Hearing Tom Cruise Describe How They Pulled Off The Ridiculous Biplane Stunt In Mission Impossible: Final Reckoning Really Makes You Appreciate His Dedication To Entertaining The World
HENRY NICHOLLS. Getty Images.After nearly a two year wait from the previous installment, I saw Mission Impossible: Final Reckoning last night on the big screen. As a diehard fan of the franchise I for sure enjoyed it, but even I can admit it doesn't stand up with the likes of Fallout, Rogue Nation, or Ghost Protocol. Those are some of the best action movies ever made. I'm gonna get into what I did and didn't like at the end of the blog, but we gotta talk about the plane scene first.
I don't think this is a spoiler by any means, but if you've seen any promo about this movie you know there are two massive set pieces: the submarine and the biplane sequence. They're two of the more impressive stunts ever pulled off in movie history. The plane shit is so intense you forget to breathe when you're in the audience. It's truly anxiety inducing. I know it's hard for anyone to watch a 4 minute video these days, but I urge you to listen to Tom describe what went into this shit.
There is no one more dedicated to entertaining us at the movies than this man. If it's going to give us the best possible visuals for the moment he's going to pull it off. He really may be the last great action movie star we have left. Cherish him.
Now I'm gonna rip off some things I loved about the movie and some stuff that bothered me. Obviously spoilers below, so if you haven't gotten a chance to head to the theatre please click out now.
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Things I loved:
-The two big set pieces are truly breath-taking. The submarine scene is incredible. It may seem a tad too long, but the intense moments as he's dodging falling torpedos and racing against time before this sub falls off the ridge are so good.
-The airplane scene is all-time. No notes. The perfect way to put a bow on the franchise, if this is really it. I know he explains it above how they pulled it off, but it's really something else.
-Hayley Atwell's boobs. McQ really wanted to make sure we saw those on the big screen, huh? Hey fans I know you're sad Rebecca Ferguson isn't in this, but look at this! Well played.
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-Donloe's addition towards the end was nice. Cool moment when he tells Ethan he didn't ruin his life and instead gave him something that was actually worth living for.
-Nick Offerman's character definitely came off as a bad dude at first. Then he gets the gun from one of the guards and you think he's secretly one of those Entity enthusiasts who will make sure the bombs go off. Turns out he's an American hero and kills the bad guy to save everyone.
Things I didn't like
-The first 45 minutes or so are pretty useless. If you started watching the movie once that ends you really didn't miss much. Lots of exposition.
-So… Luther is sick? Why is this not talked about ever? I know he's spent a while designing this kill-switch to destroy the Entity and I guess they want us to believe they tireless effort killed him, but I'd love if that was explained even just a little bit.
-It seems obvious Rebecca Ferguson was supposed to be a key player here instead of Hayley Atwell's Grace. Such a bummer she couldn't figure out a way to swing it. Also even more of a bummer is the way her character is killed off in Dead Reckoning. She was a major character in a few of these movies and all you get is her dying on the bridge, Ethan running over too late, and like 20 seconds of the team being shook up. Wild how badly they handled her death. If that's all it was going to be for her they needed to make that a much bigger moment than just throwing it in the middle there.
-They spend so much time telling Ethan how diving that deep into the water and coming up to the surface will fuck him up. Like even with the tank that they talked at length about, it still was dire play. Then you see Ethan take off everything to fit into the torpedo tube and escape the sub. He resurfaces and Grace somehow finds him in time to revive him. I know we're supposed to suspend our sense of reality with these movies, but come on. It was almost like Ethan was in space, took off is helmet, and was still fine.
-What was the point of the Marie-Gabriel flashbacks? You kept thinking they were going to dive more into those, but never did.
-Also what was the point of Briggs being Jon Voight's son? That was so random and really didn't matter at all.
-Gabriel wasn't the best villain if we're being honest. Maybe for one movie, but not multiple. Doesn't hold a candle to Owen Davian or Solomon Lane. His death is hilarious though.
-So there were multiple parachutes on the plane? I thought once Gabriel hops off you were gonna either have Ethan 1) dive down after him and epically wrestle it off or 2) have his swan song as he kills the Entity and plummets to his spectacular demise.
-The ending scene didn't really do it for me. Kinda felt like they were trying to pull off a little of how Ghost Protocol concluded. Felt weird. I know they're trying to show all those strangers walking around to hammer home the line "and for those we never meet," but they've ended movies in way better ways.
-So Ethan lives and keeps going? Are we not done making these movies after all? Bizarre there wasn't a more conclusive ending here.
All in all, despite my criticisms it's a very good action movie. The problem with this franchise is it's so elite it becomes difficult to top bangers like Fallout and Ghost Protocol. I thought this one made me appreciate Dead Reckoning even more. At least the first half of that movie has a true Mission Impossible feel to it in the airport. This film slides somewhere in the middle, maybe even towards the back half, but again that's not as much of a slight as it sounds. It's so hard to make eight movies in a franchise and not have them fall off a giant cliff towards the back end. If anything they got stronger from 3-6. Nearly impossible to pull off, but that's the name of the game. Thank you Tom Cruise.