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120882367#Comment_120882367

I can never understand this take that M:I 3 is a dud. Hoffman is excellent and the Vatican heist is one of the best in the series. Also, unlike Ghost Protocol which peaks during the Dubai scenes and the subsequent Indian sequence is a bit lacking, the third act of M:I 3 keeps the tension to the end.

Sudden Valley · 22-07-2023 03:25PM

MI 3 relied heavily on the fake face mask that was already getting old and looked a bit cheap like an a slightly more expensive episode of Alias. I did enjoy the Vatican scenes so it is better than mi 2

tesla_newbie · 22-07-2023 05:07PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120883047#Comment_120883047

I love Philip Seymour Hoffman, I just hate MI3

Arghus · 22-07-2023 05:28PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120877854#Comment_120877854

I hated that scene. I've seen people here and elsewhere defend it as being self aware or intentionally a send up of heavy handed exposition scenes, but I think that's a very charitable interpretation. It just felt like a genuinely bone dumb exposition scene.

pixelburp · 23-07-2023 07:43PM

I dunno, I kinda loved that briefing scene: it had a bit of flourish and obvious affectation - but the whole series always skirted around the reality of this universe's existing ludicrous energy; secret super spies who make rubber masks to perfectly copy other people?

Anyway, only thing that truly distracted was Mark Gatiss trying to do a thick American accent.

~Rebel~ · 24-07-2023 05:12PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120887873#Comment_120887873

I think all filmmaking/writing decisions come down to "what does it get you, what does it cost you?". Here it gets you a stylized way of getting out otherwise-bland exposition. But it costs you anyone in the room feeling like an actual human being, rather than just 6+ mouthpieces for the writer's words. For me, that cost was too big - there's enough stylization in the actual stunts and plot, without sacrificing your characters as well. You need something to be grounded so you can care at least a bit.

If they did it in that scene only, I could forgive it, but almost every group 'conversation' worked like this, where the string of dialogue could've been spoken by any of the characters present.

Spon Farmer · 26-07-2023 11:49PM

I have only seen the first two in cinemas. Something has always got in the way of me seeing the rest on the big screen but I’m seeing this tomorrow - been looking forward to it for a while but even more now as I have just watched FALLOUT for the first time.

And as to FALLOUT… **** hell. I’ve considered many a film as “non-stop action” before but clearly I didn’t know what non-stop action means. I do now.

And it was all great stuff.

And good to see Ving Rhames getting more screen time.

tesla_newbie · 27-07-2023 09:31PM

Saw this today in a cinema , i love the series and liked this but somewhat less than the three previous entries I think ( they could have referred to “ the entity”about half as much as they did and the audience would have gotten it , the threat of AI)

I could see Rebecca Ferguson making her last appearance, her role seemed smaller from the get go, loved all of the new characters, Grace , Gabriel ( who was almost supernatural like ) and the Asian baddie ( well until she redeemed herself)

the Grace character is very relatable, I loved Elsa but she was ultra efficient and professional, very different, it’s a series with great female characters

7 out of 10

Spon Farmer · 28-07-2023 12:18PM

I DON’T KNOW IF SPOILER TAGS ARE NECESSARY NOW, SO SPOILER WARNING.

Saw it yesterday. Fantastic stuff.

Hayley Atwell absolutely stole the show and it was nice to see the recruitment of a new agent. I don’t remember if there was mention in the previous movies of life prior to the IMF, so that they all have a past life they are trying to redeem, escape, etc is an interesting revelation.

The White Widow is a lot of fun (I only realised she was the daughter of Vanessa Redgrave’s character during the meeting with Kittridge even though her scene in the series had her mention Max several times) and Ilsa got a great end to her story.

I didn’t like the Kittridge mission briefing at the start. The tape scene is meant it to be the facts of the mission and “reminding” Ethan that he “owes” the IMF was a silly way bring up the “I accept” element and a bad way to introduce Gabriel. The scene with Grace having that moment and Luthor & Benji explaining they all had it too was how it should first have been revealed. Gabriel at the check in desk at Dubai airport and when Ethan momentarily sees him was the perfect entrance.

Henry Czerny’s voice also detached from the film m, like it was playing on a separate device to the film audio track. Same at the end. Basset’s voice at the end of FALLOUT was the same.

Bacchus · 28-07-2023 12:29PM

Saw it last week. I thought it was fantastic. Not as clever as some of the previous ones but as a sheer rollercoaster experience that doesn't let up it is A+. The time absolutely flew in cinema. The recruitment angle they introduced was a neat insight never shown before. Gabriel and the AI entity are a fantastic, horrifying combo. The AI is cold and calculating and Gabriel is the perfect human avatar for that. One thing that grated on me was the line early on indicating it had become "sentient". No none of that please. Why couldn't it just have been AI that had a directive from a human (an AI prompt gone wrong) and it is executing that to an extreme. It shouldn't want anything or have motives. I hope they ditch the sentience bit in the sequel. Otherwise though it was put to scary use in it's ability to predict outcomes.

Spon Farmer · 28-07-2023 01:13PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120907582#Comment_120907582

This is the first time an AI has been actually scary in a film and I hope Part 2 has it doing more to put life’s in danger. The noise it makes is very creepy.

And you are right about the Entiry and Gabriel being a great combination.

And nice little twist that it’s prediction that Paris would betray them and join Hunt actually caused her to save Hunt and Grace, not Ethan’s mercy.

~Rebel~ · 28-07-2023 02:43PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120907773#Comment_120907773

I think I've been scared of AI since 2001 a space odyssey 😅

pixelburp · 28-07-2023 02:53PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120890818#Comment_120890818

Perhaps but pragmatically, were any of these people anything but talking heads anyway? Only two in the room feature at all after that scene and it's purposes was to convey the info about The Entity. I enjoyed they took a stuffy bit of exposition and gave it a little life, however affected the dialogue was. And the whole scene being punctuated by Ethan throwing his green gas grenade just underlined the point this was going to be a MI that accentuated its reality a little.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120907773#Comment_120907773

I think the film could have done with more moments like the bit in Venice, with Ethan following the voice of "Benji"; more scenes where the Entity was actively fúcking with the team, rather than Gabriel and his convenient past that intertwined with Ethan's own.

Tazium · 28-07-2023 03:15PM

My wife was reading something online that the next one is the final one with Tom Cruise. I guess he is starting to age out of these kind of roles and I don't know if I'd like to see him still doing the silly running at 66 or 70. Anyone got any insight to what happens the franchise after part 2?

johnny_ultimate · 28-07-2023 03:19PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120908614#Comment_120908614

McQuarrie has started stating in interviews that the creative team are now tossing around ideas for a ninth film. It was very much implied that 8 would be the big finale for Ethan Hunt, but there's some notable backtracking on that now - with McQuarrie suggesting the series is far from over.

However, even that backtracking could be a misdirect, in a bid to throw people off the scent about Hunt's potential fate (death, retirement, other?) at the end of DRP2. Befitting Mission:Impossible, you'd never quite know who's messing with who :)

Tazium · 28-07-2023 03:36PM

^ yup, could be a Daniel Craig moment maybe in Part 2. Interesting!! Thanks

The Black Oil · 28-07-2023 03:37PM

Wonder what sort of calculus Tom and Paramount are doing now re 8, given 7 hasn't exactly been the box office juggernaut they likely hoped for.

pixelburp · 28-07-2023 03:39PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120908706#Comment_120908706

No but the timing of the release was terrible; Paramount couldn't have reasonably predicted Barbie & Oppenheimer would turn into a weird cultural "moment", with the former tearing up the box office. And there's obviously still some hesitancy over summer blockbusters - this has been a fairly píss poor summer by all accounts, if not one of the worst in living memory(?). Dead Reckoning might have been stained by the saturated market of dross out there.

johnny_ultimate · 28-07-2023 03:46PM

Well part two is all but in the bag, other than apparently one big final setpiece and a few other bits - and production is paused now due to the strike. So the film's absolutely coming out as planned, although I wouldn't at all be surprised if it was a bit later than the current release date.

The film actually opened to pretty good, standard numbers for Mission:Impossible, and the series tends to have decent legs - but obviously, Barbenheimer has upset the balance a bit. I think I read somewhere Mission:Impossible will be getting some IMAX screens back in the US in a few weeks though which might give it a bit of a second wind.

It was never exactly going to be another Top Gun: Maverick, though, and the main thing is this is another of this year's films that probably had an extra 50-100 million added to the production budget due to pandemic logistics. But even with that, I'd say Cruise has a 'blank cheque' at Paramount for a few more years yet after Maverick, even if this only did 'fine'.

Spon Farmer · 28-07-2023 05:20PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120908457#Comment_120908457

Yes there definitely should have been more scenes of the Entity doing things to actively interfere with the IMF like alert the police to locations, etc.

It does need a human thought but also should get an explanation that it sought the best adversary for Ethan. If it is to be his last mission then it needed to be an enemy that affected his life in a big way, even if it was something we didn’t know about previously.

And I really Luthor going into hiding doesn’t mean he is absent for most of the next film. I want to see where he is and what he is doing,

bucketybuck · 28-07-2023 05:26PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120909201#Comment_120909201

Like Solomon Lane?

A scene where the Entity managed to manoeuvre Lane to freedom from imprisonment in a Gitmo style facility would have actually have demonstrated that the Entity was something to be afraid of, while also giving it a human face that had a history with Hunt and who had already proven he needed to be feared.

Could have been a cool scene, with guards being reassigned, doors and locks being opened electronically, a path being cleared while Lane doesn't even understand why until he has a face to face with the entity and receives his own mission.

Instead we got the non-entity and Benico Del Toro's non union equivalent.

Loughc · 28-07-2023 07:24PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120909201#Comment_120909201

Luthor will reappear in part 2 in Alaska with a familiar face from M:I1

pixelburp · 28-07-2023 07:30PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120909201#Comment_120909201

As someone said, Solomon Lane was the obvious choice here for an antagonist with a personal vendetta or connection to Ethan Hunt; IIRC he was last seen being handed over to English authorities so he's still out there - maybe he's set to return, or maybe Sean Harris had enough of blockbusters.

I suspect Luthor will be the key to taking down The Entity, cos he seemed to have an idea of what to do next. It's nice to see Ving Rhanes back, man always had a good charisma to him.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120909662#Comment_120909662

Who's that cos I'm trying to think who'd still be alive from MI1 apart from Luthor.

Spon Farmer · 28-07-2023 08:22PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120909679#Comment_120909679

Lane is a great villain but I don’t think that the Entity’s goal will be the same new world order that he and Walker had. Plus using him again so soon isn’t interesting.

A new character that reveals information we or Luthor didn’t previously know about Ethan is better.

I thought we’d get some more background in Part 1 and I’m surprised they are leaving it all for Part 2. They also have to explain where he has been for the last few decades as Ethan thought he was dead (I think - but I’m sure he at least said it wasn’t possible that he really saw him) and why he so dangerous yet Luthor hasn’t heard of him. Whatever it is that he believes in is why the Entity chose him. I assume that Gabriel asked the Entity to involve Ethan so that he could settle personal matters hence why the AI choose to involve Elsa.

Did Elsa say she had heard of him before or was all she knew in the electronic communication?

Spon Farmer · 28-07-2023 08:23PM

Anyway the Entity has to start bringing the world to its knees in Part 2. Maybe the closer the team gets the worse it will react.

Spon Farmer · 28-07-2023 08:24PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120909679#Comment_120909679

The guy who was supposed to be guarding the NOC list at Langley and that Beart gave the ****.

Spon Farmer · 28-07-2023 08:26PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120909662#Comment_120909662

Poor guy surely isn’t still there. :P

Spon Farmer · 28-07-2023 08:38PM

If Part 2 is the end for Crusie, I wonder if the plan might be for Atwell to lead a new team?

If not and the next is simply the last them maybe a new ongoing Paramount+ series (more the original series/first film - more about deception than action since there is no way they could match the movies). And

Four to six episodes each season to tell the story. Each season changing some cast members

Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning

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